What the ????

[Dustin Waters]

I shot a doe this morning and to my dismay, I got zero penetration on this animal.  The shot was just foward of the pocket that we all aim for.  Upon impact she spun to her left and broke the arrow off.  I gave her 30 minutes and slipped out of the tree to inspect the arrow laying on the ground.  I picked it up and my stomach sank to my knees.  The 100gr brass insert was snapped in half along with half of the steel adapters threads still in the shaft.  Total penetration was something like the magnus 160 and an inch of shaft at most.
She ran off looking like all of her legs worked just fine which makes me think I didnt hit that main leg bone just out of the shoulder.  So my question is what the heck did I hit?  The breast bone?  IS that strong enough for a sharp head to lodge in and then get snapped off at the insert?  Blood is extremely minimal and I cant help but think this deer is definetely not mortally wounded.  I found a small specks of blood about 50 yards from where I shot her and thats about it.  
Basically do I need to change my setup at all?  Are the 160's too wide for a 58# bow shooting a 600 gr arrow?  Just doesnt seem to add up to me.
Any help out there would be great.

[GameMaster]

I know your going to get alot of comments back on your deer. In my bowhunting life and shooting deer their is no best broadhead and most of the time I have heard other hunters say, the arrow was right in the unit, it wasn't. Was the deer broadside or was their any angle. Deer, you know as well as I move with the sound and can cause the arrow deflect either good or bad in a direction. I shot my 75th deer Sept.25th , 2010. I shot it with 58 lbs. also with a Hoyt Dorado. It was the  first deer with the bow and the first with the carbon arrow. The broadhead was a G5-Montech. The hit was high behind the blade about 2 in. and no exit hole. Their was no blood ever and we found the buck 125 yards away by sweeping back and forth, very lucky to find it. The arrow had stuck the one lung on the side it was hit. I feel your hit did deflect or maybe might never got in the cavity. If your good with what your shooting stick with it, it will pay off. Hang in their I've had a few? myself. Shane

[Ragnarok Forge]

Your set up will kill deer very efficiently.  From time to time a shot goes bad and the deer gets away.  With that small amount of penetration that deer will likely survive the hit.

[lpcjon2]

How do you spell shoulder blade

[ishiwannabe]

Sounds like it may have hit the ridge on the scapula to me. I have had buddies shooting 90# wheelies hit them there and get about the same penetration.
It all depends on the movement and angle of the shot though, and its just a best guess. I would think she would survive, but one can never tell with these things.
I have "lost" three deer, and luckily for me, each one was either killed by a gun hunter a few weeks later, or the hit was very much a flesh wound.
I wish you the best...

[Whip]

If by just forward of the pocket you mean in the lower 1/3 of the body, it doesn't sound like shoulder blade to me.  There isn't a "breast bone" in a whitetail, so it would sound like you might have hit the leg bone itself to me.  Since the deer appeared to run fine on all four legs the bone apparantly wasn't broken, so the odds are good that the deer will be fine.  

That being said, sometimes what appears to be a non-lethal hit can actually be fatal, as Shane pointed out.  Here is a link to a thread I did last fall when I made a hit on a deer with about the same amount of penetration that you had.  The moral is to follow up every shot to the best of your ability no matter what your initial perception might be.

 http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=080198;p=1

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

Sounds like you may have hit the leg bone, but wothout seing what happened it's hard to say.  This will most likely be pulled as soon as an admin sees it.  They don't like posts about wounded animals.

[magnus]

Like stated above. It happens. I shoot Magnus 160's. Out of all my bows. 50-55 lbs. I never had a problem but that doesn't mean I won't. If it's man made it can fail. Do everything you can to find the deer just in case. Sounds like a  leg bone hit to me too. Good luck.
Keeping the Faith
Magnus

[JimB]

I'm not so sure about a leg bone hit.I think in order for all that metal to snap,the broadhead had to be held solidly,like in the shoulder blade.If it went that deep in the humerus,the humerus would have shattered.

Sorry to say,I did that to a big bear once.The good news is,he survived,was healthy and was taken by another hunter a few years later.

I think your deer will to.The carbon steel broadhead will dissolve.

