What the ????

[onewhohasfun]

I think stopping a deer is  the problem. Personally, I would not ever try to shoot a deer that was aware of my presence.  I know all the TV shows do it, but not me. I'm not shooting 320 fps. I shoot them walking.

[Don Stokes]

I shot a doe last year and thought I had gotten poor penetration. The arrow stayed in for a while, but was hanging out and flopping when she ran.

After recovering her a short distance away, I found during field dressing that the broadhead (Snuffer 160) had penetrated to the opposite shoulder and the tip had curled. The arrow apparently "bounced" back, causing it to look like penetration was bad even though the arrow had done its job.

I don't stop deer, either. I want them calm and unaware.

[Steve H.]

"...I stopped her..."  and put her on full alert.

[Hookeye]

Even a perfect shot can land off the mark due to animal movement. Without the BH and animal we don't really know what happened other than a shot was taken and an animal not recovered.

Practice and get your confidence back up, go out and try harder next time.

The deer very well could have survived such a hit (in fact they can take much more trauma and keep on going).

[S.C. Hunter]

I think you definitely have enough bow and arrow. Sometimes things happen beyond our control. Hang in there sounds like shoulder was hit. Did the deer move at all when you loosed the arrow?