Elk hunt gone bad.

[Radke]

I had an elk hunt gone bad over the thanksgiving week, and I'm just sick about it.

I had a tag to hunt the coast, bowhunting for cow elk.

First two days were uneventful, tons of rain, hunters and log trucks, but no elk.

Wednesday before Thanksgiving, I wanted to hunt a clear-cut that is just off highway 6, about 8 miles east of Tillamook.

Get up on the clear-cut at 6:45 in the morning, just barely enough light to see. Look down the cut, nothing. Look up the cut, here is the unmistakable orange of an elk behind. I have a laser range finder, so I tried to take a reading, came back at 156 yards. There wasn't much in the clear-cut to hide behind, but the wind direction meant that I had little option but to go straight up through it to get to the elk without being winded, so off I went. I've never been very successful at stalking big game, always got busted by making too much noise or moving when they were watching. Or like this year, watching one animal exclusively, only to get busted by a second animal I hadn't noticed. Well, time was on my side and I wasn't going to let that happen this time. I literally got down on my stomach and crawled up the clear-cut. Never moving until I could see the elk, and could confirm they weren't watching me. There was one small bull, one calf, and two cows. About 45 minutes into this stalk, I had covered around 100 yards, they had moved off probably 25. At that point, I think I made my first mistake, the bull was staring a hole right through me, I'm still laying on my stomach in the blackberries, soaking a$$ wet. I just laid there for about 10 minutes, hoping he would continue feeding. Eventually he did, but took one bite, then snapped his head back up to look at me again, luckily, I hadn't moved. We played that game for about another 5 minutes, eventually he started feeding again, the calf ran upside of him, they turned away and slowly worked their way up to the tree line. I look off to my left, the biggest cow just stepped out of the heavy brush and was stripping the bark off tree limbs and eating it. She was above me quite a bit, and I didn't have much of an angle. I dropped back down a bit and rounded a big stump, pulled out my range finder and found her at 50 yards. I can shoot at 50, but just didn't feel that comfortable given that I hadn't shot my bow much since regular season ended in September. I picked out a small stump ahead of me about 10 yards, felt if I could get to it, I'd have the shot I was looking for. So, again on my belly, I crawled another 10 yards. She just sat above me continuing to eat bark, by now I was thinking I may just pull this off. I'm actually a pretty good shot, I can't miss something as big as an elk at 40 yards! I hooked up my release, pulled back, put my 40 yard pin behind her shoulder, and let the arrow fly. I swear, it looked like the arrow had eyes. It smacked her really tight behind the shoulder, a little bit high on the back though. She took off, went through a bit of a clearing, I could see the fetching sticking out of her side. She ran about 50 yards and stopped behind a bunch of trees, but I could still see part of her. She stood there about 10-15 minutes, never moving. I thought perhaps she had died right there, but eventually she moved off, I got a second glimpse, she really had blood running down her side. I'm doing the happy dance about now, but this is when it turns to misery. It had been raining all morning, and now it is just pouring. I sit tight for another 15 minutes then slowly move off to see if I can find her. Where she went was a carpet of sword ferns, about waist deep, also she is on a hillside that probably had a 60 degree pitch. There is no blood trail, it got washed away, and I can't see tracks because of the ferns and slope. I decided to back off and get help from my brother, he was at his cabin just 35 miles south of there. We got back, looked from about 10:00 until dark, could not locate her. I went back thanksgiving day, looked for another 4 hours, nothing.

When the arrow hit her, I heard a snap, but figured I caught a rib going in. This shouldn't have caused any problem though, it looked like I got good penetration, but yet she didn't drop. The only thing I can think is that because she was up above me, the shot angle was probably around 45 degrees, that coupled with the fact that I hit her high, I must of gone over the top of her lungs.

I'm broken hearted. I have never lost an animal before, and I don't think this was a hit she could have survived, based on the amount of blood I saw running down her side. I was so happy at the job I did during the stalk, never hurrying, always moving when they were looking away, and the fact that it took me about an hour to cover the distance, my patience was just great. But then to have lost her in the end. I'm not sure what I can learn from this, but I need to come out with something positive. Perhaps a bit more careful with my shot selection. Yet when I saw where I hit her, I thought it was good, like I said, a bit high, but I didn't think it was that high.

