Sad tale of elk hunting woe
12-17-2006, 09:55 AM
#1
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Idaho
Posts: 244
Sad tale of elk hunting woe
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.
12-17-2006, 01:08 PM
#2
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: PA
Posts: 8,167
RE: Sad tale of elk hunting woe
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.
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.
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.
01-02-2007, 11:30 AM
#5
Typical Buck
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Rocky Mountian High, Colorado
Posts: 569
RE: Sad tale of elk hunting woe
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..
01-19-2007, 09:15 PM
#8
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Calgary,Alberta,Canada
Posts: 2,123
RE: Sad tale of elk hunting woe
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.
01-20-2007, 11:23 PM
#9
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 612
RE: Sad tale of elk hunting woe
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.
01-22-2007, 08:38 AM
#10
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
RE: Sad tale of elk hunting woe
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.
