The other day, I shot a doe at about 15yds with my bow. I was about 10ft up in a tree, and hit her a few inches behind the shoulder, in the lower third if I remember correctly. She may have been slightly quartering away, but she seemed fairly broadside.

I was extremely confident about the shot, although she sprinted off and I didn’t hear any crashing in the brush. So, I waited about 45min-1hr and then hopped out of the tree. I found the first blood spots about 40yds from where I hit her, and it was an easy blood trail to follow—mainly bright red blood ranging from a few specks to bigger splotches about the size of a softball. Every once in a while, I’d find some dark red blood.

Long story short, I followed the trail for about 500yds until I heard something bump off of a bed. This’d probably be about 1hr 20min after the shot. I looked for 2-3 hrs and couldn’t find any more blood or the deer. She was never recovered.

Can y’all help me figure out what happened? The shot looked great. The blood trail looked great, and I’ve tracked worse blood trails and found deer within 100yds. I’m just trying to figure out how I can avoid this in the future. From now on, I’m going to give deer at least 2hrs unless I see them go down.

Sounds like you hit the liver. Did you take any pics of the blood or arrow?

tough one to figure out without seeing pics and video of the shot. We have all been there in archery hunting, so hang in there and do not get discouraged.

Muscle will give bright red blood, and guts/liver give darker blood. Hard to know what might have happened if you saw both, but my guess is the shot was further back than you thought, she ran off and bedded down, and you just bumped her. She will die not too long after and buzzards or other sign will give her away. If you can, go back to the bed and see if you can track from there. Might be able to see some sign in the ground of movement or even blood rubbed against limbs or grass.

Good luck. Let us know how the search goes.


Dog may be warranted in this situation...

Buckeye pretty much summed it up. It happens. A great opportunity to sharpen your tracking skills. If you shoot archery you should be proficient in tracking. Blood may be more visible on the vertical rather than on the ground. Swelling may close the would channel leaving a slow seepage that will rub off on grass or brush. Ease on to a trail and carefully look at the direction of travel. You may see a faintly visible parting in grass. Get down on the ground eye level and look down a trail. You may notice a disturbance. Scuff marks may show in dirt but not a full hoof print. Flys and sweat bees may also be present in the immediate area of a down animal. It’s a slow process that you can’t rush. Good luck.

I wouldn't say I'm an expert tracker, but I'm not bad, and I was on my hands and knees for hours looking at every leave, stem, etc., and walking a grid. Unfortunately, no deer. I hate to lose anything, but my biggest concern is not learning what I did wrong. I should've taken photos of the blood trail. I'd say 80-90% of the blood was bright red (no bubbles) and 10-20% of the blood was dark red. There was quite a bit of it, too, and it was continuous for 500yds. Would a muscle shot bleed that much for that long? It's definitely possible that my shot wasn't as ideal as I'd initially thought, I just wish I knew what I did wrong so I could prevent it in the future.

No I didn't take any photos. I should have. I agree that it looked like liver blood, but the majority of the blood was bright red. She was slightly quartering away, so I put the arrow a little farther back, which may explain the liver.

slightly quartering away with what you are describing it sounds like you hit liver, diaphragm, and maybe tipped a single lung. That combo would explain the blood. In that configuration it is also possible the stomach and stomach contents might have stopped up bleeding on one side all together so the only side bleeding out was the liver side initially.

Either way, its a dead doe. She will die from that type of shot.

The only shot I have seen that is not lethal and gives a consistent bright red blood trail is a front shoulder or "brisket" shot. Those will bleed well but not be lethal. It sounds like the shot was not in front of the shoulder and there is not explanation for dark red blood in that setting, so that is doubtful.

When was this shot taken? If more than a day ago, you should see some scavenger sign and be able to at least know she is dead. If it happened today, get a dog and get out there looking.

That explanation seems the most plausible to me. If that were the case, it seems like I shot a little too far back or she wasn't quartering away as much as I thought?

The shot was taken a few days ago and I was unable to track her down. I decided not to head back to the same area the next morning because there were other hunters and I didn't want to spoil their hunt on finding meat that had been in 60-degree temps for 12+ hours. I'm actually headed back out to the same area tomorrow, and I'm hoping I can at least track her down.

A liver shot deer will die pretty quick. Within an hour for sure. Watched a guy liver shoot a buffalo and it died within 45 min.

I think you hit the brisket myself

My first thought was brisket, but to bleed that long is something I haven't witnessed. Usually they bleed really well at first and then it dries up. OP, I suspect you caught brisket but got enough of the cavity that you got a mix of blood on your trail. Probably a decent location front-to-back but low.

Keep your head up and keep after 'em.

I tracked a brisket shot deer my buddy shot for 1.2 miles and lost the track. Found it 200 yards further two days later while sitting in my stand. Longest track I ever followed. I'd give a liver shot deer 3 hours. I jumped a doe that I hit in the liver an hour after the shot. Unfortunately I thought I had hit lungs but didn't read the sign that was there. She took off to the next county and I never found her.

