Skimmed my deer, need advice.

[doublewhopper]

Okay, today I did an all day sit about 12 hours.  At 5:30pm out of nowhere about 100 yards in front of me a nice sized 10 pointer pops out dancing all around.  He presents me with a broadside shot at about 20 yards.  I let one loose and watch in horrow the arrow goes forward towards his neck.  It appeared to me like it entered his neck and went through.  He walks away and does his thing, doesn't appear to be hurt at all, and I try to grunt at him to get him to come back, but he has other ideas.  I retrieved my arrow and find 2 all white hairs on the broadhead and a faint smear of blood sparsely on one side of the arrowno more than a q-tip.  The blood was almost permanent on the aluminum arrow shaft.  Is that because it was fat?  Then I notice that on one fletching the first half inch of feather tips are red.  

I am assuming that type of a hit is not going to bother this buck at all.  And It is probably the equivalent of cutting yourself shaving.  I'm guessing that I must of went through a small amount of fat.

Question: if I had gone through the windpipe would this be a fatal hit?

[GingivitisKahn]

Was there any blood on the ground? What color was the blood on the arrow? Did you try to track the deer at all?

[Shaun]

Not much in the neck to hurt unless you hit the spine or the jugular or cartoid arteries. Anything else is a flesh wound that will likely heal fine. Especially if the deer acted unaffected. Don't dispair. Keep at it and remember to pick a spot.

[Bonebuster]

If your arrow has gone through the windpipe there is a dead deer out there that needs your tag.

That being said, if you did hit the windpipe your arrow would have almost certainly hit some major blood vessels, causing some severe blood loss. All the bleeding would most likely be external. If you watched him walk away, and the path he took did not have blood, it was probably a superficial wound.

His lack of reaction is not a good indicator of how severe the hit was, and with a neck hit neither is your arrow. If you did hit some major blood vessels, the bleeding will not stop, and the deer will die. If it were me, at daylight, I would do a  search in the most likely direction he took. If the wound was severe, and you did not push him, he will not be far from the last place you saw him. Good luck. I hope this helps.

[hoebow]

If you hit the wingpipe the deer may go for quite awhile, but this will be fatal. It may take infection to kill the deer, but it will die sooner or later. watch for the buzzards or fresh coyote sign.

[doublewhopper]

I didnt see any blood on the ground at all.  And he did act unaffected.  And my arrow hardly had trace amounts of blood.  I would expect to see the arrow coated if I cut an artery, even on a non lethat pass through right?

[Bill Carlsen]

If you hit the neck fatally the deer would go down quickly. You have the spine which should drop him in his tracks, and the arteries and veins leading to and from the brain. Hit these and there will be a lot of blood and he would more than likely go down in sight. My guess, and it is only a guess, is that you got neck muscle and the shot is more than likely non  fatal. If you can get a tracking dog in there it would be very helpful.

[Dustin Waters]

If you hit the windpipe you would have heard him gasping for air.  And then when he was walking away you would have seen him fall over from be suffocated.  My guess you got him by the scruff of the neck and he will be fine.  He might think twice before coming around there again, but at least he is more than likely just fine.

[doublewhopper]

Thanks for the input everyone.  I went back today to look for more blood in the daylight and found nothing.  So I believe he'll be okay.