Gut Shot Elk--Now What!

[ElkNut1]

Unfortunately crap can happen in the elkwoods! One of those things is gut shooting a critter! What then? What do I look for to know whether it was gut shot or not? How long should I wait? Do you get after him right away? What if it's raining/snowing? Was the shot early morning or evening? Will he last the night if left over or will the meat bone sour? How hot is it? How far will he go if pushed? How far if not pushed? Other hunters in the area? Should I go look for my arrow? Should I go to where I last saw him or her? Yep, lots of things to consider & questions to answer. We all have them & this is a great time before the season to tackle them & possibly save someone from additional misery of gut shooting an elk! Elk are tough critters & can take a licking, there are pre-cautions we need to consider & deal with when & if this ever happens to us!

Yes, lots to think about! What are the answers to some of these questions that some here may have experienced or read? Lots is common sense & some things you only learn by experience!

ElkNut1

[Swede]

Watch your elk as it leaves. Often a gut shot elk will lie down within 100 yards. Sometimes they just stand there and shake before walking away. Thankfully, I have never gut shot an elk, but a couple in my party have. In each case the hunter pursued the elk too soon and it was not recovered. I have tried to help other hunters recover a gut shot elk. Usually the elk are bedded when the hunter tries to recover it too soon and before it is dead. If you know it is gut shot, back out of the area and don't disturb it for six to eight hours. If you need to determain that it was gut shot, and the elk is not in sight, carefully and quietly try to find your arrow. If it was gut shot, you should have a complete pass through. Hot weather or risk of another hunter finding your elk before you do, are not as great as the likelyhood of pushing the elk off where you will not find it.

[elkmtngear]

I had good quartering away shot on a 5x5 one morning, and I screwed up and hit way too far back. I immediately cow called after the shot, and just remained quiet for about an hour. I then climbed down out of my tree, and snuck back out away from the area very quietly. I walked the 2 1/2 miles back out to where our rig was parked, and got on the radio for my hunting partner, who was hunting a different drainage. He soon came back to the trailhead, and we both went back down to look for the bull. By the time we got back, it had been about 4 1/2 hours since the shot.

When we got back to where I made the shot, there was no blood. I knew I had buried the arrow almost to the nock at a very steep forward angle, and I had watched the bull run straight away uphill, and heard what sounded like a "cough" at one point around 150 yards up on the sidehill. So I started looking around up where I had heard him, and my partner began making circles looking for blood where I had made the shot.

After about an hour, it was not looking good, I was starting to get that "sick" feeling when you think you have mortally wounded an animal.....when I heard my buddy yell out the most beautiful words a guy could ever hear....."I found him"!

Apparently, the bull had made a huge circle, and come back around almost to where he was shot. I still think hearing the cow call after the shot was the reason he returned back to the area. There was a lot of liver damage, and it turns out, my broadhead had made it through and pierced the lower tip of the far lung....the reason for the "cough" in my opinion. I have never truly "gut shot" an elk, but this was the closest I have come so far. I'm glad I backed out of the area and did not attempt to trail him too soon, it could have been disastrous IMHO if he were bumped. If it were an evening hunt, I would have left the area and came back in the morning, and I would do so for any type of liver/gut hit in the future.

[WapitiTalk1]

Swede covered a lot of it.. Confirm that it was indeed the dreaded paunch shot (one can usually tell by the sound and the visual impact spot... it's not a nice sound at all and the animal somewhat hunches over for a second like it had a stomach cramp). They get very sick, very quickly and will head to bed down somewhere and oftentimes, toward water downhill (sick critter). The arrow if found will have intestinal matter on it and there will very little blood normally.. Here's a roosey cow that was a deflected arrow hit in the bread basket. WA penninsula 10 or 12 years ago. Shot her right before dark and knew immediately what kind of hit it was. Backed out, went back to base camp, and came back at zero dark thirty the next morning. The small herd she was with had moved on but she had bedded down perhaps 80 yards from where I quietly backed out of. She was alive, stood up very wobbly, and I released a well placed arrow. She still went 30 yards beyond where she was bedded before crashing down. Last thing you want to do is push them.. They'll crash a long ways from where you hit them. Been part of a few of these and as Elknut said, crap happens and you've gotta be ready to deal with it.. Back out, wait for em to bed, and get em later. RJ

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[ElkManDan]

