The Liver Shot Experience

Written by: Ryan Reading, Fall Obsession Pro Staff

Hunters practice all year long shooting their bow indoors and outdoors but yet, shots on whitetail still seem to be questionable. In this article we will focus on arrow placement and the liver shot experience. 

This year, I myself was fortunate enough to harvest my number one hit list buck. While that clearly doesn’t happen every year, I was lucky in 2024. 

Let’s talk shot placement and as many say, the dreaded liver shot. Now, most hunters are well aware they need to aim and shoot for the main vitals of heart and lungs for a quick humane kill. The problem with that is, it doesn’t always happen. There are a number of things that could change the outcome of obtaining your harvest, everything from buck fever to bad shot placement, branches and even bow or arrow issues. 

This is where the dreaded liver hit comes into play. Many hunters may aim for the vitals but wind, branches bad aiming or a deer moving can easily affect the shot placement. This year, that’s exactly what happened to myself. 

Let me explain this particular situation. I had been getting a number of chasing photos on my Tactacam Reveal over a day and a half. Large bucks chasing does in a specific location. That told me it was go time. I packed my gear and was situated in the stand by 2 pm. While it was a 75 degree day, I was still hopeful they would be moving. I was literally sweating sitting in the stand, the only thing that was helping was the 20 mph winds. 

Around 4 pm all “hell” broke loose. Over the ridge came a doe at full bore. Behind her were three other bucks. Snorting, drooling and running at top speed after her. The first two were mediocre size bucks wired for sound but the last buck, that was my shooter. I watched the doe, about 85 yards off to my right. She was running at top speed and dragging the boys behind her. In my mind I thought, well, I’m outta luck. She kept on going and they followed. Just then I heard hooves coming up the left side of the grape row. It was her! Right behind her was this gaggle of bucks and “Floppy” the shooter buck.  

As the flew by me with the other bucks behind her, “floppy” stopped. He stopped behind my tree and was watching the others chase and looked up at me. I believe he would’ve busted me except for the winds. Everything was moving that day, so I believe he wasn’t as startled. The buck started to take off heading back towards the other deer in the bottom. This is when I spun around, drew back and grunted to stop him. He stopped and looked right at me. At full draw, I let the arrow fly. Right at that moment he decided to start moving and took a step. As you can imagine, that step set the arrow placement back 6 inches from my aim point. 

I watched the arrow enter and luckily I center punched the liver and just barely clipped the off side lung. The buck took off rapidly, tail down running low and fast, losing the arrow about fifty yards later. I watched the buck go up and over the knoll and disappear, hearing no crash. I was excited and upset because although I knew it was a decent shot, it could’ve been better.  

I waited about an hour and walked down to retrieve my arrow. I walked another fifty yards past the arrow and wasn’t seeing a good blood trail. My gut was telling me “when in doubt, back out”. That’s exactly what I did. I was worried the warm weather would spoil the meat but I had no choice.

Knowing I hit the liver, I usually recommend a minimum of four hours. In this case, I waited overnight. I didn’t want to lose the deer, so I was making sure. Unfortunately, not locating the buck until noon, the meat was no good. At that point, I said well, I’d rather lose the meat than the whole deer, attempting to rationalize the situation.  

What did I take away from the liver shot? I learned a center punch liver shot with a four blade hybrid Slick Trick is for sure a dead whitetail. I also learned that unless you hit the hepatic artery, you will not have a lot of blood.

This would be my second time in my hunting scenarios hitting the liver. Each time the buck was able to go roughly five to seven hundred yards . This is key knowing those exact distances, so don’t give up on your next liver shot animal. Walk five to seven hundred yards in each direction if you have a minimal blood trail. You will located that deer. I believe it’s the magic number that bucks are able to go before the body gets weak or tired from the hit and one of two things happen. They will either lay down and expire or run that distance until they drop. As long as you don’t push that deer from their first bed, you will recover a liver hit deer.

The old adage is that deer won’t go uphill when injured. That is far from the truth. Large bucks will go uphill, downhill, zig and zag while they’re in a fight or flight situation. I will note, that if there is some water or a creek body they may follow that or expire near that area. I truly believe a liver hit buck knows he is hurt and wants to get back to his thickest bedding. If you know where that may be, make sure to search that area also.

“Floppy” was able to make it about seven hundred yards and almost made it back to his main bedding location but fell short of that task. Again, just because you don’t have blood. Don’t give up or don’t think you didn’t make a good shot. Sometimes, the deer has to fill up inside before there is any trace of blood.

How I recover liver hit deer. I will watch were that deer last exited. I will then look at my map and go to that location. I then map the three most logical or possible escape routes or trails. I walk each direction up to seven hundred yards. If I am not able to locate that deer I go back to the halfway mark in my trail and do circles from there. Usually around 250 yards from where I started the track. I’ve learned the usual distance liver hit deer go is five to seven hundred yards and none have fallen under 250 yards. I use that number to start my circles. These circles are usually one to two hundred yards in circumference. Usually, you will recover that deer using these methods. If all else fails, use a drone, if legal in your state and concentrate on bedding areas the buck may have headed towards.

Usually, these techniques will help you recover that dreaded liver hit. Be patient and don’t rush after your shot and you should recover that deer, as most liver hits are lethal. Good luck on your next adventure and remember that a minimal or zero blood trail doesn’t always mean a bad hit.