[Wreckless]

Sorry to hear about the loss....It's TOUGH to loose one, but it does happen. Sounds like you did everything you could.

It actually sounds like a VERY exciting hunt right up 'till, well the loss.

Thanks for sharing, it took guts to share the euphoria and the pain.

Dennis

[Rip'N'Lips]

Radke-

Next time you are in this position put a post up on ifish that you have an animal down and need help. I live about 30 minutes from where you were hunting and know the area well. I am more than happy to help a fellow hunter to prevent an animal from dieing unnecessarily. Mark the spot you shot from, where the animal was standing, then get as many people in the woods with you looking.

Use it as a learning experience, and better luck next time.

I think we should have someone work to train a dog to find blood trails, and then we could pay a fee for recovery. I have heard this might or might not be legal, but in this case I would definately be willing to bend the rules a little.

Rip'N'Lips

[dla]

Radke: This is a tough situation. My guess is the arrow anchored in the back bone after clipping one lung. The animal certainly died.

I don't know of any other way to retreive the animal by yourself than to stay on it, pressuring it to expire. It's a sucky way to do it, but when your by yourself in the heavy rain it is near impossible to blood-trail them. You have to keep them in sight and you might cover 2 miles in the process.

Elk bleed out and die in the goofiest places - up against a log, in a hole, crawling into a blackberry bramble. They can be hard enough to find in dry weather, let alone during heavy rain.

Sorry your hunt turned out this way.

[skein]

I've gotta agree with you, M-Y. Shots at either angle, up or down, tend to go high. That's true for us rifle shooters too. Even a 15 or 20 degree angle makes a whale of a difference.

Skein

[skahorse]

Mello,
I was thinking the same thing. The best way to picture the shot is where the arrow is going to come out the other side. If you are shooting uphill and you shoot for the typical behind the shoulder shot, well you are going to miss the vitals because the arrow went to high. The arrow is pointed up, and therefore will come out the other side more towards the backbone, most likely missing the lungs. With an uphill shot you want to make sure and aim low. The degree of "low-ness" can only be judged by where you think the arrow is going to come out on the other side. The best advice I've recieved is to forget about the shoulder you are looking at, aim for the back shoulder, then you will guarantee a vitals hit. Hope this helps.

Now I have a question, assuming the season is still going, Radke can go after another Elk, right?

--Skahorse

[Bait O' Eggs]

He still has an un-punched tag, of course he can still hunt.

Radke - Sorry about the loss. Not a good feeling wounding an animal, all anybody can ask of you is your best and it sounds like you tried hard and learned a lesson. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

When it is raining and you need a blood trail, dont wait, get after it is my feelings.

[dla]

Mello-Yello: You are completely right about shooting on angles. But don't think the Elk survived that shot. Yes, the cow likely pulled the arrow out, but I'm pretty sure that one lung was punctured/collapsed and the other couldn't do much given the air & blood in the heart lung cavity.

I made a high shot once on a Elk almost as described by the original poster. The arrow stopped dead in the spine, but it didn't hit the nerve bundle. It took that animal 30 minutes to die. Fortunately for me, I wasn't trying to trail in pouring rain.

[Radke]

I think one of the things that made the stalk successful is due to all the mistakes I have made in the past, and being sure not to repeat them. With that said, I'll never take a shot at an animal again without considering what went wrong this time. There is a saying 'It's hard to learn from the mistakes I've never made'. Well, this is something that taught me well. As far as being able to continue to hunt, yes I can - legally -. But my desire to hunt right now has been taken out of me. I have 10 months to think about this, but feel confident I'll be ready and better prepared in late August 2004. One last thing, I really do appreciate the kind words you folks have shared. This has been hard.