I've had the unfortunate opportunity to go after a gutshot elk. Last year I had an opportunity on a bull that happened very quickly. I spotted legs walking through the thick pines and he was headed right at me. I dropped to my knees and had a small window 20 yards in front of me. I was not ready with a diaphram in my mouth since it was not quite 3PM and I was just heading a mile deeper before I was going to sit and wait for the evening activity to start. I was at full draw and the bull walked right into my lane but I don't know what I was thinking but I obviously thought he was going to stop in my small lane. By the time I realized he wasn't going to stop and pulled the trigger I got him about a foot further back than I wanted. I sat for a few minutes thinking he had blown out of there and after a few minutes of hearing nothing I moved to go back to talk to my buddy who had been 10 yards behind me the whole time. The bull apparently had not gone far and he caught movement and took off.

I wanted to look for him that evening and I was hoping I got him in the liver so I gave him 4 hours before going after him. There was very little blood and I would say after the first 50 yards he was only dropping about 2 drops every 10 yards. We tracked till dark thirty and didn't make much progress on the trail. I didn't sleep too much that night knowing that whether or not I found the bull that I had killed one. In the morning I sent my buddy out and went looking for myself. I did not find blood and tried all the methods. Grid pattern, circling, I even reverted to the wandering method for about an hour. Finally I went back to the last blood and crawled my way through his trail following very light hoof tracks. After 30 min of this I found another drop of blood about 50 yards away. I then continued on with this method until I found a good spot where he had bedded down and i found a clump of fat and some good blood. I am guessing that the bull had heard me tracking the previous night and I probably jumped him out of his bed as I left the night before. I was able to follow tracks with very sporatic blood for the next 200 yards until i finally cast my eyes on the most beautiful sight ever. My bull. I am not proud of my shot but I knew that I had to give every effort to retrieve my bull.

If I were to do it again I would have not gone after my bull that night, I would have waited until morning. I knew I hit him back too far and although I was hopeful I hit liver I did not. The worst thing you can do is give up. You must give every effort to find the animal. I was able to quarter the bull out using the gutless method and I didn't lose any of the meat even though temps were quite high still as it was August 29th.

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[westaner]

If you know for sure or any inclination of a gut shot back away silently , don't even go twenty yards closer to look for blood or arrow!! The animal will only go a short distance 15-50 yds and stand for a while before bedding. After a few hours it has a hard time getting back up. Then you can look for arrow and blood silently stalking forward. But depending on time of day,evening let it go to morning. If morning start tracking in 5-7 hrs if it is determined gut shot. If its still alive and you jump it back off again.
The longer you wait the better the odds of it being near. Just have to judge how long before the fermentation gases lock the animal in its bed.
It sucks when it happens but you can retrieve an elk with unspoiled meat.

[ElkNut1]

Great stuff guys!!! It's so tempting to go after a hit bull, but like mentioned, do not do it!!!! Gut shot elk generally will not go far if left alone, generally less than 200yds so no hooting & hollering like a TV celebrity, stay absolutely quiet, mark your area & get out of there, 4 hours is too soon to get back after them for sure, 6hr min. Gut shot elk just don't leak blood well at all, if you pursue & jump them there's a good chance you'll never see them again! I hope everyone is reading these great experiences! Heat is ones enemy but remember when leaving them for 6hr min that these elk are still living & breathing 6hr-10hr sometimes, so the meat is not spoiling! When animal is found get the hide off pronto,I would not open up or gut elk, use gutless method so you do not taint the meat with the undesirable stomach fluids, it will stink bad enough as is!

ElkNut1

[Harmy]

