Help explain the results of this shot - somewhat graphic pic

[Adam Keiper]

I've experienced several hits like that (actually much more dramatic) that were due either to arrow deflection on impact or the animal jumping/twisting at the shot.

[coaster500]

Go to a cutting horse competition and watch a horse work a cow "duck and roll or drop and roll"...watch for an hour or so and you will see how much body angle a four legged critter get in that motion. I've been sideways many times from that maneuver  

Great picture !! Congratulations on the result !!!

[Jim Jackson]

I had the exact same thing happen to me three years ago.  I saw the duck and roll just as the arrow entered, with the same results as you describe.  Weird to see the arrow enter perfectly and then find the broadhead in the spine.  What reflexes they have!

[ChuckC]

I am weighing in on the "duck and roll" theory.  They go down to load the muscles in the legs and then move.  This one may have moved up and a bit forward instead of away at that second and on the way up it was hit.  Use your hands to represent the deer and the arrow coming at it and you can see how this COULD have happened.  

'course, it could have been something else too.
ChuckC

yep!! talltines said it first. thats what i think.

[mwosborn]

Had a very similar situation a couple of years ago with exactly the same results - hit a small doe behind the shoulder mid body, arrow deflected up into spine - I couldn't believe it when she dropped like a rock - until I gutted her and could see the broadhead in her spine.  I assumed a combination of deer dropping and broadhead hitting a rib.  Either way it worked out.

Mitch

[Hookeye]

Deer moved, or something near/at contact changed path of penetration (or combination of these).

Seen bullets change penetration direction substantially by clipping bone.

Had a doe take a .44 mag 255 cast, broadside to tree, straight down shot. Bullet hit upper rib near spine and exited not at bottom of chest but by her udder.

Had a 9 pt take a shotgun foster slug, again from treestand, angling away, hit near last rib. Didn't go into chest cavity and exit at lower front, it slid to the back of his head, wiping out loins all the way there.

[Hookeye]

I like what a page one person posted "not made of closed cell foam"  

Wouldn't suprise me if the rib nick was enough to send that sharpie up a little higher than intended.

[RAU]

Only thing i know for certain is you shot and killed a fine deer! Congrats!

[Shawn Leonard]

Yup, duck and roll and also in that process a slight deflection off the rib is possible as well. Shawn

[YORNOC]

Whatever it was, thank the gods. Beautiful shot by you, then no blood trailing. Dropped on the spot, can't ask for more than that!  Congrats. My season doesn't open in Massachusetts till October 18th. I hate this state.

[seabass]

i with talltines,i think she rolled at the shot to get away.great shot though,steve

[Flying Dogg]

In 1975 I shot a 5 pt. from the ground at 20 yds. exactly where you shot this deer. The broadhead tipped upwards just as yours did but penetrated the spine and dropped him. This is the ifrst time since then that I had seen this happen.

[jsweka]

I'd say a bit of both the duck and roll and arrow coming off the rib.

I also did that once (with a compound).  The buck dropped like a ton of bicks, but then was trying to crawl away on it's front legs, very much alive.  I figured I'd put another in it, but at the shot it gave a good scoot and my second shot went right through the guts   :mad:  Still very much alive and kicking like a mule, I put one more in it right through the heart.  That was it.  I know it would have died from the first shot, but I wanted to finish the job faster.  The irony of it was that I made a good shot, but that deer still cost me three arrows.

[lonstand]

ribs

[HB3]

I have had this happen also. The deer is duck and rolling. After watching playbacks in slow motion of some of the deer I have shot you can't believe what happens you don't see or notice. I have seen deer flip over and get back up and not noticed until I replayed the tape in slow motion. It wasn't even the deer that I was shooting at that did it. I don't think this is that unusual in Texas where our deer are wired.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

Originally posted by talltines:
She most likely was dropping and rolling away at the sound of the shot causing the arrow to enter mid body and hit the spine.  Her body position most likely had changed during the shot.

That's what I was going to say. Good explanation, and you see it on slow mo video all the time, but it's real hard to see with the naked eye in real time. It's also possible that the cut rib on entry could have deflected the tip upward into the spine.
Nice dang shot though.....and awesomely effective!! I like those no tracking required shots.  

[bofish-IL]

Did the deer kick it's front leg back and snap the shaft off shoving it up into the spine I have had that happen twice.

[luv2bowhunt]

Originally posted by bofish-IL:
Did the deer kick it's front leg back and snap the shaft off shoving it up into the spine I have had that happen twice.

Nope, the arrow struck and she went straight down. The arrow broke when she landed on it on the ground.

[KSdan]

Duck and roll- as well as the the spine is lower than most think.  Shoot below half way. 3- 4 " further forward and you would have centered the spine as it drops even lower there.