Heart Shot doe.....Part II

[Onions]

I shot a doe Saturday night, with a 250gr Abowyer Wapiti, a complete pass through. Second deer this season with this head. The first deer left a blood trail that Ray Charles could follow.
The doe Saturday night never spilled one drop! She ran apx. 125 yards, I easily followed her tracks in the snow. I kept anticipating blood on the snow, either from one of the two holes, or at least from her nose.
When I found her, and flip her over, no blood on the snow under her???

I shot her with my A&H longbow, I told Larry Hannify that the arrow went through her so fast it cauterized all the blood vessels!        

Anyone else experience this?

chris <><

[Steve Jr]

Congratulations!!

[fnshtr]

Seems unusual. I've never heart shot one without having a blood trail. I did shoot an elk one time that did not leave a blood trail, but it was not heart shot. In that case a glob of fat plugged the entrance hole. He went about 100 yards.

Congrats!

First of all, congrats on your doe!

I shot a doe thru the heart yesterday, and I could see blood pouring out of her till she fell over at about 30yds.

That being said, I have shot several deer that did not bleed at all with seemingly great shots that should have bled "like a stuck pig". I use 2 blade heads, and I think if you go thru the leg muscle, that sometimes the muscle and skin get misaligned, and the blood just pools up inside the deer.

These pics are the entry and exit wound of a doe a I shot a few years ago. She only went 40yds or so, but there was no blood on the ground past the impact site, and I had to do a grid search to find her in the thick south Texas brush!

   

   

Bisch

[ChuckC]

Don't know the answer, but if your arrow hit the heart and caused it to stop beating, no blood is being pumped.

[Shadowhnter]

My son experienced exactly what Bisch is talking about just a few weeks ago on a doe. There was blood at the hit site, no blood trail, but there was some blood under where she laid dead, but not a lot. Arrow exited the leg muscle, and most all of the blood stayed inside her. Right through the center of the heart.

[bluemoonrising]

Yep, it's happened to me too many times. This year I perfectly shot, or so I thought, a big doe--no blood trail. Thankfully, I was using my new string tracker. When I opened her up, she was full of blood.

[Bill Carlsen]

Shot an 8 pt. a few years ago with the same outcome. Saw him drop but not a drop of blood where he ran. As I understand it shooting the heart stops the blood. No BP equals no bleeding. I think it is that simple.

[Terry Green]

Shooting the hear stops the blood??????

I've never heard of such...NEVER experienced such...

I guess gravity doesn't exist!!!

[highlow]

When it comes to these animals, nothing should surprise us.

[Michael Arnette]

Honestly, I think small two blade broadheads are the culprit for poor blood trails in many cases.  I've been shooting single bevel two blades for a couple years now and really like them, in most cases I get more of a hole then a slit like the typical to blade but in every case that I have gotten the typical to bleed slit which seems to happen when I hit ribs on the exit I always have gotten very poor blood trails.
In contrast, I shot three blade Wenzel's, snuffers, or four blade Muzzy phantom for about five years and never had a poor blood trail. I didn't get penetration on the shoulder though that's for sure.
I've shot two deer this year which were hit perfectly through the lungs, One of them went 20 yards stopped and stood in one place for about 20 seconds and then keeled over. I got some blood splattered at the shot which was a pass-through and then absolutely nothing on the trail including the place where the deer stood.
The second deer went about 80 to 100 yards with an absolutely perfect shot, I found one drop of blood and about to the 50 yard mark. Again this was a pass-through.
 Both of these shots were double long shots but I have had the same experience with two blades on heart shots. I've also had pretty good blood with many two blades and particularly with the single bevel heads..
 One thing about heart shots: It depends on where you hit the animal in the heart, remember the heart is a pump, if you hit the ventricle or pressurized side of the pump then lots of blood on the way out to the body. In contrast, if you only hit the intake (Atrium) side of the pump you'll end up with a low pressure pump, kind of the same is trying to suck water out of a straw with an air exposed hole in it?

[Bow man]

My early season doe I had no blood until the last 10 yards of the 60 yards she traveled. I was thank full she only went 60 yards and I saw her drop.
I have seen this with both 2 and 3 blade heads. both heart shots

Congrats Chris on a good season

[Skates]

Wow.  Fill a zip lock with water, no pump and poke a hole in it, or, poke a hole in your gas tank.

Shocking what you read these days.  I guess fake news isn't just only on the main stream media, and I guess years of experience doesn't mater anymore.