If it were me,I would not use those heads with out modifying the tip to a tanto design.Those needle tips curl sometimes and this can drastically reduce penetration.I had one of the 125's do that once on an antelope and only got 2" of penetration.It wasn't a good situation but I was able to get close enough to get another arrow in it.That doesn't often happen with antelope in open country.I learned my lesson.

None of us likes to lose game but I think your deer will be OK and you two may meet again.

[swamp donkey]

Scapula/paddle bone/, he'll be fine.

[Dustin Waters]

maybe this will help shed some light on the topic.
 
she was facing the other direction

broadside shot, I stopped her as she cleared a big oak tree and let the arrow go.  She spun towards me milliseconds before impact which makes me think I could have gotten that leg bone instead of the chest cavity.  Im just frustrated at myself for this happening.  It was about a 15 yard shot that should have been a slam dunk.  

Whip I am certain its no where near the spinal column and I have crawled on my kneeds through a briar patch trying to follow pinheads of blood.  There was one spot about the size of a fist where she stopped for a good five or six minutes after the shot.  But other than that it was sparse.  I have a feeling she will be fine, but I am just baffled that I didnt just blow through the shoulder and into the chest cavity.

[Friend]

Take a look at the set-ups used in the thread 'Back from Magersfontein in RSA' in the Dark Continent forum. They take some challenging animals with set-ups not much different than yours.

Regarding the shot placement- For all I know, the tip might have rolled. I couldn't tell you unless the animal was recovered. Your set-up is fine for your intended target. The unexpected happens to everyone that spends much time in the field. Planning for the unexpected is the opportunity and that may be found in improving your arrows over-all design. That is its own topic which has been covered numerous times on TG. Just a thought, while many others find it imperative.

[joe ashton]

yup, that would be the leg bone and that will stop an arrow.  That deer will be fine.  sore but fine.. Now don't get all constipated and rethinking everything and  melt down.  Your set up is excellent, your shot was good, your LUCK, that day, was SORRY. (the deers luck that day was excellent)

Joe

[JimB]

We often find out after we recover animals,that they weren't hit where we thought.I can't say that happened here but if you stopped the deer,she would have been tensed.The normal reaction then is for them to drop at the sound of the shot.I still think that the humerous would have shattered.That broadhead would have had to have been imbedded in solid bone for that metal to snap like that.It just sounds like some part of the scapula to me.

I still think this was one of those things out of your control but I also think it will turn out fine.I personally don't stop deer when I'm hunting with a bow.I lead and release or let them walk.If they are moving forward,they are making noise plus it takes them longer to react.If they are stopped,they are tense,and riveted on the position where the shot is going to come from.Just a thought.

[mambashooter]

[Dustin Waters]

Joe I think I have to agree with you that it was just bad luck.  I also have to agree that the milliseconds that are between the arrow being released and impact on the deer are usually a blur for most hunters.  Something happend this morning that I have never seen before and thats why I came the campfire to get some insight.  I dont have a camp to go back to and sit around the tents trying to figure it out.  So thanks to everyone who helped me out and helped to give me some advice on this.  Ill keep my eye out for her in the next few days to come.

[JimB]

Good luck to you.I bet you see her again.She may stay away for awhile and you may not see her from the same stand but I bet you cross paths again.

[always89s boy]

I just shot a deer with a magnus 160, around 54#, and a 500 grain arrow and got total penetration while busting two ribs going in, and out. So I dont think it was your broadhead.

[BWD]

Similar thing happened to a friend of mine this past Wednesday. Got a little more penetration than you, but not enough. 64# canebreak, wensel woodsman, total arrow weight around 590gr. Kinda reminds us if the arrow don't make it to the right place, little else matters. lol

[ChuckC]

Lots of things happen that we can't see cause they happen too fast.  If you actually hit where you chowed, it is not the shoulder blade. There is a very heavy bone located there.  As you stated "at impact, she spun".  She may have been moving already, you hit the bone dead on and the movement caused enough torque to snap the arrow.

You may have hit just above the bone and timeing was perfect with her movement to catch it in time and shear the arrow.  I have seen that happen before with a very close encounter of the cow elk kind.  

I would look long and hard before giving up because the front of the heart is right behind there somewhere, as are major blood vessels.

ChuckC