That's not exactly true. A deer hit in one lung will produce the bright pink, frothy blood we all hope to see. But deer can and do sometimes survive one lung wounds. So It may not be dead as the kitchen sink.
Dark red? I would agree that the hit was most likely fatal. What I meant by a marginal liver hit was not all liver hits a equal. A broadhead right through the center of the liver where the vessels are located, is not the same as a liver that was barely clipped out on the edges, yet they both produce dark blood. The former hit will kill the deer reasonably fast but the latter hit may take many hours to die.
The same can be said for "gut" shots. The farther back into the intestines, the longer it will take for the deer to die. And again, those 2 locations also produce darker blood.
ok.. haven't had one with pink blood survive. That blood on that deer is red, looks like liver or natty said glancing blow. That deer is NOT HIT in the lungs or heart, I can promise you that. It looks like a liver shot, glancing or not, part of the liver or the whole liver. I can promise you that if that liver is hit, that deer will die 100%. It's just a matter of time before it dies of internal injuries. the liver IS a vital organ and generally a broadhead slicing it open it not good. Me personally.. dark red..let it bed. come back HOURS upon HOURS later. I can promise you that it will be laying right where it went down. A true gut shot deer will generally bulk up on it's haunches and look like a camel. dark red blood.. let it bed.
The only part of your earlier post that I didn't agree with was "Pink blood, dead as the kitchen sink".
And I was not implying he hit the deer in the lung(s). I was just pointing out that even though lungs produce pink blood, it doesn't always produce a dead deer.
I completely agree that a liver hit, even a nick, will kill the deer 100%. But a nicked liver won't kill as quickly as a dead center liver hit. And I wasn't implying he hit it in the guts. I was only using the gut-hit analogy as a comparison to liver hits...Not all liver hits kill equally fast as other liver hits and the same is true of gut hits. A forward gut hit kills in 6-8 hours. A "gut" hit to the rear of the large intestines takes much longer to kill.
The OP said the arrow was light pink and didn't smell. Blood colot on arrows can be a little desieving and I dont think we can really tell characteristics of the ground blood by his pics. As blood dries, it get darker.
He also said it was a good hit (although his eyes obviously played tricks on him).
One thing the OP didn't mention was how steep was the downward angle. Its possible that he missed the near lung and nicked the top of the far lung which could explain why the deer was bleeding on the opposite side of the hit.
I tend to think he is just mistaken about it being a good hit.
And btw, I have had a buck survive a one lung hit. Pink blood with bubbles and deer blowing a little blood from his nose. He was harassing does 8 days later.
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