Two seasons ago my partner shot a spike with a 30-06 just as the sun was going down. I joined him and he was sure he hit it right in the sweet spot. I left my rifle in the truck as it was now dark and taking my partner at his word I should not need my weapon (big mistake and I now carry a 357 mag). He took his rifle and we both turned on our headlamps. This was about 20 minutes after the shot at this point. The elk ran straight up the thick timber slope. We found blood immediately (bright pink foamy globs and indicative of a shot passing clear through and hitting the lungs). There was huge amounts of pink and red blood on both sides of his trail and on leaves immediately adjacent to each other. In some spots we could see blood spray several feet into the leaves. We tracked him for only about 20 minutes and came upon him bedded down in the aspen slope above the pines. He was still alive. We were 10 feet from him. I told my partner to shoot him in the head. But he could not see through his scope of course as it was now completly dark with no moon. As we fumbled around the spike jumped up and stumbled off 20 years. Broad side. Partner still could not see enough to shoot and was unwilling to just fire from the hip. Spike then turned and ran away. Bummer! We spent the next 5 hours following the blood trail. The blood started to slow until towards the end of our battery life we were only finding blood droplets every 50 to 100 feet. It was excruciatingly difficult tracking as there were lots of other elk in the area and many tracks crossing all over the place. Luckily we were able to determine the spike had a slightly odd foot print and so we were able to follow his trail far better than I would have guessed. Of course, we were not fully prepared and our batteries died sometime after 2:00 am. We had to give up and head back to camp. We came back next morning and continued the effort. We were able to pick up the trail again and found several beddings with lots of blood (but no more pink foam). Again we tracked mainly on our hands and knees looking for the odd blood droplet which were only finding every 100 feet or so. You can imagine the criss-crossing we were doing on that slope. We followed the trail for what was about 3 miles until I ran out of time and had to leave my partner at 1:00 pm. My partner continued the effort clear into the next night at which point the blood stopped completely and he gave up at about 2:00 am. He was so dissapointed and upset that he did not get the animal that the next two seasons he only took head shots and missed both times. While not a gut shot as in this thread it was another example of just how tough these animals are and restressing the point of not running immediately after them after the shot.

[Swede]

I want to briefly share a sad experience and a little insight I have on head shots. This is no criticism of anyone. Our family prided ourselves in not "wasting" any meat and being able to make head shots, until the time I shot a nice buck standing in the timber and saw the lower jaw drop like it was hanging on a broken hinge. You know how that story ended. That was the last time I ever tried that shot except just to finish one off.

[Harmy]

I would agree with Swede on the head shot issue. Nothing worse than taking off the jaw and having animal take off and die elsewhere. Understanding the anatomy of the animals we hunt is also a critical factor. Another experiece I had myself was bison hunting in Utah. I read a bunch and talked to a bunch of people about bison and where the kill zone is located. Everything pointed to the fact that the heart is very low in the chest cavity and not to aim too high. I took it a bit too literally as when I shot my bison at 60 yards I thought I hit squarely in the heart. Off the bison ran leaving me behind in the fog. I tracked it and shot again into the same spot. Aim point was about 6 inches above the bottom of the chest right behind the front legs. Again, the bison ran off. I caught up again and this time the bision was quartering away and so I shot again. The bison stood their and I expected it to fall over. But no, it just stood their. I shot again and once again. I finally realized I was not penetrating and so shot the head. Dropped the animal instantly this time. Unfortunately my exit wound took off the far side horn ruining my trophy. Upon cleaning I found 5 entry holes in a 3 inch group. None of which penetrated all the way through (30-06, 180 gr partitions 2600 ft/sec). I was shocked. Now, what I learned was that the heart was not quite a low as everyone led me to believe. I needed to better understand the anatomy of the animals I was hunting and my experience with elk and deer was useless on bison. The heart was more like 12 inches off the sturnum and the heart itself was about 8 inches in diameter (made a great dinner by the way). The area I was shooting at was about 6 inches thick and all bone and very dense white tissue. No wonder I was having no effect on this animal.

[POk3s]

This thread only makes me relive my worst ever memory in the elk woods. I'll pony up and share one that didn't end in quite the same mood as the ones above.

I had chased elk the evening before in my usual "hell hole" haunts. On my way back to camp in the truck with just an inkling of light left I stopped and glassed a basin close to camp. It was elk palooza. One clearcut meadow was filled to the rafters with elk. Didn't look too long as there were trucks coming up behind me and I could see the headlights reflecting off the trees so I hurried and put the truck in drive and drove off. Those trucks never stopped thank god.

The next morning I walked the pleasant 700 yards angling down into the clearcut on an old logging road when I was met with the most magnificent bugle I've ever. Growled at the beginning, flutey in the middle, and ended in a growl. I slowly snuck forward to where I could see a meadow and it was filled with elk. I had cows as close as 70 yards out to 125 yards all feeding on a slope. I then saw a spike towards the top of the slope and then "he" appeared. This was an OTC unit that gets heavily hunted and I was staring at a 330"+ bull. I guessed him at 345 after getting long looks at him through the binoculars from 125 yards, but a safe guess is 330+. They were feeding in the meadow and I was not. Just could simply watch. There was bugling all around me that morning. The big guy above me, there was a heard below me, as well as a heard to the south of me on a ridge I call "grizzly ridge" and I'm sure you can guess why.

