Single lung hits

[Lion10s]

How long can a deer live with a single lung hit?

 

[DaveB]

Not long at all if you hit a lung. Problem is the deer can make a lot of tracks.

 

[scn]

I've read of reports of deer living through the season with a single lung hit.

 

[Tennessee Lead]

I've read of reports of deer living through the season with a single lung hit.

Wouldn't Suprise me.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

Last year I shot one slightly quartering and got the center of the liver and one lung. I waited about an hour and then started very slowly tracking. She had bedded down about 200 yards from where I shot her and I bumped her about 1 1/2 hours after the shot. I backed out and waited another two hours and I found her dead about 150 yards from where she first bedded. I'm not sure how long she lived, but it was over 1.5 hours and 350 yards.

A couple of years ago someone posed the "ghost doe" thread where a doe was shot through one lung and the guy that shot her never found her. A few weeks later she showed up on trail cam still sporting the entrance and exit holes. He got more pictures later in the season showing the wounds healing nicely.

I guess the answer to your question is, it depends.

 

[Lion10s]

Thanks. As I suspected. My son shot a 8 point yesterday morning. Will be his best bow buck ever. Said he hit him a little high. I got there and found little blood, but with bubbles. I believe he hit offside lung. We waited 3 hours and then started. Not very much blood but found where he stopped at about 250 yards. Then lost blood at 450. Went back later and found nothing. Thick powerline and thickets all around. Going back to look again. Never jumped him. I think he's dead in one of the thickets. But it wouldn't surprise me if he's still walking around. They're tough. He's sick as you can imagine.

 

[102]

To answer your question...indefinitely!

I have been a student of arrow wounds for over thirty years now. With 224 personal bow kills, and hundreds of other recoveries, I feel I am somewhat of an expert on arrow wounds.
Indeed I have seen some absolutely astounding recoveries and documented MANY wound Channels.

Some of the more amazing wounds where deer lived and were recovered later after another hunter killed them include double lung hits where the arrow shaft was discovered at the butcher.
High lung shots involving hemo pneumo thorax.
Several one lung and high lung hits.

And of course, my favorite, gut shot deer where only a small amount of damage
Was done to the body cavity.

As far as how long can they live? A ridiculous amount of time.

I think Nothing would surprise me at this point.

But I fully expect a clean, one lung hit deer to recover more often than not.

BTW,
Many of these wounds were documented and/or witnessed by a surgeon Iwith whom i regularly hunt .

 

[Andy S.]

...indefinitely!

x2. How long "can", indefinitely, how long "will", it all depends. Each animal and each shot is different than any other, no two are exactly alike.

 

[CAW]

I shot a buck in Kansas a few years ago and felt like it was a single lung hit based on the angle and where I hit him. We looked for 3 days and could not find him. 3 weeks later another hunter found him alive bedded up next to a cornfield and finished him off with a gun.

Deer are amazingly tough. How they survive the wounds they receive is incredible.

 

[Bone Collector]

I single lunged the deer i shot Yesterday morning. she went 40 yds and stopped and stood there. I thought she'd tip over, but she didn't I had no shot for a follow up and wasn't about to get down and try to walk up to her, i'm sure she would have run. she then started walking to my right behind trees and I got ready to shoot her again, when she came back into my shooting lane. she fell over behind a tree. this took about a minute. I figured she is dead. Well about 3-4 minutes later I hear something and look out there and I see a leg kicking. I got up to lower my bow and go finish her and she stopped. I felt like she was dead. I check my phone for the time and watched her for a couple of minutes and she didn't move, so I figured she has to be dead. She never did move again.

If i had know she wasn't dead, I'd have gotten down and stuck another arrow in her, but I didn't realize it took about 5 minutes from the shot, but she died.

as a side note, there was hardly any blood trail, but her cavity was full of blood, seemed like a gallon or more....

 

[102]

Wow, what memories these stories stir up in me.
I have literally Disected almost every kill I ever made on a deer. The information I have collected is astonishing to me. When I tell people about some of the wounds and blood trails and recovery times, they frequently doubt me. This is why I have video documented so many of these stories.

About four years ago, in Illinois, a buddy and I were doing a video hunt when an antler less deer walked into range. At 30 yards with a slight away quarter, I took the shot. Liver/lung (one of many). we watched this deer run off and bed about 80yards away. This was about 9AM. We watched this deer for over two hours knowing that any attempt to climb down for a follow up shot was useless so we waited. In the hours following the shot, we watched a large buck pester the wounded deer, a doe stomp at it, and the sun shine on it to the point where the deer would get up and get in the shade to try to get more comfortable. It was sickening to watch and made me feel like quitting hunting but I knew from previous experience there would be little or no blood trail after the first bed.