Next thing you know folks will be perpetuating the myth that your broadheads don't have to be sharp.  Oh wait    

[Tim Finley]

I heart shot a buck last night and he took an 80 yard run with a spray of blood all the way . I seen blood come out at the impact, we have a lot of snow so trailing is easy when you can see the blood 15 yards in front of you. . I shoot a woodsman and usually get very good blood trails and have seen many times with the small 2 blades no blood and a lost animal even if they were hit good . If the leg is forward at impact and you shoot close to the shoulder the skin will slide over the hole and stop the blood from exiting .

[ChuckC]

Let's see.... the ONE big rule posted on the first page  " Expect to be respected".  Guess that only applies to a few.

Go ahead and poke a hole in your gas tank if you want, but if the fuel pump stops so does your car....  and nobody....NOBODY said broadheads don't have to be sharp.

Maybe the arrow did just cauterize the holes...

[macbow]

Agree ChuckC.
Don't think a zip lock or a gas tank has anything to do with a deers anatomy.

[wingnut]

We had the same thing happen 20 yrs back on a 6 pt bull elk.  My buddy shot it dead center in the heart and there was only two very small drops of blood on the trail.  Followed it tracks to a very dead elk 50 yds away.  The only thing we could think of is the heart stopped when hit and didn't pump any more blood.  There was blood in the chest cavity when we opened it up but not a lot.

Mike

[Ryan Rothhaar]

Yep, I've seen it a couple of times on deer I heart shot myself with Snuffers - seems to depend on exactly how the heart is hit - a slice into one of the chambers and it pumps all over - really thru the center - then at times the pump stops, and minimal blood on the ground.

The comparison to a bag of water is faulty - the blood in an animal isn't sloshing around inside a sack of skin - it is contained in the vascular system...it only makes sense, shut off the pump and the vast majority of the liquid in the system stays where it is at.  A little will leak out, but given the small amount of time the deer is alive, though he might go a hundred yards in those few seconds, it won't be much.

Saying that a deer will still bleed heavily if the heart isn't pumping is using the same logic that hunters 50 years ago used to justify cutting a deer's throat so it will "bleed out" - remember all the pics of deer hanging on northwoods game poles with slices on the throat?....that logic works fine when butchering a stunned steer where the heart is still pumping when the throat is cut, but not on dead deer with no blood moving through the arteries/veins.

R

[Kopper1013]

Agreed with chuckC
as a pipe fitter, this happens on a regular basis, just cause you cut a pipe in half it doesn't mean the water or any fluid for that mater will come rushing out a lot of the time the pipe will spill very little, we call it air bound and until a second hole which introduces another point for air is introduced very little water will come out. Arterys and veins are basically pipes. Fill a staw with water put you finger over one end and turn upside down now water spills right? Now pull away your finger, empty's pretty quick?....I've seen crazy things with well shot animals, I've seen crazy things will not well shot animals, I think we all have...by the posts thus far seems like it happens and has happened to a few here so let's not nock one another and try to gain a little bit of knowledge from those who have been through it and what might have caused it in their experience ...sorry if I'm out of line.

[DarkTimber]

One thing I've learned is that no two blood trails are ever the same.  Even if the shots appear to be. I had a very similar experience to yours this year on a shot that was as close to identical as you can get to a buck I shot in 2014. However the blood trails were complete opposites.  

Both the 2014 buck and this years buck were large bodied mature deer, both shot between 12-15 yards, both nearly perfectly broadside, both with a 3 blade 1-1/4" VPA broadhead (shaving sharp), both complete pass throughs, and both through the center of the heart.

The 2014 buck ran about 40 yards and tipped over and it looked like you dumped blood out of a bucket the entire way. The buck this year ran about 70-80 yards without a drop of blood.  He then stood still for probably 20 seconds.  After about 15 seconds of standing there blood suddenly started pouring out (I was watching through 10 power binos) He got wobbly but regained himself and walked another 40 yards and laid down and died.  Once he started bleeding the blood trail looked like the one from 2014 but up until that point there was nothing and he should have died where he stopped the first time which would have meant not a drop of blood between the shot and his death bed.


The only differences were the 2014 buck was shot in KS with a Tall Tines and the 2016 buck in Iowa with a Black Widow.   So I've come to the conclusion that either the Tall Tines makes them bleed more or Iowa deer are tougher.      
 

Here are some pics showing how identical the shots were.


2014 Shot Placement
 

2014 Blood Trail
 


2016 Shot Placement
 

2016 Blood Where Buck Stopped