The herd below me must have been heading up to their bedding area but got where they could smell me. I never saw this herd but all of the sudden all hell broke loose as thundering hooves headed to the south. I cow called trying to settle everything down and I heard them stop and never ran again. All the elk above me, including the big boy, were all looking downhill and then a couple cows went back to feeding until the big boy let out the "get over here bugle" and all the elk filed towards him and out the top of the meadow. I knew the thermals were heading downhill so as soon as they all got in the trees I sprinted up the steep ridge until I was even with his bugling. I then cut into the trees at a quick walk trying to catch up with the herd. I was trying to make the least amount of noise as possible but going fast so I was looking at my feet when I looked up and boom elk. It was a cow, and it was the only elk I could see. She was only about 60 yards away and feeding. I slowed down and slipped around her when I started to go up a little bench I noticed another elk. It was the bull and he was staring right at me through a tree that split at it's base. I looked through my binoculars only for him to bugle right in my face. I ranged him at 45 yards when he started moving to my right to go check on his cow I had just slipped passed. I walked a couple steps towards him as I was in a little bit of a hole headed up that bench. He bugled again as he moved left to right and I saw a shooting lane in front of him. I drew my bow and attempted a cow call....I was so nervous all I got was the sound of air. There was another shooting lane in front of him another few steps and as he got into it I cow called and this time got at least a sound out. He had walked left to right and I remember thinking that the angle he had created was equal to the few steps I took. Aimed for 45 and let it loose only to see my arrow hit only about 4" higher then where I had aimed. Him and his cow took off, I fist pumped knowing it was a high lung shot.

I forgot about the 25-30 other cows in his herd and also forgot the cardinal rule of cow calling after the shot. I just knew I had killed that bull. I wanted to get where I shot him and just sit on the first sign of blood for an hour when I looked up at the top of the bench and there was a cow staring straight down at me about 25 yards away. I knew I had screwed up right then as she wheeled and the timber above me erupted. I never saw any elk, only heard them all take off. I went and found the first drop of blood and sat there for over an hour by myself and at 19 years old lol. The only elk I had taken with a bow previously was a spike the year before.

Started trailing and could see where the bull made rounds around his cows as the blood just went in circles. I actually had thought I heard a crash but it must have just been one of the elk crushing a log in their escape as I passed by that point as the blood was still going strong. Good blood at first as you can imagine and then after about half a mile of sidehilling I would just find it in spirts. I would have good blood for 100-200 yards and then none for 100-200 yards. It was easy following his tracks as they were huge. I finally got to an extremely steep section on the backside of the ridge where sporadic open timber met a buckbrush hillside. I lost his blood in the trees and could no longer follow the tracks. After multiple hours on my hands and knees I finally found a spec of blood no bigger then the head of pin and it was downhill from the last tracks I had seen but found more blood that got "wiped off" ,for lack of a better word, on one of the bushes. I at least knew he was still sidehilling and after more hands and knees work for another hour or so I was unable to find anymore blood.

I remembered just rolling over onto my back asking the lord "why me" and shedding a few tears. It was now about 2 pm so I went back to find my dad at camp. I told him the whole story and actually threw up at camp and told him let's go. He asked me where I was going and I said into hell. The last direction I knew from this bull was that he was going down into the steepest nastiest section of timber that any of us had ever seen.....from afar. To this day I'm the only one I've heard of that has ever gone in there. I tried coming up from the bottom, I went up a creek bottom for a while to no avail and was basically just looking for an animal at this point. As i headed up that buckbrush slope I knew that was a mistake. It took me 3 hours to go about 300 yards up this slope grabbing onto bushes and then sliding back down. I got about 3/4 of the way up and decided to try and sidehill. When I got out of that buckbrush area on the mountainside I was then in blowdown timber. The only way I could get through it was by walking from log to log. I couldn't even see the ground most of the time. Absolute insanity. I got up there shed a couple more tears as I knew that was helpless and then headed back down to the bottom. I had been after this all day as I had about 2 hours left of shooting light when I finally made it back to the road and my dad picked me up.