Never heard of a liver shot deer dying quickly-the opposite. I’ve heard to wait half a day to a day with liver. This chart may not be the Gospel but it’s best I’ve ever seen. It says 8-9 hours.

Concur with Free, They may lay up quick but 4-8 hrs is what I’ve seen to die, or be sick enough they won’t get back up

If you center punch a liver with a broadhead the deer is going to bleed out pretty quick.

I can see the longer wait time if the liver is nicked or otherwise not hit solidly.

I think very few people center punch livers intentionally, it would also mean a solid gut shot that will make dressing the deer a heinous act of revolting stench.

I think most people that hit liver are tagging a section while hitting a quartering away shot trying to angle for the exit and just going a little too far back.

In the first, a center punched liver, I agree, bleeding will be robust and death a quick thing. In the second, a tagged liver on the way to the opposite lung, the deer will slowly die over hours or longer.

The main vessels supplying the liver are high in the abdomen, meaning closer to the spine. A high liver shot is more likely to catch vena cava and cause a massive bleed out. The "lower" you get in liver, the smaller the vessels and more likely to just have a slow bleed like out of a sponge.

Again, based on how most archers shoot, they are not hitting high liver shots often, it should be the exception rather than the norm.

A liver is never the intended target. A liver shot is usually the result of an animal getting hit too far back, and a high liver is usually of a pulled shot or a deer ducking combined with being too far back . It’s not a vital target to aim for but will kill the animal.

Agree with common “liver shot” meaning it gets a piece of the liver and a lung on a quartering shot. That’s not what I was referring to although usually the most common type of liver shot. I was referring to a center punch liver shot, in which death will usually be quick.



Thst said, I still believe the op shot the deer in the brisket and not the liver.

Also, ime it’s hard to tell what the shot is from blood.

I have shot just about every animal with a bow in the lungs and have only seen the textbook pink frothy blood once or twice. I’ve seen lung shot deer have bright red blood, dark blood and every shade in between.

I’ve had arrows be covered in blood and gore and had arrows that it was hard to believe that it passed thru a deer it was so clean.

You will see all kinds of things and it’s hard to reference charts, books and magazines because real world experience will often be 180* different than what was written

TxTro, I’m sure we both agree that “real world experience” is great but often times that’s not happening with a novice or even semi experienced hunter. Just not enough skins on the wall. If a new bow hunter waited to learn everything on his own he would likely give up. So in that case a guy has got to try to pick up insights from anywhere he can get them. I don’t feel you were speaking directly to the chart I posted and I already said it’s not the gospel but to a new guy that info can be a complete game changer.
For what’s it’s worth-most of my posts about hunting are directed towards hunters that are new are inexperienced(I don’t claim to know enough to enlighten the experts.)

Totally agree. Dark blood vs bright red is just a matter of oxygenation and that can be a misnomer about where the shot was. Lung arterial blood (pre-oxygenation) is gong to be darker, vs lung venous blood (post oxygenation) is going to be brighter. Froth is a plus or minus, i rarely get out of the stand to see “frothy” blood.

About the only takeaway from blood on the trail is if you see stomach contents or gut material, its a gut shot deer in some manner. Many times you can see this on the arrow as well, and smell it too. Not always.

Experience trumps books, but we do have to be careful not to have a bias toward experience when something isnt adding up, and thinking it through and going by the conventional wisdom from decades of hunters can be helpful over your own experience.

Nothing, and i mean nothing, beats good fieldcraft and tracking skill. The only way to get that is through living it. Tracking every animal is the best way to start that. Even if you see them drop,

I get that. When I was a kid and into my teens I read everything there was to learn about hunting. Imagine my disappointment to discover that what is often written in print is not gospel to be counted on 100% of the time. I don’t think learning most things on your own is going to discourage anyone….in today’s world it’s a common theme to want to know everything without having actually done it. Best thing for a person to do is find a real life hunting mentor who can train them. I get that’s not feasible for everyone kid or adult though.

I’m not the worlds greatest Bowhunter by any stretch and although I had some help along the way I had to learn a lot on my own thru trial and error. I’ve been bowhunting in earnest for about 13 years now and in that time I’ve been able to arrow 38 big game animals along with a few turkey. I learn something new on just about every animal.

In regards to the chart, it’s incredibly well detailed and imo accurate of the anatomy of a whitetail deer. For a novice hunter I would recommend watching bow kills on YouTube and realistic shows like the hunting public to see how deer react before, during and after the shot. This is about as real time as you can get without actually being there.

Spend ten years on an archery only lease with seven other hunters and a few less than perfect archers you get to go on a lot of difficult tracks. You get to the point you can read the tracks after awhile.

I used to exclusively bow hunt. When I first started, I was not as good as I thought I was. First deer I shot with a bow was through the liver. I liver shot two more with a recurve through the years. None of the liver hits were intentional. All three hopped a bit when hit. Then walked 40-80 yards and fell over dead within sight. I haven’t read the book and don’t plan to. My limited experience liver shooting deer with a bow align with Txtrophy85.

Edit to add. If I made a guess what happened, my guess would be a high hit, above the lungs and below the spine. Purely a guess though. Up close with a bow, high hits are far more common than low hits.