Patocazador
Member
I was hunting with a crossbow yesterday morning. It was overcast with a slight mist when a 5 point stepped out from thick palmettos at 27 yards. I had a narrow shooting lane and bleated to stop him. He was facing slightly away but turned the front of his body towards me. His heart was blocked by the rotated shoulder so I shot just to the front of his shoulder. I heard a loud "WHACK!" and he took off like a scalded dog. I watched him make a semi-circle to the left until he disappeared after running for about 80 yards. I expected him to drop any second but that was not to be.
I got down and looked for my arrow ... No arrow was found .. no blood was found ... no hair was found. After waiting for 30 minutes, I searched out the area he ran through without finding any blood or arrow. Then I spent 2 hours doing a grid search looking for blood or the deer. I found not trace of him.
While hashing out the circumstances I finally came up with 2 possible scenarios: 1) The arrow hit his humerus or shoulder and lodged there without penetrating or 2) the deer jumped the string and dropped causing the arrow to hit his antler and ricochet off into the thick palmettos. Either might have caused the "whack" sound I heard.
My crossbow is a cheap Barnett that sounds like a .22 when shot so being alerted by the bleat and hearing the bow he could have jumped the string even at 27 yards.
That's my thinking, what's yours?
I got down and looked for my arrow ... No arrow was found .. no blood was found ... no hair was found. After waiting for 30 minutes, I searched out the area he ran through without finding any blood or arrow. Then I spent 2 hours doing a grid search looking for blood or the deer. I found not trace of him.
While hashing out the circumstances I finally came up with 2 possible scenarios: 1) The arrow hit his humerus or shoulder and lodged there without penetrating or 2) the deer jumped the string and dropped causing the arrow to hit his antler and ricochet off into the thick palmettos. Either might have caused the "whack" sound I heard.
My crossbow is a cheap Barnett that sounds like a .22 when shot so being alerted by the bleat and hearing the bow he could have jumped the string even at 27 yards.
That's my thinking, what's yours?