I was back at it the next morning. Went back to my blood trail, couldn't find anymore blood then I did the day previous. This time I stayed on the lip of the mountain looking down hoping he had died within site of the top and that obviously didn't work. I stayed after it glassing and listening for crows or anything until about noon and headed back to camp. I had no other options left. I packed up my stuff and left the mountain. It was mid september and I didn't get back out into the elk woods until October 15th. Physically couldn't muster up enough motivation to go elk hunting. I mean the peak of the rut was going on and I just left camp and never came back. A few days before the rifle opener on October 15th I finally was able to pack my stuff and was excited to go elk hunting again.

So there you guys go. Not exactly a gut shot either but don't know what happened that day. Needless to say I changed up my whole setup. That was a carbon express arrow tipped with a G5 montec. I then changed to the heavier Easton Axis arrows as well as a 125 grain shuttle T. All I can hope was that somehow my mind played tricks on me and my shot was higher then I thought and it hit that deadzone above the lungs and under the spine and he lived. It was not a passthrough however. I had about 8" of arrow sticking out as he ran off.

Mistakes that day - Not cow calling after the shot. Should've just sat there motionless as none of the elk knew what happened. I don't even know if the bull and that one cow had seen me. Everything settled down after they ran 20 yards. He might have piled up right there. It took me an extremely long time to get where my blood and tracks disappeared but it was only about a mile from where I shot. They just sidehilled around the ridge. They can do that in about 3 minutes and with adrenaline that bull could have made it anywhere in that deadfall nastiness. Like I said, I'm just hoping he lived.

My worst couple of days in the elk woods. I still have dreams about that day where I find him... only to wake up!

[ElkNut1]

Interesting stuff guys! Harmy, your buddy did not get the lungs, he needs to stay focused & hit elk where they live, the head/neck only shot is not it! (grin) Very good story Trent! I believe your monarch of the mtns lived even though you saw what looked like tons of blood, yes it's good to call after the shot but in some cases when the shot is not lethal enough to force them to bed it wouldn't do a whole lot of good, they're putting some great distance between you & them anyway! I've experienced what you have more than once over the years, it sucks when it happens. As a guess I feel you may have been a hair back & high catching top of diaphragm, maybe not but certainly not top of both lungs, possibly even over the liver? Whatever it was, you did all you could in the retrieval process, that's all a guy can do! Thanks I really enjoyed the story, those are the toughest to write & share but some where we can learn the most!

ElkNut1

[wapitibowman]

Sept 21st, 2010 � We got to the trailhead at about 5:30 pm. We loaded up and hit the trail at 6 pm and dropped camp close to 7 pm with just enough time to make it into the trees for some attempts at locating a bull. As we were making it slowly through the trees with occasional cow calls and location bugles we heard a faint and distant bugle up one of the finger canyons. We decided due to lack of time we would sit down and try to coax this bull to us for a last minute shot. We heard him sound off one more time, but it seemed he was distancing himself from us. Night fell upon us and we made our way back to setup camp.

The most surprising thing about that night, it was dead quiet. This season was not what I expected as far as the rut is concerned. It was the most quiet I have ever heard it during this time of year. I thought the woods would be singing with elk, well, not the case. We setup the tent, got the beds ready, and ate a mountain house meal, and then crashed til morning.

Sept 22nd � We awoke with high hopes of hearing elk everywhere. There were several drainages and basins we wanted to check. First off, we wanted to check on that bull from the night before. We went to the same spot and attempted to get an answer to some location bugles and mews, to no avail. There was very little wind, very little noise, and absolutely no elk. It was still early in the day though. We made our way up the drainage making occasional elk sounds, but no answer.

We decided we would get up to the saddle and check the back side of the mountain for elk. We looked down into the wallow and nothing. So, we started heading up the ridge to a better vantage point so we could sit and do some glassing. It was approximately 11 am at this point. As we were making our way up the ridge, we would occasionally stop to glass and check out some other drainages. There was no point to location bugles at this point, because we were a good distance from hearing an answer and the terrain is fairly open.

As we were making our way along the trail I looked across the canyon and thought I spotted something on an open hillside. I pulled up the glasses and BAM, found an elk. It was only a spike, but nonetheless, it was an elk. We sat and watched him for a while until he crested the hill and was out of sight. I was sure he was making his way to the north facing slope for some afternoon napping. My buddy and I made a plan. We would continue up the ridge and check our �go to� elk hole, if that didn�t pan out, we would drop down on top of that spike and give him our best.

