Advice on what to do after a shot on a deer

On Tuesday, 11/8/22, i was hunting some bedding ground on a piece of public land here in iowa. At last light 3 does pop out of the bedding and a buck comes out in tow. He is pushing one do and she winds up ten yards from me. The doe sees me, as i’m on the ground, and busts and the buck is standing quartering towards me at ten yards. I was at full draw, so i put my pin on the deer, hold steady, and let the arrow fly. The deer bolts and almost runs into a tree and goes back the way he came. I lost sight of the deer at the end of a ridge, but I watched until I couldn’t see the buck anymore. It was windy and I didn’t hear a crash, so i waited 30 minutes and backed out. Yesterday morning, I go back to try and find my arrow and track it. I didn’t find a drop of blood, nor my arrow. I ended up grid searching over 3 miles of rough hill country in northeast Iowa to no avail. The only deer evidence I found were three tufts of white hair. I was wondering if there was more I could do or what my next steps should be? Usually, I will find blood and I can track it, but with no blood it was hard. I even brought my friend with me to help but we didn’t find it. Should I assume it was a low hit and the deer is probably fine, or should I spend this upcoming weekend looking for it?

I would say you searched diligently for it. No blood likely means no dead deer. Sometimes that sort of thing happens.

If you hunt long enough its bound to happen at some point. First of all don’t beat yourself up over it. So many factors go into what to do after you shoot a deer and it does not drop in sight. Where you are hunting, the current and future weather conditions, how you feel about the shot, the deer’s reaction after the shot, Ect. just to name a few. I think you did the right thing about backing out. With a lack of blood about the only thing you can do is a grid search ( which you did do ) I would not spend any more time this next weekend looking for it. Even if you find it it will be to late to process it or the yotes will have already eaten most of it. With no blood and no recovered arrow its hard to tell what happened. My guess is that that deer is alive and well or if not already being eaten by yotes.

You could maybe look up one of those dog trackers in the area and they could come and help. Not sure if the time gone by is too long or not, but worth a shot.

If it is white hair that is a low shot on a deer. You more than likely gave him a belly shave.
Shake it off and get back out there and have some fun.

Tough to say, at 10 yards from the ground it’s pretty hard to miss unless you hit a branch or something. Especially since it was quartering to, the arrow may not have passed thru leaving little or no blood trail, and if you had a good hit it should be dead nearby. I’d check the area again downhill and towards water. But if you feel you exhausted all search options, it happens.

CaptainMusky wrote:

You could maybe look up one of those dog trackers in the area and they could come and help. Not sure if the time gone by is too long or not, but worth a shot.

came here to say the same thing. The THP guys have used a dog tracker in iowa twice now and it worked out well both times. I’d start google searching someone in your area and see if they can help out. The sooner the better with the length of time and the recent rain.

What kind of broadhead and arrow weight are you using? At that angle a shoulder hit is very possible and you may not have gotten penetration. Also do you use light nocks?

Justin riegel wrote:

What kind of broadhead and arrow weight are you using? At that angle a shoulder hit is very possible and you may not have gotten penetration. Also do you use light nocks?

I am getting lighted nocks, I don’t currently. I shoot a 100 grain Muzzy three blade and a Gold Tip Hunter arrow, 340 spine. Usually, with a fixed broadhead, I have blood at impact. When I didn’t see any, I got concerned, especially being I didn’t find my arrow. I figure if I skimmed his belly, the arrow is buried in the dirt, I just don’t know how I could have missed from the range he was at, but I know weirder things happen.

Steven Krapfl wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Justin riegel wrote:</div>
What kind of broadhead and arrow weight are you using? At that angle a shoulder hit is very possible and you may not have gotten penetration. Also do you use light nocks?

I am getting lighted nocks, I don’t currently. I shoot a 100 grain Muzzy three blade and a Gold Tip Hunter arrow, 340 spine. Usually, with a fixed broadhead, I have blood at impact. When I didn’t see any, I got concerned, especially being I didn’t find my arrow. I figure if I skimmed his belly, the arrow is buried in the dirt, I just don’t know how I could have missed from the range he was at, but I know weirder things happen.

I shot one in the shoulder last year watched it run with the arrow in it, never to be seen again. Never a drop of blood anywhere. Had a dog come out and they found absolutely nothing as well. Hard to say which it was for you, but I that range I think you would have clearly seen impact. To me it seems as though you shot below him.

Try your best to find it. It happens to all of us, don’t beat your self up to much.

Hard to give advise here, as I was not there and did not witness this. I can say this, quartering toward shots with a bow are a low percentage kill shot. Not meaning to be critical, but you asked so I have to be honest. I give you kudos for the way you handled letting the deer rest and a diligent effort in trying to find him. Many of us have wounded deer and not recovered them. For what it is worth, I killed at least one deer a month after I wounded him several years ago. And he was healthy and little meat lost. Dont give up!

White hair doesn’t sound good.
A ground level shot and a low hit the arrow could travel a ways.

Not sure how much quartering to you the shot was. But it’s tough to get both lungs with a quartering too shot if you aim behind the shoulder.

At ground level and close range I prefer going into the animal in front of the shoulder. Lots of plumbing right there.

FYI I am not sure who makes muzzy these days. However I have noticed there quality has fallen off compared to the old days. If you spin your shaft and the broad head wobbles it doesn’t matter how good of a tune you have on your bow it’s going to affect arrow flight. Now at 10 yards it should be minimal but it will affect it none the less.

Always used a white dip on my arrows, 2 white and a yellow cock feather. A white nock and a white rabbit hair fur tracer. Could always pick up the hit, even in dim light. Am one of those old-timers that shot broadhead tourneys in WI with 4″ shield cut fletching….

Once shot a real nice Sika at the Y-O Ranch in TX at 52-53 yards. I instantly saw the hit, even though it was a pass-through, in dim light. Never did find that arrow and we looked pretty good. The animal ran about 60yds and gave up the ghost.