In the Outdoors
Avoid the void
With Oak Duke
Is there a void?

Does the void exist?

At first glance one might think that metaphysicians, cosmologists, and those that are experts in otherworldly phenomena could best answer this question.

And maybe they can.

But they can't help us much when we're on the trail after a good hit.

The question of the existence of The Void is hotly debated in deer camps, in trucks heading out for a hunt, or when a bunch of bowhunters begin seriously talking about arrow placement.

Nobody has been able to prove that The Void does not exist.

Each year, once in a while we hear the refrain by experienced hunters, "I never believed in 'that void crap' before, but after what happened yesterday afternoon on stand made me a believer."

Bowhunters for years have debated the issue because there appears to be a "void" in a whitetail's chest, right where it is not supposed to be.

What other explanation can there be if an arrow is seen as centering a whitetail's chest cavity and yet the effectiveness of the recovery of the animal is much, much less than expected and desired?

Disappointment is a cold and lonely moment at the end of the trail.

And more than one bowhunter has excitedly called his buddy on the phone, proclaiming, "I doublelunged him," only to pick up the track and find the trail stretching for quite a long, long ways through the woods.

Puzzlement, frustration, and anxiety find us on the track, searching for an answer as we look for the deer. We are distracted.

Our confidence is sapped.

Our concentration flutters as angst seeps into our soul.

"Did the arrow go through 'The Void?"

"Oh, no."

And as the trail gets longer, the question of "The Void" gets louder.

Science seems to have come down on the side of the nonbelievers in The Void theory.

And it seems that the question should be able to be quickly answered by science after all, the mechanics of arrow trajectory, and whitetail anatomy are pretty clear-cut.

But we are talking about The Void, after all, not just another simple aspect of whitetail behavior and cause and effect in the outdoors.

But if we don't find a satisfactory answer from science and experts in pnuemothoractic trauma or from Pulmonologists, where should we look? First, we need to try to define "The Void."

And that's tough. How do you define, "nothing?"

The Void is a lack, an empty space.

Many experienced bowhunters have thought about The Void, and know where it is: The Void is located specifically below the deer's spine, but above the lungs. Experts in pulmonary anatomy dismiss the idea of The Void, despite testimonies from experienced hunters, saying that the chest cavity is full of the lungs and that in fact, the lungs are adhered to the chest cavity by fluid pressure like two plastic air-tight bags, one inside the other with water in between.

And yet logic and our own basic efforts in the anatomical experience (when we field dress a deer) tell us a different story: first off, if an animal's lungs only expanded as the chest cavity expanded, that is not much of an advantage compared to a critter with the ability to have extra space. Expandable lung animals could run further and be more successful at escaping predators.

And second, when we dress out our deer, the lungs are obviously much smaller than the chest cavity. We see from our literal firsthand knowledge that there is a gap or void in the lung cavity.

Other experienced bowhunters say that a high lung hit can sometimes be less than effective, especially if it is only penetrates one lung. A high stand can create a difficult angle for an archer to hit both lungs, even though it appears to be "in the center of the chest."

And the jury is still out whether The Void exists or not.

Oak Duke is the publisher of the Wellsville Daily Reporter and writes a weekly outdoors column.