If you put an arrow thru a deer but just under the spine about mid back, would this be a lethal hit? Im thinking of the Femoral artery.

Femoral artery is in the hind leg; depending on exactly where you hit, you might have taken out the aorta/kidney/renal vessels/etc.  Might be quickly fatal, or might not...all depends on what was cut.

The vena cava (carries all venous blood back to the heart, and the aorta (carries arterial blood from the heart to the body) both lie in this area and are both larger than the femoral artery ( aorta feed the femoral artery )and if hit would definitely cause the animal to bleed out. Problem with that hit is that most of the blood will be internal since the wound is high, so all you would see would be the skin and muscle bleeding from the wound site.

Lethal?  Oh yeah.  Trackable?  Yes.  Findable?  Depends on your tracking skills.

I thinki Wile E Coyote may be right. I tracked it to just  few small drops of bright red blood but not much. I figured all blood would be internal but Im just surprised how far he went with such a wound. I will have to go back a third round and look again today. Thankyou.

I had shot one there ounce (in my wheelie days) and I had no luck finding her. Had a couple drops of blood thats all.

Your description makes me believe you may have punched a hole in the deers liver.  It will likely die, but not quickly like a lung shot.  A problem with these is that we go after them too soon and push the deer.  I likely would have run maybe 80 to 100 yards, or even less and stopped and turned to see if anything was after it.  It would likely bed nearby and if you sneak out of the tree or area and come back in a few hours, it would likely be there in that bed.  But if we pursue it, it will leave the area, and probably not leave a very good trail.
ChuckC

well said, if you shoot a deer and dont see/hear it drop, back out quietly and give it a few hours. A dead deer isnt going anywhere, a wounded deer wont go anywhere if ya leave it alone long enough. An adrenaline surge can add miles to a marginal shots tracking job.

I am pretty sure the aorta was not hit.  I know of two  previous incidents with aorta hits that resulted in both deer travelling very short distances before going down. But then again, the will to live of these critters is amazing especially if they are pushed.

I hate to report this , but on my way out to hunt Friday afternoon, I came across a wounded doe that had been shot (maybe that morning?)
It was a passthrough just like your describing.
I felt bad , she was still alive, but the stomach was really bloated and I assume full of internal blood. I had to put her to sleep with a .22 cal and drug her further into the swamp.
Hate to see an animal go to waste but she was a mess. There is alot of private land by me so I don't know where she came from. I've been lucky so far, but I will concentrate that much more now.

I am guessing that a well sliced aorta would result is a rapid loss in blood pressure from internal bleeding and a down deer... like 50 yards and down..
ChuckC

I waited an hour and then took to the trail.Afterwards I went back again for another hour from the last blood drop. Still nothing. I just hope it was a clean flesh wound . Just wasnt much blood even on the broken arrow .

My dad shot a doe in that exact spot last Nov.  Right under the spine, above one tenderloin, thru the far one, cut the femoral artery, bled like a stuck hog and dropped in less than 10 yards.  Blood sprayed out both sides.  My opinion based on experience, if you cut that artery there would be no shortage of blood to follow to the dead deer.  I studied that wound will gutting and butchering that deer and found that it is very possible to put an arrow with a 2 blade head right thru that spot without hitting anything vital.  He was shooting a Magnum I 145 4 blade which is similar to a Zepher Sasquach with a larger bleeder blade.  Does alot of damage. dino

In my wheelie days I heard lots of horror stories of this kind of hit.  I think it is definitely possible to put an arrow just below the spine and above anything vital like the lungs, liver, etc.  Have even heard of guys killing deer with this wound healed over.  It's terribly bad luck and probably hard to do, but possible.

Paradocs has it right, though.  The femoral artery does not run through there.  There is one in each rear leg.  They run down the inside of the leg.  The word femoral comes from the word femur, which is the big bone in the leg...just like human anatomy.

this post by Texasbubbba "deer anatomy 101" is helpful

http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=049672#000000

The back bone (vertebra) protects the abdominal aorta, kidneys and spinal cord.  There is a lot of non vital mass in the abdomen for a quick kill ie intestine, rumen, fat of omentum.  If you'd hit a major artery that deer would have dropped within 100 yards.  Liver hits can easily be non vital in that it's just one slice, with the abdominal fat there to help seal/clot up the wound. I've also seen the over the back into the chest shot be called a great shot on bears...wrong.  Hitting the abdomen is just a real risky shot IMHO...Doc

cvarcher,

Two weeks ago I shot a doe just under the spine about mid back. I heard her crash through the woods a long way off. I tracked her at night with the help of a friend. We found her, but tracking was difficult. Blood sign was very minimal because she bled internally but, I believe she died quickly.

My dad hit a doe just below the spine with a Simmons Landshark 160.  It was a bad shot as it hit about the width of my hand in front of the hind quarter.  It was the most impressive blood trail I have ever been on.  I'm talking about spraying 3 feet high and 4 feet wide for about 40 yards.  It was unreal.

Shot one there on Halloween by accident and had it fall in 30 yards. The arrow was protruding out the brisket so there was lots of blood, but Id never aim there on purpose.

There are a lot of places on a deer or other critter that will kill it.  Some of those places will drop it quickly.  Landshark, if you hit the aorta or the kidney, in the area your dad hit, it is dead and the trail can be phenomenal.  However, if you miss those, then you have a gut shot.  A gut shot is deadly too, and will almost undoubtedly result in a dead deer, but not very soon. A hit to a large muscle group can also be deadly, but not so quick.

Follow up is important and will be different for each of those hits.  We need to learn more about our quarry and how to react to different hits.
ChuckC