[Madocmike]

Had a similar thing happen last October 31st. A beautiful whitetail snuck past me just at the point I was loosing light in a hemlock swamp. It was walking straight away when I drew back. at around 15 yards it turned to what I thought was a great angle to double lung him. I let fly and watched the deer nose into the earth on the first leap with my luminock it it as it went up the hill. I never retrieved the deer despite leaving it overnight and then tracking it over 700 yards until I simply lost the track. I did find my arrow about 60 yards over the hill that night and only had about 5" of penetration. I shoot a 60# bow and was using Rage hypodermic 2 blade retractable. Replaying it over and over in my mind, it was just dark enough in that swamp that when I thought it was broadside, I think it was actually quartering away and my shot placement was off and I think it hit his shoulder. Made me sick and I loss sleep over that deer. On the other side of the coin though, our gang hunted that bush hard for the next week during the rifle season and never came across the deer or any sign that coyotes had found it. Whitetails can have a strong demeanor and can survive at times what we think could have been a mortal hit.

~ Michael.