Sad tale of elk hunting woe

[marcusjb]

It wasn't a good day yesterday. I took my bow out for some late season elk hunting. Along came a nice cow and I was thinking meat in the freezer. She was broadside.Well, it was a few yards further than I thought and I shot low, but pretty close behind the shoulder. I saw the shot clearly and I was thinking, "should have been a little higher, but that's a dead elk." The arrow penetrated both sides and I could just see the fletching protruding. One and a half miles of tracking later I gave up the trail. I was following little specks of blood spaced every 100 feet or so. The elk isn't going to die, but I am curious if anyone has made this particular shot, or can give me an idea of what happened. I'm assuming I hit too far back from the shoulder to hit the heart, even though it seemed fairly close to the shoulder.

[bawanajim]

ORIGINAL: marcusjb

shot low, but pretty close behind the shoulder. I saw the shot clearly and I was thinking, "should have been a little higher, but that's a dead elk." The arrow penetrated both sides and I could just see the fletching protruding.

The elk isn't going to die,

. I'm assuming I hit too far back from the shoulder to hit the heart,
even though it seemed fairly close to the shoulder.

This is tough you say the shoot was low!
You say you saw it well.
You say it was a dead elk.

Afterthis allseems to be wrong you ask people siting in their own home how you screwed this elk hunt up!
Maybe go back and look for your elk because you were the only one there.

[yajsab]

wasted meat...

[marcusjb]

One and a half miles of tracking later I gave up the trail. I was following little specks of blood spaced every 100 feet or so. The elk isn't going to die.

Why?

[madmax83192]

somebody that went up elk hunting with us had the same thing happen he shot her and we tracked her for a good 5 miles and she was able to keep up with the others..

[skidder]

thats a big animal... lots of room to miss something vital.

[younggun308]

And alot of weight to fall dead because of lead poisoning.

He may have hit the liver.

By now it's probably rotten.

[lethalconnection]

The thing is you may have hit her good but if she was extended out when you shot her and if there was a small entry and exit wound then what can happen is the hide can move back over the hole in the ribs and leave just little dribbles and the blood will clot between the hide and ribs and stop bleeding but she could be bleeding really bad internally so she could be dead or you could have just hit between the guts and vitals but thats along ways back from the shoulder.

[wyomingtrapper]

Not being there, there is no second guessing. If you can track, always keep tracking. If after several hours you can't continue the trail for sign, then start circling out in the general direction she went. Odds are she is dead.

[Alsatian]

marcusjb: You probably know this and did this, but if you have a wounded animal it is a good idea to give them some time before you follow up the trail -- maybe an hour in a case such as yours (bow hunting a hit, but the animal is observed to move on out of the area). Like others, I don't think you should have given up on the trail after 1.5 hours of tracking. I have tracked blood sign from a deer wounded by a friend for substantially longer than 1.5 hours before.