Skylar shot the droptine buck

poppop

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Well, everything came together for her Saturday evening. The big boy came in and stood at 13 yards. She was 22 ft up the tree and hit him just to the right of the left shoulder. I told her to come out and we went to the hunting house to pick up a four wheeler. We were gone an hour. We got back and saw that he had ran about ten yards and stumbled losing the arrow. We found the arrow and it had penetrated 5”. She was using a Rage expandable. We found no hair, dark sparse blood for 20 ft. Then no blood for about 40 yds. Then a drop here and there for about 80 yds. We backed on out and came back this morning. We picked up a few drops of blood where he had crossed the creek and he travelled along side an old fence line. That was about 200 yds for her stand. We were in open woods on a creek bottom. We searched this morning five hours. Now to my questions. Her bow is 50 lbs. That is all she can physically pull back. Two years ago she shot a buck using her Jennings bow and a hundred grain Muzzy. It did not pass thru and thr buck ran 125 yds. Then she shot a doe and same thing, 5” penetration. But she fell where she was shot at. We think she hit the drop tine buck high enough she may have missed the lung. She had enough of a though process that she texted me to let me know he was in the mineral lick, so she didn’t have buck fever. Skylar loves using a compound but I am afraid she will have to switch to a crossbow. Any ideas on fixed vs expandable broadheads. I am just afraid she won’t be able to use a compound because of her limits on poundage. With the blood being dark red, do y’all think she missed the lungs, or with the 5” penetration and she clipped one lung do y’all think he can survive. Thanks for any opinions.
 

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e1978p

Button Buck
I injured my elbow and shoulder and went to a 50lb compound before having to go to a crossbow. I shot the Magnus stinger broad heads both 100 and 125 grain. I shot 2 does with this set up one about 90lbs. I had a pass through on both deer. I have shot 1 deer with this setup with a crossbow and she acted like she never knew she was hit. It burried the bolt up to the fletching in the dirt. Give them a try I don't think they will disappoint.

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Weekender

Twelve Pointer
The angle of her shot could be the problem rather than the Rage itself. I know a 12 year old boy who killed his first solo bow buck with a similar setup just a few weeks ago. If she hit the opposite shoulder with an expandable, I could see only 5" of penetration.

I still would highly recommend that she shoot a fixed broadhead like a muzzy or slick trick, or even e1978p's Magnus. She doesn't need to switch to a cross bow.
 

kilerhamilton

Old Mossy Horns
Sorry about that story.

She has no business shooing a big expandable at 50#. If you center punch one fine. They work fine. But at 50# and or too low of an arrow weight it never has a chance to be utlizied.
I shoot 70# with a 380gn arrow this year. I shot a doe in the shoulder Saturday with a rage and the arrow didn't pass through. It's because my low arrow weight. I love a small great flying fixed blade.
Look for buzzards and go on a smell circle when you have a day of wind.
Best of luck finding him.

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turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Lot to take into consideration with bow angle and shot placement have lot to do with pass through or not and sometimes do everything right and just bad luck of deer moves or branch if you find him some of your questions can be answered. As far as the switching to crossbow I'm not sure I do like fixed blade for compound though
 

QuietButDeadly

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
If the blood was dark and not frothy, it could have been a liver hit which is almost always fatal. The difference with a liver hit is you need to keep them moving so they bleed out instead of it all staying inside. The meat is already gone but I hope you can find it for closure.

I also agree with the comments about using fixed blade heads when shooting lighter draw weights. It take more kinetic energy for the expandable to works as designed. I am shooting a little under 60 and would not use an expandable.
 

Wv67

Ten Pointer
My son killed a handful of deer with 45# bow but I had him use 80 grain montecs and he killed them all he was shooting 52# for two years same thing until he could pull 65# I didn’t allow mechanicals 50# is fine just shoot fixed blades and heavy arrows
 

wncdeerhunter

Old Mossy Horns
If the blood was dark and not frothy, it could have been a liver hit which is almost always fatal. The difference with a liver hit is you need to keep them moving so they bleed out instead of it all staying inside. The meat is already gone but I hope you can find it for closure.

I also agree with the comments about using fixed blade heads when shooting lighter draw weights. It take more kinetic energy for the expandable to works as designed. I am shooting a little under 60 and would not use an expandable.
Curious about this line of thought? “Bleeding out” is bleeding out, whether it’s internal or dripping from a hole - just because it stays in the body cavity doesn’t mean they live longer - when blood leaves the organ, it is filling any cavity (I.e. chest, etc) and could actually cause death faster due to pressure on lungs or other organs.
 

HotSoup

Old Mossy Horns
Curious about this line of thought? “Bleeding out” is bleeding out, whether it’s internal or dripping from a hole - just because it stays in the body cavity doesn’t mean they live longer - when blood leaves the organ, it is filling any cavity (I.e. chest, etc) and could actually cause death faster due to pressure on lungs or other organs.