Amazingly, over two hours later, the bedded deer stands up, and walks directly back down the hill to us where I put a second arrows into the deer at 16 yards.

All on video.

 

[GOODWIN]

It's a matter of millimeter's sometimes. Having worked in several trauma centers I've seen it all. Some guy can come in with multiple gun shot/stab wounds and not a one of them is lethal (if cared for and treated in a timely manner before infection). The next thug can show up with one lethal stab wound and be dead on arrival. What appears to be the exact shot duplicated on deer over and over is in fact much different when considering what trauma is inflicted, i.e. vascular and organ damage. And deer have proven to be more resilient than humans. We can live with one lung and so can a deer. I shot a doe several years ago and hit her high but still thought I would catch lung. In the "empty space" that some refer to below the spine but too high for lung. Well this is still the thoracic cavity and in theory should cause a pneumothorax and collapsed lung even if the lung was not hit. Only thing that could have happen was the wounds close up enough to maintain the negative pressure and i only got one lung...or the doe had just expired her breath dropping the lungs down and arrow went through without even hitting much if at all lung tissue. Got a pic of this deer on trail cam a week later doing well feeding around. Bottom line, strange things can happen and I learn something new on every deer I kill or don't kill for that matter.

 

[102]

27 years in EMS and I ditto that Goodwin.
It still surprises me when I hear hunters say that liver shot deer don,t live long. I treat liver hit deer like gut shot.

And if they hit major arteries on the way...

Same for the pyloric artery.

 

[Winchester]

Good info here, like 102 I too have bow hunted for 30+ yrs now and have killed and helped track literally hundreds of deer all over the country. Its absolutely amazing at the misinformation out there that people truly believe, regarding deer and what/where they will go and do after being shot! There are definitely generalities, like going to water, but absolutely no guarantees, as I have saw gut shot deer go directly opposite water sources to lay up. Ive saw mortally wounded deer go out in the wide open instead of to the thickest stuff around like they are 'supposed to'??? Single lung hits can kill them in a matter of seconds, but much more often they will live for days if not indefinitely, especially if you didn't hit something else besides a clean one lung shot? This is a very deep subject so I wont waste everyones time but arrow shot deer can and will do some unbelievable things at times!

 

[102]

Good info here, like 102 I too have bow hunted for 30+ yrs now and have killed and helped track literally hundreds of deer all over the country. Its absolutely amazing at the misinformation out there that people truly believe, regarding deer and what/where they will go and do after being shot! There are definitely generalities, like going to water, but absolutely no guarantees, as I have saw gut shot deer go directly opposite water sources to lay up. Ive saw mortally wounded deer go out in the wide open instead of to the thickest stuff around like they are 'supposed to'??? Single lung hits can kill them in a matter of seconds, but much more often they will live for days if not indefinitely, especially if you didn't hit something else besides a clean one lung shot? This is a very deep subject so I wont waste everyones time but arrow shot deer can and will do some unbelievable things at times!

AMEN!!!

 

[Boone 58]

I've read of reports of deer living through the season with a single lung hit.

X~2.......who on here a few years ago had a deer that looked to be lung hit that survived?........great pic.

 

[Southern Sportsman]

This thread is making me reconsider quartering away shots. I've always considered them high percentage shots but it is easy to get liver and one lung from that angle. Thoughts?

 

[catman529]

This thread is making me reconsider quartering away shots. I've always considered them high percentage shots but it is easy to get liver and one lung from that angle. Thoughts?

it's easy to get liver and one lung on a quartering-to or even a broadside shot, if the shot is a little far back. last year I got stomach, liver and the heart on a steep quartering away shot. Let's just say she died quick. A slight quartering away shot should still get both lungs. Yesterday's deer that I shot might have been a one lung shot, I didn't really inspect the other lung that closely. But at such a steep downward angle, it came out the forward part of the stomach and also got the liver. But it punched at least one lung like it was supposed to. And interestingly, she laid down in the water before flopping around and then dying. Seems the theory of deer soothing the wound in the water might be true, although nothing is a hard set rule. I've had em run and die in a field as well, at least once. But I have only killed a handful while some of you have killed dozens.

 

[AT Hiker]

In theory a lung can clot internally and basically cause some minor issues for the rest of the deers natural life. A heart shot is more fatal, animals tend to need their heart in tack but not always...

As a taxidermist I have seen all kinds of crazy things; holes in skulls, broadheads stuck in the heart and healed, backbones so messed up they look like Allan off 2 1/2 men was their chiropractor. Animals are tough, maybe we need a deer guillotine broadhead?