[Mello-Yello]

I agree dla, that's why I started with the animal "probably" being dead. On the other hand, any time an animal isn't recovered, there is always a chance. I don't know if you've read some of the posts the last few months concerning rifle hunters finding arrows in animals that otherwise seemed quite healthy, but some of them are nearly unbelievable, inmcluding shots that passed into the chest cavity.

On a side note to this post, something I always carry with me is lots of toilet paper. Not only for obvious purposes :blush: , but it's a great tool when tracking a stuck animal, especially in rainy conditions. The white toilet paper will show even the slightest trace of blood. If you think an animal went in a certain direction, swab some brush, leaves, etc...if there's any blood there it'll show. Often the tanic acid that bleeds from dead leaves makes brownish/redish droplets on leaves that would almost pass for blood. The TP will rule out what it is, immediately.

[nitrobass]

You cant beat yourself up too hard over a lost animal when you tried your best to find it. It happens, and will likely happen again. We strive for perfection but thats not always the end result.

I'm not convinced the elk you shot died. Maybe it has due to infection/predation since the shot, but a mortally wounded animal rarely stops at 50 yards unless its falling down for the last time(gut shots excluded). Also having it stand there for 10-15 minutes is not something a mortally hit animal does. Even if you clipped the lung with one broadhead blade that elk is done for right there. I'm guessing a high shoulder blade hit. If you really stick an elk well there is a surprisingly small amount of blood on the side of the elk because it normally spouts out. The good part about broadheads is that the wounds bleed out clean and the potential for the animal to heal and be just fine is there.

I agree with BOE on the tracking in the rain. If its that wet out I'm not waiting a minute before I'm starting my search. If you hit them where it counts most elk are down in seconds anyways.

Just a few days left of the season, go and find another one!

[Crayfin]

Thinking of the shot depending on the angle you could have very well backstrapped that animal. I lost one there a few years ago after almost the same scenario that you described. That elk was still alive almost 2 months later however, so there is still a chance that things will be OK.

Sounds like you did everything that you could. I agree with RipNLips--put out an SOS, I also live about 45 minutes from where you described the incident and I would have some help you too! More eyes, More better

CRayfin

[winterkill]

I understand where your coming from. I posted earlier this year about a bull that we lost, but later recovered. I am sorry you weren't so lucky. It definitly makes you kick yourself, and you go through all the what if's, but you did everything you could. The only advice I have is don't give up, your satisfaction will be 100 times greater when you recover your next animal.

It just comes down to tracking I guess. As hunters I feel we are obligated to know how to track in all conditions, and areas, no matter how brushy. I pride myself with my tracking abilities, and I am constantly practicing in the offseason. But I feel your pain, but don't be devastated. As they say, Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice shame on me...
Ian

[WildHawg]

Rad,
I've felt your pain. When I was a newby bowhunter, a friend of mine bugled up a herd bull from a landing at noon on September 2nd 1990 while fooling around after an awesome morning of hunting. We were just "testing" our bugles when we heard a God awful scream from not 200 yards away. I ran full speed across a unit that had been recently logged to get to where the sound came from. On the way in, I made a ton of noise (which the bull interpreted as another I suspect) tripped, and fell flat on my face and bow, loosing my mouth nock point, which I did not realize 'til later. Knocked the crap out of me, but I kept going 'til I got to the edge of the timber. I let off a bugle, and he was in my lap, thrashing a tree at 25-30 yards.
I drew back, and knew something was wrong. The Bull was slightly uphill, but I had no nock!.
I decided to pull down and release. I hit that bull solid-about 2/3rds up his body. He stopped about 75 yards out, and attempted a bugle, which didn't sound right.
Wheeaahhhh!!! I got him, said I.
There must have been 30 cows with this boy, cause when they all chirped, he went blazing away (1 minute after the shot). What a mess! I found blood where I hit him, a hint of froth (lungs?), but an absolutely obliterated trail, as he seemed to have fallen in somewhere in the middle of the bunch.
We tracked that bull, on a hot summers day for 9 hours. We never did find him. One of the greatest dissapointments of my hunting lifetime.
I never hunted for elk again that year, as I knew I'd killed mine.
Ask yourself this. Did you make an ethical and responsible stalk? Did you make the choice that at the time seemed like the right decision to harvest the animal? Did you do everything in your power to retrieve the animal?
If you can answer yes to 2 of these Q's, you have exceded the efforts of many hunters, whether or not they will admit it.
If you can answer yes to all 3--you did everything you could.
You are a fine and responsible hunter, who I would be proud to have as a partner any day--don't let it burden you heart too much--however, if it didn't sting your soul some, I'd think less of you. The courage to post what you did speak volumes!
Take care--you did your best.
Charlie.