I may be wrong but I think he said that for tracking purposes
 

dstubbsunc

Eight Pointer
I think the steep shot angle was the biggest issue -- not the broad head! That's not an easy shot to make even for seasoned bow hunter! A fixed blade head may have helped in the case, but I think the end result would be the same. That's a nice buck, hopefully you'll find him dead or alive!
 

timekiller13

Old Mossy Horns
50lbs is plenty to kill a deer. Broadhead selection is iffy though. At that poundage, a fixed blade broadhead is a much better option. There are expandables designed for low poundage bows, they have smaller cutting diameters and take less force to open. I think Rage makes one, Grim Reaper and a few others. But, personally, I would go with a nice fixed blade, match and tune arrows accordingly and go hunt.
 

Banjo

Old Mossy Horns
I am sorry to hear this poppop. I know this was Skylar's target buck. and she has to be extremely upset over it.
 

Familyman

Twelve Pointer
I'm really, really hoping for a favorable outcome for you two. I've been in both your shoes....and it hurts! My first hope is that you'll find the buck dead from Skylar's arrow. If not, hopefully she'll get another crack at him. Keep us posted.
 

sky hawk

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Man, that's a bad feeling on any deer, but agonizing on a deer like that. If she thinks she hit high, she probably did.

I agree with the others - need a fixed blade with that setup and the Magnus stingers are a good one. They work great on low poundage/low speed bows, but you do need a decent arrow weight also. Momentum = penetration.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
My son has shot several deer with 35-50lb draw weights. He primarily used G5 Montec's. His finished arrows weigh about 425 grains. It's not uncommon for him to get pass thru's. I've shot several deer with 42-55lb longbows with great penetration. I was using 500 grain or heavier finished arrows with cut on contact heads.

My point is 50# is plenty of bow. Cut on contact heads are the best penetrators. I'd recommend at least 400 grain arrows. Shot placement is always key. I'd keep looking. That is a cool looking buck for sure.
 

Helium

Old Mossy Horns
Keep in mind 5” of arrow penetration at such a steep angle likely means = arrow was only 2” inside of Cavity.

In other words arrow mainly stayed more vertical..outside of vitals
 

Wildlifer

Old Mossy Horns
Man that's a bummer and a tough call to make about the shot without actually seeing it. You can speculate about everything under the sun but unless you know exactly where that arrow hit and stuck in 5" its hard to say if its fatal.
I would like to note that most people have been commenting about using a different broadhead but just as important is the arrow itself. With a low poundage short draw bow your primary concern is momentum and energy delivered. You need a heavy arrow preferably a small diameter one. You have plenty of energy in the bow what you don't have is speed and range and you need to keep that in mind. You really need your finished weight over 400 like Bux said and the more the better. Day 6 archery has some of the heaviest arrows I have seen in the 400-500 spine ratings, i know heavy light spine arrows can be hard to find. For example if you use their 400 spine at 26" with the 100g half outs your finshed weight will be around 440 with a 100g head. The should be more than enough for a pass through under 30yds.

Best of luck with the buck.
 
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poppop

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I injured my elbow and shoulder and went to a 50lb compound before having to go to a crossbow. I shot the Magnus stinger broad heads both 100 and 125 grain. I shot 2 does with this set up one about 90lbs. I had a pass through on both deer. I have shot 1 deer with this setup with a crossbow and she acted like she never knew she was hit. It burried the bolt up to the fletching in the dirt. Give them a try I don't think they will disappoint.

Sent from my Z899VL using Tapatalk
Thanks
 

poppop

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
The angle of her shot could be the problem rather than the Rage itself. I know a 12 year old boy who killed his first solo bow buck with a similar setup just a few weeks ago. If she hit the opposite shoulder with an expandable, I could see only 5" of penetration.

I still would highly recommend that she shoot a fixed broadhead like a muzzy or slick trick, or even e1978p's Magnus. She doesn't need to switch to a cross bow.
Thanks
 

poppop

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Sorry about that story.

She has no business shooing a big expandable at 50#. If you center punch one fine. They work fine. But at 50# and or too low of an arrow weight it never has a chance to be utlizied.
I shoot 70# with a 380gn arrow this year. I shot a doe in the shoulder Saturday with a rage and the arrow didn't pass through. It's because my low arrow weight. I love a small great flying fixed blade.
Look for buzzards and go on a smell circle when you have a day of wind.
Best of luck finding him.

Sent from my ASUS_A006 using Tapatalk
We regretted that mistake. It won’t happen again. Skylar prefers not to switch to a crossbow. She likes the extra challenge. Thanks for the info we will definitely do better next time. Thanks
 
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