Worst day of my life

Yesterday at 8am I shot the biggest 10 point I've ever seen.
At 830 I found a blood trail
At 9 I fell down a hill and managed to get a broadhead (2 Blade Rage) in my thigh.
at 915 I was in the emergency room.

At 12 We resumed out hunt for the deer, trailed started out, with half my arrow 15 yards from where I shot him. Good, Pink blood.
There was a deer running around with half my Arrow in him. Including and expanded Rage 2 blade.

We tracked and the trail went from full blood for about 600 yards, to no blood. We got to a tall grass field, and figured he was in there,
 (Now with the amount of blood, we figured he was dead. I'm talking big, thick, puddles.) As we go to leave at 3pm, I kick him up from where he was bedded. 300 yards from our last blood spot. He ran over a hill, and into a property bordered by a Cliff.

We backed out.

We're going to go today for a last ditch chance. I'm praying he's down. but we did kick him. My only hope is when we kicked him, The arrow inside of him started a blood trail again. Maybe cut something.

Any tips from anyone?

Do deer go to water when they've been running for so long? I'm thinking I 1 lunged him.

Take your bow with you and if you kick him up again start another blood trail.  Deer will go to water to try and clot the wound.  Often time deer are found dead in creeks or ponds.

DB,
It's been my experience that if you busted him through the lungs, he would or should have never made it that far. If you maybe missed the mark just a little and took him through the liver, he'd travel toward the nearest water source. Often times when you have a semi warm night as we did last night, you will smell him when you get close. Hopefully with the remaining portion of your arrow still inside the cavity (assuming), that would keep the wound channel open. The best of luck to you in recovering him.

deadbolt do you even know where you hit him? that might help us some..since the arrow was half in it did you see your arrow in him as he ran? generally if you hit a deer in the diaphram and get a pass thru the deer is going to die, if you miss the vitals inside the diaphram the deer will run far and bed down and die, i shot a buck with a gun and missed the lungs and it was a more of a central chest hit(middle of the chest just central part of the deer but still inside the diaphram), but the deer ran most likely 400 yards but that being said i knew where i hit him in my head and did jump him once around the 200 yard mark and backed out for a few hours...and he was bedded stiff about 200 more yards, i smelled him in a buffalo feild and started running in that direction. and the blood was big splashes of pinkred blood and i thought i hit lung as well...

it sounds to me you may have started to track out of your stand way to fast for you not knowing where you hit him...

and it also sounds like he shouldnt be to far from where you jumped him, look in logical places. if you were a deer hurt where would you go? maybe travel down wind and you may smell him hopefully you can find some sign though of him to point you in the direction he went from where you saw him and its possible he might have crashed over the cliff...i really do hope you can recover him

Sorry I thought I included where i hit him.

He was quartering away, And I hit him right behind the front leg, low, with the arrow going towards the deers head. Well not towards it, but towards the front of the deer.

When I shot him, he walked away, stopped, I saw the arrow hanging out of the side. Then he disappeared down the hill. I waited an half an hour or so to get on his blood trail.

Why are you posting here and not out looking for him? It now sounds like you missed everything vital entirely. A low chest hit that went through the brisket will bleed good and cause him to want to bed but unless you nicked the heart I don't think it will be fatal. Did the arrow have any tallow (fat) or a greasy feel to it? Was there any hollow, white and gray hairs at the hit site? In fact, I'm working on a deer this week that took almost the exact same hit last archery season as what you describe. He was killed the last week of rifle season running and VERY healthy.

Good luck but, personally, I would get off the computer and hit the woods.....NOW.

I was out this afternoon with some friends. Scanned a whole hillside. Got dark.

Will be out tomorrow. I can't really walk fast/far/long periods of time. My leg has stitches in it, and it hurts every step so.

We'll see.

Free, the arrow Broke. The half I found had no greasy feel or anything. I Found no hairs near the Arrow, just some good blood. Bright vibrant red almost pink.

Will be out tomorrow. Thanks for the tips guys.

bighead 90 times out of 100 a deer will go down hill unless its forced not saying by you...force by the land structure itself. say your hunting a timbered woods on a slight incline and the deer come up from the bottom to you and the trails weasel threw blow downs and you shoot the deer with its head forward 9 times outta 10 i'll bet you the deer will continue to go forward and not turn around..but after saying its still "running" i'll bet he'll take easier paths. it depends on where your hunting. the buck i got this year went threw a hell hole all down hill, briared timbered woods with those bushes with the red berries too, but he took the easiest way threw it, most ppl wouldnt think so but he did, crashing threw blow downs and weasel trails that no one can get threw but a deer to get to the drag road on the other side.. not saying freak things dont happen but its very rare..

Keep looking and good luck.

I'm wondering how you stick yourself at 9 and you are in the hospital at 9:15. You must have been hunting right next to the hospital. If so, that worked out well.

I'd be more inclined to think the deer went downhill and to water, but I guess anything could happen.

I agree with Bighead's post....i've been through some thick **** **** tracking deer before, through stuff i could barely even manage to get through. Go out and find him instead of spending all your time looking for tips and hints on how to track a deer, go learn how to...looking for 2 or 3 hours isn't gonna cut it...just my two cents

I don't think it's crazy for you to ask for tips at all.   If you woulda done it in the first place and stated the arrow went in quartering away just behind the shoulder, someone probably would have told you back out right there without tracking because your arrow likely entered the chest in front of the goodie box.   Not sure where you aimed but on quartering away, aim for the opposite leg, not the near leg.   If you hit the esophagus, he probably will not survive.   If you didn't, he may have a long death.. or struggle the rest of his life.

My intentions are not to make someone feel warm and fuzzy, noplace.  From the story DB is telling, that's likely the reality of it.

SK, you are right but it takes a long time to forget a bad shot. Luckly I have very few bad memories!!

Good luck DB and sorry to hear about your misfortunes. I truly hope you find your buck, if nothing else you will at least gain some peace of mind from it.

Hey Deadbolt I have heard of almost the same story local  .  That someone fell on a broken arrow while they were tracking a big ten point  Then having to go to the er..I know you fell on an arrow you were carrying not a broken one .. But I was just wondering if it was the same story that just got switched around a bit ..Were you hunting in the Ohio Twp. area in Allegheny county ..I was just curious