no good news as of yet
.
this hunt was behind a fire station and every time they leave a large pack of yotes start going off close, like 300yds close. my dog is 22lbs and I'm not gonna let him off leash in this area much. but we searched, me with thermal (open woods so it works good) and him staying pretty tight. I don't think dude laid down with an arrow in him like that but kept moving, like a shoulder shot deer does. 1 lung isn't gonna kill him either, at least not anything near quick. was hoping he stayed in area and the dogs got him last night but found no evidence of that.
what I figure (may) of happened is I hit ribs at an angle that possibly deflected out off first rib taking some energy, hit solid on 2nd rib but taking energy, hitting third rib and deflecting in but robbing the energy. the cell cam pic is taken above his back. the ground he was on was a foot or 2 higher than the ground i was on, so at best I was level with the red dot if not shooting slightly up hill. I hit where I was aiming and the only thing there is ribs to stop it. the sound was wrong also, sounded like hitting a tree not a watermelon and when he ran and I saw my arrow paint my first thought was that's not enough. what I have learned from this is while elevated a quartering away shot may be the best to take and not be affected by ribs, but on the ground that can be a wall of bone and I should of aimed for belly and left of front left leg. I was aiming at belly just behind back rib at first, but moved right to line up with front leg at the last seconds before shot and it cost me a brute. better yet I could of waited for more of a broadside shot, it would of came. I passed on this deer broadside 46yds 2 weeks ago, videoed him tearing up a tree.
we're not done searching but not feeling good about this. he wasn't trapped by terrain like the last one was.