Paddle bone hit recovery question??

[warden415]

Just wanted to know what your guys thoughts were on recovering paddle bone hit deer? I shot a pretty decent buck tonight shortly before dark. As the deer ran off, I saw the arrow sticking out of the deer. It was hard to tell exact placement or penetration because the arrow was on the opposite side of the deer  that was faceing me as it ran off. The deer ran about 40 yards and stopped, not sure if it bedded for a short while or just stopped. I had to get down sooner than I wanted because of darkness and may have jumped it? To me , it looked like alot of arrow sticking out. Blood was decent for about 100 yards. (not great but decent) Then started slowing down.
I'm afraid I only got one lung. My past experience has been on a paddle bone that the arrow usually falls out or is pulled out fairly quickly, less than 100 yards. I am still holding out hope because the arrow was still in him. I will be out in the morning to try and pick up the trail. Any thought or ideas or words of wisdom appreciated! Thanks Steve

[macbow]

was there a loud noise when the arrpw hit?
If you had enough energy to get through into the cavity might be OK.
Good luck
Ron

[30coupe]

Good luck. I'm afraid you'll need it. I hit one like that last year and never made a recovery in spite of a lengthy search. No blood, no arrow, no deer.    

As Ron suggested, it sounded like shooting a 2x4 when the arrow hit. If you got lucky and got through to a lung, you may have a chance, provided you didn't bump him as you said.

On the brighter side, if the arrow didn't penetrate enough to do major damage, the deer will probably survive. They are remarkably tough.

[warden415]

Ron , I can't say there was a loud noise but I heard the arrow hit, actually I thought the noise was the arrow hitting the ground. I definitely didn't see it hit the deer. I thought I missed truthfully until I saw the arrow in the deer, it wasn't "THAT" sound you are used to hearing when you hit a deer.