Can you scrape an animal with an arrow?

[Hatchet]

I wonder, because i've seen people talking about not being able to retrieve their arrow back because the animal fell on it, that never happened to me because i only hit two animals so far.
I think the first one got beamed up by an alien spaceship somewhere just out of sight, but the second one was a wolf i had fought with my knife earlier, it came back and i shot it with an arrow which it hit the wolf and made the wolf die when it took a few more steps.
I couldn't get my arrow back from the carcass so i thought oh great, my first kill and i can't get the arrow, and as i'm walking around the carcass i see my arrow behind where i shot the wolf in the snow.
So the question is, did the arrow scrape the wolf, or was it a glitch and did the arrow go through the wolf?
I'd like to know because it would be interesting to know that it is possible but also, if it was a glitch then i won't have to search for an arrow incase an animal does fall on the arrow.

Stupid me didn't record it <.<

~Hatchet

[cekivi]

Sorry I can't be of more help but the few times I've managed to hit something the arrow always stuck in the animal. It could be that the hit-box extends further than the animal model. Then you could get a "hit" without the arrow stopping.

In real life it's not uncommon for the arrow to go right through the animal but I don't know if that mechanic is in the game.

[Ruruwawa]

If an arrow breaks when it hits the animal (because it was low condition when you shot it) it will bounce a short ways off to one side, leaving a broken arrow.  You'll still get a blood trail / bleed out / kill.

But I haven't ever lost an arrow "under" an animal.   Almost always you'll be able to target the arrow somewhere around the edge of the carcass.  At worse you can entirely harvest the carcass then come back to the spot a few hours later to pick your arrow up off the ground after the carcass disappears.

So if the arrow isn't laying in that spot after the carcass disappears, search around nearby for a broken arrow.