# What happened with this shot?



## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Well, with the gun season about to start, I decided to go ahead and shoot a doe while I had the chance. Yesterday I was spotting-and-stalking with my crossbow and managed to do just that.

I lined up for an easy broadside shot on a doe, took what I thought was a good shot, but then something seem stranged. When the arrow hit her, it completely knocked her over. Almost rolled her in fact. It was as if she had been shot with a rifle. She slowly got up, walked off about 20 yards, and then laid down.

When I went to recover her after awhile, I noticed something else strange. A tear in her left hind quarter? Surely I didn't miss that badly. I looked, and sure enough, the arrow entered just about where I aimed (looking for a double lung shot, I was a little too far to the right, but not as far as is displayed in the diagram below...but the diagram gives the right idea of the arrow's path).

The arrow exited and was recovered fully intact.

So my question is, what happened? How did my arrow take a 90 degree turn in such a short amount of space and remain intact? The entrance/exit wound was on the same side of the animal and I had taken a broadside shot (not quartering at all)?


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## Danny O (Apr 14, 2010)

Magic arrow, or a 2nd shooter in the grassy knoll.


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## devil1824 (Sep 4, 2010)

Great question? I will ponder that a while. The bolts are somewhat short right?


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## willeye (Mar 2, 2007)

deflected off that rib i guess.


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## wacker (Mar 22, 2006)

Jumped the string??? How far away was the victim?


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

wacker said:


> Jumped the string??? How far away was the victim?


I wouldn't think this, if so it would have been just the oppisite with the arrow entering at the rear, normally they will duck and whirl away.....WW


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## jasonaustin (Feb 6, 2009)

What kind of broadhead were you using? If you are using a two blade then maybe she turned and the arrow hit the ribs and deflected in between the skin and the meat. Not really sure though. Weird!!!!


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## saltwater_therapy (Oct 14, 2005)

after skinning and gutting where was the wound channel? did you see any damage on the opposite side from the inside. maybe inside ribs or shoulder deflected the bolt backwards.


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## Deep C 915 (Jul 19, 2010)

Cross bows are loud ,She jumped and you blinked.


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## atcfisherman (Oct 5, 2006)

Deep C 915 said:


> Cross bows are loud ,She jumped and you blinked.


Possible, but although crossbows are louder than recurve or compound bows, they then to be faster and will get there before the sound does. I don't have time to pull up the calculations now, but I will try to post them tonight.


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## Deep C 915 (Jul 19, 2010)

atcfisherman said:


> Possible, but although crossbows are louder than recurve or compound bows, they then to be faster and will get there before the sound does. I don't have time to pull up the calculations now, but I will try to post them tonight.


Do not know alot about crossbows or compounds for that matter. I was actually just trying to search info on some cross bows that were as fast as your fastest compound and those are can get pricey. 
so they travel faster than the speed of sound......?


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## hippyfisher (Mar 24, 2009)

atcfisherman said:


> Possible, but although crossbows are louder than recurve or compound bows, they then to be faster and will get there before the sound does. I don't have time to pull up the calculations now, but I will try to post them tonight.


The *speed of sound* is the distance traveled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at 20


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## RockportRobert (Dec 29, 2006)

atcfisherman said:


> Possible, but although crossbows are louder than recurve or compound bows, they then to be faster and will get there before the sound does. I don't have time to pull up the calculations now, but I will try to post them tonight.


Speed of sound: somewhere over 1100 feet/sec. Fast crossbow: somewhere over 300 fps.


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## hippyfisher (Mar 24, 2009)

I dont know why it won't let me copy and paste but ACbob gots it.


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## Deep C 915 (Jul 19, 2010)

No wonder I've never heard that boom sound


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

She didn't jump the string and I didn't blink. I shoot 18" bolts with a 3 blade, 1 1/4 broad head at about 325fps. The bolt most definitely entered exactly where I intended. But it exited somewhere I never would have considered.

I completely gutted/cleaned her, all that was left was the back bone. The wound started at the ribs, then went partially through the gut (left lung was damaged, diaphram ruptured), and through her left ham. The left ham looks like it was shot by a rifle, just red jelly for about 1/2 of it.

I was laying prone, she was about 15 yards away. When I say she "rolled", I mean she went straight down on to her right side (she was face to my left, just like in the picture). She did not contort, spin, jump...just rolled straight over to her side and got back up facing the same direction. It was a very loud thump.

My assumption is that it the bolt deflected off arib. If so, it's phenomenal that the arrow didn't break. It's an Easton carbon bolt...I just never thought it would bend almost 90 degrees without breaking. Makes me wonder what would have happened with an aluminum shaft?


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## Bassman5119 (Feb 26, 2008)

Deflected more than likely. That's why I shoot bone crushing Muzzy's. But I'm old fashioned. I shoot a Mid 70's Bear Polar II. Don't like all that new fangled stuff... unless it's a 2011 King Ranch 250. At least you got one, I'm stuck at work. Good deal.


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## wet dreams (May 21, 2004)

A deer CAN jump the string on everything BUT a gun, his CB is just a few FPS faster than some top end compounds...WW


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

If you say that it did not jump the string...and I believe you. Then the arrow had to turn. I have seen that happen a few times and even have it on video.

While your case is more severe than most, I don't think there is another explaniation give what you have told us.

Glad you got the deer, and that is the bottom line.


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## goatchze (Aug 1, 2006)

Chunky said:


> If you say that it did not jump the string...and I believe you. Then the arrow had to turn. I have seen that happen a few times and even have it on video.
> 
> While your case is more severe than most, I don't think there is another explaniation give what you have told us.
> 
> Glad you got the deer, and that is the bottom line.


It's the only explanation. The reason I say the deer didn't jump the string is that I was watching w/both eyes open, the arrow/bolt entered where I had aimed, and she never turned. Even after impact, she was still facing the same direction (plus it was a pretty short shot).

I've decided it just deflected off a rib, but I marvel at the flexibility of the composite shaft I was using. If it deflected off a rib and exited where it did, it means that at some point the arrow was bent at a near perfect right angle (all of the damage was on the left side of the animal). And it still came out intact. I never would have dreamed it could flex that much without breaking.

But now I know!


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## RB II (Feb 26, 2009)

I'm guessing you hit a twig or something and it caused the bolt to cant sideways and when it hit her it was angled, then hit a rib and was easier for it to deflect toward the rear. That's my guess.


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