 

[102]

This thread is making me reconsider quartering away shots. I've always considered them high percentage shots but it is easy to get liver and one lung from that angle. Thoughts?

A lung/liver hit is a DEAD deer.

I have never seen this wound recover.

I have, however, seen this wound result in lost meat.

Also, remember, we are talking extreme cases here. Most of the experiences I am relating in this thread are exceptions. MOST one lung hits die.

Why?
Because there are most often other organs involved.

Septic shock is most often a killer. This is a result of having infection set up in a deers body. I have seen this most often when the abdominal cavity has been disturbed as in a gut shot.

THe problem with gut shots is this.
THey don't bleed much. And they tend to live for a LONG time.

If a dog, or coyote, or person, or a rutting buck (or who knows what else)...pushes or spooks this deer...you will most likely lose the deer. THey can walk a LONG ways while gut shot, And leave NO TRACE of which way they went.

Liver lung shot deer might die within seconds...or hours.
I have witnessed BOTH.

My biggest problem with quartering to shots is the arrow.

I use the arrow to determine what to do next. If it stinks or is slimy, I worry.
THis means WAITING. Sometimes till the next day.

And even a double lung shot deer can have a gut exit on a quarter to shot. Because deer can, and do twist upon reaction to the shot.

A quartering away shot is certainly a better option. Again, there can be a problem with the exit. As in...there is none.
Shoulders are very good at stopping arrows.

Another problem with shoulder exits is this. I find that HARD bone hit deer tend to run farther and faster than softer hit deer. (heart hit do too BTW)
So you have a gut entrance (often times clotted over over covered up by fat and tissue) and no exit because it hit shoulder...HMMMMMM. PROBLEMS with blood trail.

So, what is the PERFECT shot?

Mid body (vertically) entrance, lower off side body exit with large holes, thru BOTH lungs.

Unfortunately, these ops don't come along every day.
So we PRACTICE. ANd learn deer anatomy.

EXACTLY how and where to PRECISELY and accurately place the arrow, given EVERY shot angle a deer might give us, to be able to kill this animal as cleanly and quickly as possible.

THen, we learn to recognize how to follow up on a shot, no matter how good or bad, that will maximize our potential for recovery of the animal, and the meat.

THere are three ways to learn how to do this.

One: experience. Learn from school of hard knocks. THis might take a while...years of trial and error.

Two: Ask questions. Find someone who might have already learned from (One) and ask TONS of questions. LEARN from their experience.

Three:a combination of both one and two.

 

[scn]

This thread is making me reconsider quartering away shots. I've always considered them high percentage shots but it is easy to get liver and one lung from that angle. Thoughts?

A lung/liver hit is a DEAD deer.

I have never seen this wound recover.

I have, however, seen this wound result in lost meat.

Also, remember, we are talking extreme cases here. Most of the experiences I am relating in this thread are exceptions. MOST one lung hits die.

Why?
Because there are most often other organs involved.

Septic shock is most often a killer. This is a result of having infection set up in a deers body. I have seen this most often when the abdominal cavity has been disturbed as in a gut shot.

THe problem with gut shots is this.
THey don't bleed much. And they tend to live for a LONG time.

If a dog, or coyote, or person, or a rutting buck (or who knows what else)...pushes or spooks this deer...you will most likely lose the deer. THey can walk a LONG ways while gut shot, And leave NO TRACE of which way they went.

Liver lung shot deer might die within seconds...or hours.
I have witnessed BOTH.

My biggest problem with quartering to shots is the arrow.

I use the arrow to determine what to do next. If it stinks or is slimy, I worry.
THis means WAITING. Sometimes till the next day.

And even a double lung shot deer can have a gut exit on a quarter to shot. Because deer can, and do twist upon reaction to the shot.

A quartering away shot is certainly a better option. Again, there can be a problem with the exit. As in...there is none.
Shoulders are very good at stopping arrows.

Another problem with shoulder exits is this. I find that HARD bone hit deer tend to run farther and faster than softer hit deer. (heart hit do too BTW)
So you have a gut entrance (often times clotted over over covered up by fat and tissue) and no exit because it hit shoulder...HMMMMMM. PROBLEMS with blood trail.

So, what is the PERFECT shot?

Mid body (vertically) entrance, lower off side body exit with large holes, thru BOTH lungs.

Unfortunately, these ops don't come along every day.
So we PRACTICE. ANd learn deer anatomy.

EXACTLY how and where to PRECISELY and accurately place the arrow, given EVERY shot angle a deer might give us, to be able to kill this animal as cleanly and quickly as possible.