[skein]

Tough deal, Radke. You painted a good picture of the stalk and the shot. I applaud you for not taking that 50 yarder. You took a chance of blowing an hour stalk just to make a better shot. That's real hunting in my book. [img]graemlins/applause.gif[/img]

I've been afraid of late-season archery and rain since the time one of my friends lost a deer much the way you lost your elk - and he, like you, didn't give up easily. Rain sure does ugly things to a blood trail.

Sounds like you did a lot of things right, so when you think back on this hunt, remember the belly-crawl and the time you spent holding your breath while the bull watched you. It was a good hunt.

Skein

[Mello-Yello]

This is a very unfortunate situtation, not only for the elk but for the hunter as well. Anyone who's hunted for very long has likely experienced the same, gut wrenching pain that comes from an experience like this. It's gonna bother you for awhile, but time is the best healer.

Because of the angle, it sounds real likely that your arrow either went above the lungs, or might have clipped the top of the closer lung. Unfortunately, with a shot like this, an animal doesn't always leave a real good blood trail. Instead, they just fill up on the inside.

As for whether she died, probably, but not necessarily. Elk have lots of blood, and when blood meets rain, it often looks like a lot more blood than it really is. If she were able to get the arrow out, either by hanging up on brush or removing it herself (I've witnessed this first hand, twice!), she may be ok.

Something that should be discussed here though; and I will expect some resistance on this. When aiming at an animal that is either above you or below you, you'll want to aim low, always. I won't go into the 'how come that is' unless I need to. But I know a lot of people have a hard time understanding this. It seems like to shoot uphill, you'd want to aim high, and to shoot downhill, you'd want to aim low. But that is simply not the case. If anyone disagrees with this, try it. You'll see. It's actually a pretty simple concept, just kinda hard to relate to.

I feel your pain Radke. It scrapes the scabs off a few of my own sores. But it's the nature of the game. Know that if the elk did die, you tried your best and there are a lot of critters out there that will benefit from your misfortune.

M-Y

[Scaup]

Rad,

I appreciate Wild Hawgs comments.

I also recently lost a wounded animal that left me feeling sick. In fact when I got home from my hunt I must have looked very upset because the first question my wife asked me when I walked in the door was if I had shot someone! I have never lost a big game animal before in 24 years of hunting.

I currently live in Virginia and do most of my deer hunting on Quantico Marine Corps Base. It is one of the few public places to hunt in Virginia near the major metropolitan areas. Although some nice deer are taken from the base, most people hunt it for meat. The Base allows a hunter ratio of 1 hunter per 75 acres (shotgun, archery, muzzleloader only). This creates very heavy hunting pressure. But amazingly I can usually go most of the day without seeing another hunter because I try to find the nastiest, hardest terrain and vegetation to hunt.

On Friday I had holed myself up in a pine thicket that had several deer highways running through it. I had a decent view of the major trails that I thought deer would take and where I could take my shot. At 11:30am two does came barreling down one of trails, into the thicket and kept on going without stopping. Shortly thereafter a decent forked horn comes running down the same trail, but he stops and starts walking. He is walking the exact same trail as the does. Due to the thickness of the vegetation, he would walk in and out of view, but I could see that he was still following the same trail as the two does. I had a good sitting position and I knew exactly where he was going and where I wanted to take the shot as he would walk broadside to me between a couple of trees to my left at a distance of about 50 yards before entering the thicket and being gone.

