Shoot and Track

[Elkhunttoo]

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Here he is!! The climax of all your hard work! This beast is right in front of you! Your at full draw!You settle your pin right behind the shoulder where you think is best and then let the arrow fly! OH CRAP! What went wrong!! I hit back of where I wanted!!!


Now you all tell me. You hit this bull right where the mark is. How long are you going to give him? What vitals if any do you think I hit? Where should I have hit this bull for a quick clean kill?

Shooter is the same angle as the picture so this bull would be quartering towards you a little

[RanchoSueno]

Back of lung/diaphragm/liver
Give him a good 4-6hrs and be studious of direction of travel post-shot. If the conditions allow, stalk in for a follow-up or get to a vantage point to sit it out. Last resort; follow the birds the next day. I would have tried to hug tighter to the shoulder about 5 inches up and 2 inches left of the elbow

[Indian Summer]

Gut shot. I’m coming back in the morning.

[WapitiTalk1]

Gut shot for sure and as RanchoSueno mentioned, possible single lung, diaphragm, liver shot; broadheads can change directions if they hit or glance off a rib. As Indian Summer mentioned, mark where you shot from and where the animal was standing/heading and back out. These types of shots can take many hours to shut down the bull's systems. If you start tracking too soon, you'll only jump the animal and push him.. instead of letting him lay down for his final dirt nap. This is a pretty tough angle for a bowhunting, especially considering the angle the bull is facing in relation to the shooter. If the shooter has great cover, and the wind/thermals are in his/her favor "and" the bull is only 20-25 yards away then there is a shot although it's a very small window. You can go ahead and complement me now on my fabulous artwork

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[Old school]

Gut shot just as I.S. called it. Back out, pray for no rain or snow overnight and come back and start tracking in the morning. Needed to tuck that shot right behind the near shoulder but as close to the front near shoulder as possible.

[RanchoSueno]

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[Lefty]

Ive helped other track similar shots..

Im risking loosing meat instead of loosing the whole animal. Much would depend, what did the bull do after the shot. Wait wait wait

[>>>---WW---->]

Rancho got it right! Pay attention to what she said. Second option would be to let him lay up overnight like Joe suggested. But there is a 50/50 chance the meat will be spoiled. At least the side laying on the ground would be suspect to spoilage. I've seen them spoil laying in snow over night with temperatures in the teens. If the meat is still good, consider yourself lucky. If not, punch your tag, and collect your antlers and better luck next season!

[Swede]

If you do not push the elk, he will likely bed down nearby. In that case Rancho is likely right on. But when will he die? It is all a guess. Sometimes it takes hours and if you push him, he will leave the area, and you will have no blood trail to follow. If you let him go, he could die within a half hour and spoil before you get to him. It is a bad situation you are dealing with. I do not like it when I am looking for birds to help locate a dead animal. It is too late to salvage the meat. My friend had that situation this last season. The birds led him to his elk. He salvaged the antlers.

[Lefty]

Years back ,my father in law made a good center of both lungs shot with a 264. ( im betting it was a 130 gn Hornady compaction loads that he had me load for him years later) at 200 yards
In the 60's he liked fast/ flat loads. My father in law was a shooter, and relied on the best shot placement for his kills
But shot place ment doesn't mean instant death. It often means tracking


He had easy tracking at first, bumping the bull with in the hour of the shot, then trailed it for another mile .
The bull was found by a rancher friend in the area,,, birds that bull scored green, 393. the bullet went clean through, only piercing skin and lungs and likely very little bullet expansion

My buddy tries to convince all his clients if they are going to hunt with him he wants a .338 or bigger .
My dad and his buddy shot .308, 220 gn hand load Remington Cor-loc sbullets .

The only center fire I now own ( hunt) is 7mm,,,coyotes antelope, deer elk and moose.
To do it all over again,,, knowing what I know,I would have a big gun, delivering a big bullets for bear deer and elk. But like my father in law I "expect" shot placement to be good.

[Swede]

Years ago, I killed an elk with a Nosler Partition bullet. It went through the chest cavity and lay just under the hide on the offside. I could have reloaded it I guess except it had the rifling marks and was slightly bent. I guess Nosler puts out a good bullet but have never bought another one. Why pay more for a premium bullet when others do as good and maybe better?

[Tigger]

.... Why pay more for a premium bullet when others do as good and maybe better?

I will take a stab at the answer! Simply put, because I believe premium bullets are better. No bullet is going to be perfect. A premium bullet probably does its job 98% of the time compared to 90% of the time for a non-Premium bullet. If you happen to hit that 2%, you would think they are junk. But if you shot 100 animals with each, it would revert to the odds and the premium bullet would pull away. I have heard many stories of Core Lokts failing as well. So really, sample size is critical and most people don't shoot enough animals to have a meaningful sample size. One last item, each bullet has a velocity it needs to perform well. A hunting bullet at 2,500 yards is not going to do its job no matter how well made.