THen, we learn to recognize how to follow up on a shot, no matter how good or bad, that will maximize our potential for recovery of the animal, and the meat.

THere are three ways to learn how to do this.

One: experience. Learn from school of hard knocks. THis might take a while...years of trial and error.

Two: Ask questions. Find someone who might have already learned from (One) and ask TONS of questions. LEARN from their experience.

Three:a combination of both one and two.

Goodness, there is a TON of great information in this post. Very well said by someone who knows what they are talking about.

 

[Andy S.]

Goodness, there is a TON of great information in this post. Very well said by someone who knows what they are talking about.

x1,000

 

[Winchester]

Goodness, there is a TON of great information in this post. Very well said by someone who knows what they are talking about.

x1,000

I couldn't agree more, some Good info and as usual I agree with 100% of it.
I will reiterate, quartering away shots are a MUCH higher % shot vs quartering to with a arrow. I prefer broadside but wont hesitate on quartering away shots, with the degree of angle deciding where I shoot them. One more thing, aim for the exit hole, meaning place the arrow where the exit hole will be where you want it. This means many times shooting them far from where you would want on a perfectly broadside deer!

 

[102]

Goodness, there is a TON of great information in this post. Very well said by someone who knows what they are talking about.

x1,000

I couldn't agree more, some Good info and as usual I agree with 100% of it.
I will reiterate, quartering away shots are a MUCH higher % shot vs quartering to with a arrow. I prefer broadside but wont hesitate on quartering away shots, with the degree of angle deciding where I shoot them. One more thing, aim for the exit hole, meaning place the arrow where the exit hole will be where you want it. This means many times shooting them far from where you would want on a perfectly broadside deer!

GREAT point!

 

[catman529]

I agree very useful info 102, thanks for sharing.

 

[bvoss]

I shot a nice buck ( 125" or so) Tuesday evening at 14 steps. He was coming strait to me head down and once he got under and past there would have been no shot. I tried to aim right on the spine but the bolt entered just to the left behind his shoulder blade and only penetrated about 12-14 inches angling back towards his gut. He ran off hard smacking trees and out of sight. I've looked for three days and no sign. Like some have posted in this thread, I hope he lived. Or at least see where the buzzards have found him. Sure makes a fellow sick.

 

[catman529]

I shot a nice buck ( 125" or so) Tuesday evening at 14 steps. He was coming strait to me head down and once he got under and past there would have been no shot. I tried to aim right on the spine but the bolt entered just to the left behind his shoulder blade and only penetrated about 12-14 inches angling back towards his gut. He ran off hard smacking trees and out of sight. I've looked for three days and no sign. Like some have posted in this thread, I hope he lived. Or at least see where the buzzards have found him. Sure makes a fellow sick.

dang that will make one sick for sure. I hope you find him

 

[Southern Sportsman]

I shot a nice buck ( 125" or so) Tuesday evening at 14 steps. He was coming strait to me head down and once he got under and past there would have been no shot. I tried to aim right on the spine but the bolt entered just to the left behind his shoulder blade and only penetrated about 12-14 inches angling back towards his gut. He ran off hard smacking trees and out of sight. I've looked for three days and no sign. Like some have posted in this thread, I hope he lived. Or at least see where the buzzards have found him. Sure makes a fellow sick.

So he was facing you with his head down when you shot? With 12" of penetration, I wonder if you shot between the lungs but missed the heart? I'm not sure it's even possible to shoot between the lungs with a broadhead without hitting one, but it seems plausible. Especially after some of the reports on this thread. Maybe you'll find him, but if not, maybe you'll see him again.

 

[ROVERBOY]

BVoss, I hope you find him too. Good luck. Well, as far as weird hits on deer goes. I've got one story that happened to me. I shot a buck several years ago broadside and must have missed a lung. Because he jumped about 3 feet in the air and then tucked his tail and stood there. He didn't run. He had his tail tucked and looked around like he was scared or confused(probably both). I thought that I had missed, and then I noticed steam coming out his side. I went ahead and shot again and dropped him right there. Weird!

 

[megalomaniac]

don't let anyone tell you different... quartering away shots are the best percentage shots for an accurate archer. Quartering away is even more important than broadside when penetration may be an issue (elk or longer distance shots).

But I have too much respect for game, so I only shoot broadside or quartering away with a bow.

I didn't read this whole thread, but one of the biggest mistakes archers make is climbing too high in the tree. Get 25 feet up and shoot a deer 15ft away from the tree, and it's almost impossible to get both lungs unless they are quartering away. Better off to just hit the spine and drop them from that acute angle.