Well as luck would have it, we found nothing in our �go to� elk hole, but at least we knew where that spike was. I was very confident in our ability to kill him. After a 30 minute nap and some glassing, we decided it was as good a time as ever. We slowly made our way down the hill through some rock and sagebrush trying to make the tree line which was 100 yards away before setting up to call. We would walk a few steps, stop, glass . . . few more steps, stop, glass. We made it within 30 yards of the tree line and we heard a loud crash. (As a side note, it never ceases to amaze me that a 400-500 lb animal can hide under a pine tree and you can�t see him with binoculars from 50 yards away). He jumped out from under the tree and spun towards us. We were caught in the open. He didn�t seem too alarmed at our presence and was trying to figure us out. So, I nocked an arrow. He didn�t budge at my movement. He just kept standing and staring. I attempted to draw my bow and he bolted. We decided due our previous experience with spike elk and their willingness to do dumb things, we would sit down and see if we could call him back for a second look. We called for a while, but he never came. Little did we know that this is where the hunt would really begin.

Let me back up to Tuesday afternoon (Sep 20th). On the drive to our hunting spot, we decided to listen to the audio portion of ElkNut�s 3rd video. It deals with the cow sounds. I learned something very valuable. ElkNut mentions the most beneficial cow sound for a person to learn and use is the �lost cow sound�. He eluded, that the �lost cow sound� is a good sound to use to �drum up some business�. He comments that it is a sound that demands action on the part of other elk. I don�t know why, but it really sunk in this time. I like when good info actually seeps through the cracks and sticks to my brain.

Back to the hunt . . .recap - slow morning, spotted spike, snuck in, busted, calling attempt, no elk. We walked around on the hill checking out some things and looking at several elk beds underneath some trees. I seemed to remember something I listened to on ElkNut�s CD, and I thought, what the heck, let�s give it a try. So I started some long and whiny lost cow calls. I mean I was really hitting it loud and whiny. I would go for 45-60 seconds, one call right after another. I waited for 30-60 seconds and started again with round two. After 2-3 rounds of extremely whiny lost cow calls, we hear a bugle down the canyon. My buddy looks at me and says, YES! Well, it sounded terrible to me. It sounded like a guy that almost had it right, but just couldn�t make it sound quite real yet. I turned to my buddy and said, �I think that is another hunter. It doesn�t sound like and elk to me, but we better setup and make sure�.

I continued with my whiny lost cow calls and BAM, another crappy bugle. I continue as we are making our way down the hill . . . another crappy bugle a little bit closer. I am thinking the dude(hunter) is making his way up to us. Just as I am thinking, we are pulling a hunter up to us, I look down through the trees into an opening and there he is, a bull at 150-200 yards. I drop to my knees by a pine tree and signal to my buddy to hit the ground and start calling. It takes my friend a few seconds to start calling as this bull is coming up the hill. I am hoping that he pulls the bull across the hill just under me so I can draw as he passes for a 10-15 yard quartering away shot. Instead, he heads straight for me and stops on the other side of the pine tree, 3 feet away. He starts raking the tree and is continuing to come my way. At this point, he is so close I could reach out and slap him across the face. However, I am not thinking about touching him, rather, I am thinking about him spearing me with his rack.

I am getting nervous about being trampled, so I do the only thing I can think of, DRAW. As he picked up my movement, it appeared his eyes grew in size and I am sure my eyes doubled the size of his. He bolted back the way he came, so I quickly made a few cow calls. He stopped and turned back at me at 10 yards. By this time I have my bow at full draw. He gets nervous and bolts again and I was able to stop him with a few cow calls. All of this happened very quickly, but it seemed I was able to slow time enough to think about anchoring the string on my face and taking aim. All I can think is . . . shoot, shoot, shoot, he is going to run, shoot!

This is the disappointing part of my story. I still think about it on a daily basis and wish I could do it again. Anyways, on with the story - I pull through my shot and the arrow flies directly through his GUTS. I can�t believe it! What happened? The only explanation I have is I pulled my head to see where the arrow went and in so doing I pulled the bow with me and sent the arrow to the worst location in the world. All I can think is I have to get another arrow into him, I am in for the longest tracking job and I might lose this bull.