I was pretty happy because everything was working out just as I had planned and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. He was still walking when he came back in the open between the two trees. I put the sight on his vitals and squeezed the trigger. It was clear that I hit him and he ran back up the trail in the same direction he came. I watched him run out of view to mentally mark his path and then after the smoke cleared (I shoot a muzzleloader) I headed to where he had been when I fired.

I immediatly found a patch of white hair, no gray hair and thought, uh, oh, that means the shot went low. It also took me a while to find any blood. When I did find blood it was only a drop here and a drop there. But his trail was pretty easy to follow initially because he had disturbed the leaves so much as he ran.

But once he got to the point where he stopped running it began harder to find his trail, since there was so much deer sign it was impossible when he was walking to find his trail from anyone else. At points I was down on my hands and knees looking for any sign of blood. As I would search in a in a semicircle from blood drop to blood drop.

After two hours and traveling about 1 mile (amazingly without running into any other hunters, probably because it was the middle of the day and a storm was coming) I found where he had laid down. There was a patch of blood about the size of my hand. The blood was normal red color and there had been no sign of lungs or gut contents. But I could find no blood trail after he laid down. I continued my circle search to no luck. About 3 pm it started to pour and the chance of finding a blood trail again was gone. I continued to search in expanding circles in hopes that I would kick him up along likely escape routes, but with no luck. At dark I finally quit and went home.

I replayed the shot again and again in my head and came to the conclusion that I rushed the shot slightly, pulled the trigger too soon, and the bullet went low as I was bringing the sights up. I would like to blame it on the gun or the sights, but my muzzleloader is dead on at that range. So I can only blame operator error.

I came to Ifish sort of for group therapy to see if others have had the same experience. Usually you only hear about the great hunts. But sometimes things just don't go right.

[crabbait]

Sorry to hear of the loss. Sounds to me like you went above the lungs and the animal will very likely survive. A couple of things:

When looking for a blood trail in wet ferns, look at the water that is about to drip off the tip. If it has the faintest tinge of red, maybe like weak Kool-aid, you have a blood trail. As eld travel through ferns the fern tends to bend and follow the side of the animal, often upside down. Several times we have been able to continue to blood trail animals by examining the drop of water at the tip of a fern or looking at the underside.

Thing two, uphill or downhill, your range finder will deceive you (I know this from years of hunting and competing in 3-d events). Trick for downhill in timber: look at the tree that the animal is standing next to at the same altitude that you are on the hill. That's right, look out at the tree instead of down. Take your reading on the level. The animal may be 40yds on the slant-range down hill. If you range-find that tree where it reaches your height (which may be 60ft up the tree) you will get the range you need to shoot the shot at (may be 20yds). This works.

Uphill is harder because you can't just use your rangefinder against a tree and because the downward pull of gravity will eventually have an effect. Thankfully, the effect is not really seen until beyond hunting ranges (about 40yds for aluminum and 45-50yds for carbons). Consider the slope. If it is 45 degrees then you have one foot up for every one foot away. A 40yd shot on a 45 degree slope will shoot like a 20yd shot. If the slope is less steep, say a foot up for every two feet away, the shot will require you to use two thirds of the range that the rangefinder says. Thirty yards will shot 20. Try it with Judo tips when you aren't seeing any game.

Thing three: You cannot hit an animal too low. We have taken animals that were only penetrated through the gristle of the brisket and they went a short way. The vitals sit low. When looking at the animal broadside, mentally divide in half horizontally, then divide the lower half in half again. Perfect arrow placement would be within this lower half and real low in the lower half is where the heart sits. Hit one low and the body cavity quickly fills with blood and drains. Every low piece of brush gets a coating. Remember that the first movement that a relaxed animal will make at the sound of the bow is to coil those four big springs. This will result in a dramatic lowering of the critter. Aim for a low hit and, if the animal moves, you hit the center. Aim for the center and if the animal moves you shoot over or hit very high. If you must miss, miss under the brisket. Most misses are high.

Sorry for the length. Better luck next time.