For the record, I use Barnes TTSX and love them. so far for me, they have been 100%. I am sure one will fail at some point in the future, but for their whole book of work, they have done a great job.

[2MANY]

Small 3rds

Id let him walk.

[saddlesore]

Sometimes you let the elk walk. This hunting thing isn't all about killing an animal no matter what. I would not have taken the shot even with a rifle. It is better to wait and see if a better shot presentation is given, rather than admitting you screwed up.

I have had to track a few that were shot by others such as this. Never did find one that did not have meat spoilage. Half an elk is not better than a whole elk in this case.

As for bullet selection, Except for a few elk I have killed with 180gr Partitions, ( only because I bought them for $13.box of 50 form SPS) all my elk have been killed with C&C or pure lead muzzle loader bullets. I don't have the exact numbers, but the punched tags in my file numbers over 50. Bullets are like selecting a proper rifle chambering for the game you intend to hunt.They all have their limitations. Once you get into magnum velocities,that takes a tougher bullet, or selecting a light weight bullet that was not designed for heavier game. The bullet is the only thing between you and the animal, but the nut behind the trigger has to make the decision as to when to shoot and when not to.

[Swede]

Saddlesore makes some interesting and valid points. I agree with his take on this shoot or no shot evaluation. He is correct on the bullet selection too. All of this opens up what I was going to pass on.

I have made the shot in question on an elk at just a little longer range. When it comes to killing elk, I have ice water in my veins. Do you? I could hit a spot the size of a quarter at 20 yards in the field with a bow or rifle. Can you? I am not bragging. These are important things to consider. I have killed 5 or 6 elk with spine shots. They stop immediately, when hit right, but a miss would be a mess. At 20 or 30 yards can you ethically take the shot, or should you wait?
I have had my share of shooting failures. I am far from perfect. I have hit limbs, had equipment failures (arrow rest problems) and poor assessment of the situation errors. The deer or elk moved just when I released. Some I missed completely and a few I hit. A poor hit has kept me up all night tracking and hunting for the critter the next day and off and on for days after. The key is to know your ability, your equipment and have a good awareness of the situation. This awareness needs to be updated annually for me. I am in my late 70s now and I keep in shape year-round. I do not dare let off as it is very hard to come back after losing physical ability. I have to reevaluate my shooting ability every year. It goes without saying I practice shooting almost daily for months before the season. All of these things are important in preparing for any difficult shot. Only a hunting slob would go out unprepared and take high risk shots. If you are not sure of yourself then a shot at the animal pictured above is too risky.
Bullet selection is another matter. Making the shot pictured above is one thing. A 300-yard broadside is another. Even with a rifle I do not remember ever killing an elk at 100 yards. Bullet selection should be based on your rifle and anticipated shooting range. Even then there are things we cannot know in advance, like will I be hitting bone or not?
Know your ability and your equipment including your ammunition.

[RanchoSueno]

I think folks are missing the exact circumstances of the post; it says you let an arrow fly. So this negates all firearm comments and comes down to archery equipment only

[saddlesore]

I think folks are missing the exact circumstances of the post; it says you let an arrow fly. So this negates all firearm comments and comes down to archery equipment only

The exact circumstances should not occur then. Point is, the arrow should not have been let fly.

[RanchoSueno]

I hope we can agree to disagree because I feel fully competent to take a quartered too shot with my archery rig if the bull isn't too far out. But this post wasn't about "shoot or wait", "it's already screwed up and now how would you proceed". Like you can't take it back now, what's the first step moving forward. And I tuink it's awesome to play out these scenarios because if you're hunting long enough, even with good ethics, bad shots are bound to happen.

[Elkhunttoo]

Now you all tell me. You hit this bull right where the mark is. How long are you going to give him? What vitals if any do you think I hit? Where should I have hit this bull for a quick clean kill?

Shooter is the same angle as the picture so this bull would be quartering towards you a little

[Elkhunttoo]

Things happen….it can be the perfect everything and the bull might of stepped.

This could be any of us next season…hopefully not but I think it’s good to run through some of these scenarios just incase it ever is you.

One this bull if I hit him where the dot is and he is the angle he is it’s unfortunate but good to know what the next step might be.

Do I wait an hour, 2,3….12. We all hope for the best but good to prepare for the worst

[Swede]

Personally, I have never felt the necessity of coloring within the lines or following all the rules. After all who drew those stupid lines or made the rules?

[Elkhunttoo]

Personally, I have never felt the necessity of coloring within the lines or following all the rules. After all who drew those stupid lines or made the rules?

Probably some bored guy sitting in a tree stand with nothing better to do

[Swede]

I think the lines and rules are just in our mind in this scenario. To allow for a muzzle loader or rifle in our assessment of an 18-yard shot seems perfectly acceptable to me since the same principles apply. It just might be a little off base to say something for or against spanking the bull with a hickory switch.