Even though I made a crappy shot, we turned a horrible situation into a great one, by our reaction to the situation. The bull trots off and I start looking for a second shot opportunity. Luckily, my friend continues to cow call and slow him down a bit. I signaled to my friend that he was hit, but a terrible location and to stay put. The bull is now uphill, upwind and zigzagging through the trees. I draw my bow, but don�t have a clear shot opportunity. So I let down. He continues to move uphill and I continue to panic and look for a shot. I see an opportunity at 50 yards with a window between some branches. I am at full draw again, all I need is another 1-2 feet. He takes the step and beds down. Unreal! I can�t believe it!!

I decide this is the best thing that could have happened. I signaled to my friend the bull was bedded down within sight and we were going to have to stay put for quite some time. His head was behind a tree so I was able to watch him through binoculars and even put a range finder on him at 48 yards! We layed on the mountain for 45-60 minutes, I was watching his every move. He tried to stand up 3-4 times, but did not have the strength in his hind legs to stand. After thinking about our situation and realizing this bull was not going to be able to run, I decided to sneak up to him and get another shot in him to insure a successful recovery.

He got nervous and was able to stand for a second, but had no strength to run, so he collapsed 10-15 yards closer to me. He was lying down, quartering away, but his elbow was positioned extremely high on his chest cavity. So I took aim, placed the 30 yard pin above the elbow, and let her fly. I connected, but due to the placement of his elbow in relation to his vitals, the hit was higher than I would have liked. I was able to get a little closer for a 20 yard final kill shot and finished the harvest.

What a whirlwind of emotions!! What a miracle!! Heaven was smiling down on us, on me. An absolute terrible shot and terrible situation turned in our favor and with some patience and keeping our heads about us, we were able to recover my first 6x6 bull. Even though there was some disappointment in the shot, I was overwhelmed with gratitude for the outcome. I am proud of this bull and have learned a lot this season!!

Elk Hunt 2010

IMG_2695.JPG (91.79 KiB) Viewed 15167 times

You can see the 3 entrance holes. First, the gut shot (still urks me), second, 12 inches high of the arrow, and third, the arrow through both lungs.

Wapitibowman

[Lefty]

I have never gut shot an animal but have recovered a number of deer that have been shot poorly. Time works in your favor,..Seems as if many situations are covered well

Go very slow and quiet when tracking, and glass glass glass at that 20-70 yards distance. Yake the first best oppurtunity take another shot

Im going to brag , I dont want too but need to share. My brother and I use to track for fun,.. so most conditions we could track about anything with sign and were often asked to help find downed deer.
A friend had accidently arrowed a doe after a deflected arrow on a buck. I followed untill I spotted ithe doe bedded 20 yards from me,.. We confirmed the shot clearly grazed the back, just a cut He decided to let her go. He no-longer had that sick to his gut feeling.

A friend of my dads had shot at a monster white-tail and gave up looking after 5 hours.
My brother and I got on the track, 4 sections and 5 hours later My brother and I motioned that the deer was changing direction. When the fellow yelled up to us he was done walking and was quitting. The buck jumpd 20 yards from us, my dad waited for a clear shot and killed it. Poor deer: the fellow had shot off one of the bucks testicles

Go slow, go quiet ,be ready and keep a lookout ahead

[POk3s]

Paul, I really hope that bull I hit lived. I have never been so pissed off during an elk hunt in all my life....and hopefully I never will again. I'm hoping that my eyes fooled me. Hopefully he took a step towards me or something making him quartered towards me a little and I missed the lungs or it was high like I mentioned earlier. Either way, it wasn't any fun being around me for a couple weeks.

[LckyTylr]

Wapitibowman,

That's an awesome story man, I'm glad that it worked out for you. It's so easy to get caught up in the frustrated emotion of a bad shot and the elation of a good one, I have to remind myself to keep quiet and not move.

[wapitibowman]

Wapitibowman,

That's an awesome story man, I'm glad that it worked out for you. It's so easy to get caught up in the frustrated emotion of a bad shot and the elation of a good one, I have to remind myself to keep quiet and not move.

Thanks LckyTylr. I have spent the last 18 months working on my follow through. I hope I never pull my head again.

Elknut is right, I think most poorly hit animals will bed down quickly if they are not pushed. It is so hard to wait. Had my bull not bedded down within sight, I am positive I would have pushed him for fear of losing him. Patience is the key.

Wapitibowman