Hit a deer with a bow for the first time and I need some experienced opinions

[ccw22]

I hit my first deer last night (1/22/2013) with my bow at about 30 yards. I pulled back and put my 30 yard pin on her just over the vitals as she was standing broadside and let my arrow fly. I may have hit lower than I anticipated because of the arrow drop with her being a little further than I thought. I watched the deer take off, stumbled for a brief moment, but she quickly got back on her way. I know I hit her because after the herd was out of sight I grabbed my arrow which was coated in blood and white hair then headed back home. The blood was not brown, but it was dark red. There was not really a stench to it. I waited about an hour and started tracking the deer. I came across a few drops of blood within five yards of where I shot her at and it was a constant drip for roughly 50 yards, but after that the trail began to decrease. After I lost the trail due to lack of blood I went back in for the night and woke up as soon as the sun came out to go look for her. It was a high of seven degrees that night, so the meat would have been fine until morning. There is not a coyote problem where I live, so if she was down I figured she should have been there. I was still able to see the deer's tracks in the snow, so I picked up where I left off and came across three beds that had a fair amount of blood in them. I think there were multiple because I may have bumped her when I tried to track at night, but I am not sure. I need some opinions on where you all may think I could have hit her and if it was a fatal shot. Sorry if what I wrote was confusing, I was trying to add in as much detail as possible and may have made it more confusing than I intended.

Side note: I was driving around today (1/23/13) after tracking for about three hours and came across a herd that I believe to be the one that I shot the doe out of. They were all there and one of them was mangy looking and just seemed to be trailing behind a little. When I stopped and rolled down my window just to get a better look she was able to trot her way along pretty well.

[timberghost]

First off welcome to the DHC buddy. Glad to have you here. Blood will always be dark red or pretty close to that color. I think the blood from the lung area is a tad brighter. Never brown though. Sounds like you may have given her a shot close to the guts if your arrow was a little smelly. The white fur you found is probably from the belly area. Just my .02

[ccw22]

Thanks for the welcome. That's what my initial thought was after I looked my arrow over, but it did not smell bad at all. I looked for a good 3+ hours today following the blood trail and doing a grid pattern through the area and could not turn her up. I'm hunting in the suburbs, so there's not much land for me to look through that's not posted or part of a park. I have a couple cameras set up and spooked or not, I have found they come through so hopefully one of the cameras will pick her up with the rest of them and I will know she is not being wasted somewhere. That's the last thing I want to happen.

[on_the_fly]

Welcome to DHC !
It would sound to me that your shot was low forward and got front shoulder. That will give you your white hair, good blood trail and not fatal. Well not fatal right off anyways some will live and some get infections in wounds and ultimately die. And can still get around but with a bad limp but in spooked they would still be able to run with very little tell tell of injury.
It's something all of us bow hunters go through, deer are amazingly fast on a drop, tuck, turn on the sound of a bow shot. I've shot deer broad side that turns so fast the arrow came out center front chest. Have had them drop and arrow what would had been a perfect heart shot got right over their back.

[gfdeputy2]

Welcome to DHC
I have to agree with O.T.F. sounds like a Brisket shot or front shoulder
A Brisket shot can look like a good shot with good blood but is like getting a head wound looks worse then it is
how far were the beds from where you shot & was there blood after the beds?

[ccw22]

The first bed was roughly 35 yards from the shot. There was a small trail between the beds which were about 20 yards apart. I checked the trail cameras and she was still with the herd last night around 5:45, seemed to be keeping up with them. Hopefully she will make it and not go to waste. Bow hunting is definitely harder than shotgun i have come to find, but it will feel more rewarding. Going back out tomorrow to hopefully get one down before it's over.

[Bud]

Any luck finding her

[ccw22]

No luck finding her down, but she did pop up on my trail camera every night since I hit her, so I think she'll make it. Season just ended yesterday. Fortunately my friend and I did a drive and I got a nice sized doe on the last day.