I shot a nice nine pointer in North Dakota on the 11th in our favorite river bottom hunting spot. The second largest member of the local bachelor herd he would have been a ten pointer but he had broken one of his tines, leaving only a nub. It was a clean double lung hit at 15 yards from a ground blind. I used my new-to-me pre-owned Hoyt Havoc. As this bow came already tuned for mechanical-tipped carbons I gave in and used them too, for the first time (a big leap of faith for a fella who started this game shooting cedars tipped with Magnus 150 grain two-blades from a recurve, let me tell you). At the hit my buck took off in a startled sprint up a rise out of the river bottom. He began to wobble about fifty yards out. He jinked hard to the right, stopped after ten yards, shuddered and collapsed.

Things got much more interesting when we skinned him. High on his back, above the spine, but in line where a fella ought to plant a double lung hit, there was a mass of yellow tissue where one would usually find backstrap. Could it be? We cut away the tissue to find that the spinous process of one of the vertebra was missing, cut off square. It could be. An inspection of the hide disclosed a small open wound that the buck appears to have chewed at over time. And on either side of the wound were three-lobed scars. I have shot my buck before…

Three years ago in the same little woods I wounded and did not recover a six point buck. I stuck him with the arrow high through the backstraps just behind the shoulder. The arrow struck with an audible snap and stopped in him. After a moment of shared shock and dismay he took off like the proverbial scalded cat. Seconds later he ran past a buddy sitting another ground blind, but with no arrow in him. We retraced the buck’s trail and found where he had snagged the Muzzy three-blade on the branch of a downed tree, pulling the aluminum shaft from his back. I never saw him again – until a week ago Friday - but always hoped he had recovered. Seems he did. Did he gnaw at that irritating bit of spine until he plucked it from the wound with his teeth? Had he suffered all this time or had removing the offending bone eased his pain? I’ll never know, but I’m glad I got to set things straight with a proper shot, a solid hit, and a clean kill. Good hunting!

Well it took awhile to recover that one!!! Glad you finally got him.

the chef

I know a local taxidermist who has recovered half a dozen encapsulated broadheads from the spines of bucks. Those are some tough critters!

Most were 100 grains, most were mechanicals, all were three and four-bladed. The only non-mechanical was a 100 grain Muzzy.

Most were angled steeply from above.

From this and my own experiences I will not use mechanicals, and I like to use two-blade cut-on-contact heads with heavy total arrow weight.

Glad you got him!

Congratulations mb. A nice buck and a fine story. You are sort of relieved knowing what happened of this buck. I imagine he was in good form?
He am still looking for a buck (roebuck) I hit in the scapula and that fleed with my lighted tracer tearing the night.
Quote Don_G"From this and my own experiences I will not use mechanicals, and I like to use two-blade cut-on-contact heads with heavy total arrow weight."
I share your point of view : I never ever used anything different from a two-blade cut-on-contact head.

quote:

From this and my own experiences I will not use mechanicals, and I like to use two-blade cut-on-contact heads with heavy total arrow weight.