Frustrated Archery Elk Hunter Any advice, words of wisdom

[RoughCut]

Hey guys, I have been on several archery elk hunts over the years but just recently started taking it a little more serious and hunting harder. I was extremely frustrated as after hunting hard for nine days straights I connected with a Fantastic 370+ bull. I hit him just behind the shoulder at 26 yards. 125 gr Ramcat, full penetration, found my arrow covered from tip to knock with blood. I hit him late in the eveneing and I waited till the next morning before persuing him. Found a great blood trail for about 70 yards. Got to a spot where it looked like he stood for a bit as there was a pretty good size pool of blood.

 

Here comes the the awesome part..... not a drop .... in any direction after that. I was on hands and knees for several hours after that trying to find ANYTHING. Finally went for help and got two others. we fanned out in every conceivable direction for at least a 1/4 mile and found nothing. Spent the entire day looking.

 

Is this just plain bad luck or just how it goes? Maybe some of you know that sick feeling you get when you lose and animal. Maybe this is just part of archery elk, but it seems that I never really hear stories like this. Maybe if it was bad arrow placement but never when it was a perfect vital shot.

 

Anybody hav any advice, input? Still licking my wounds and feel just as bad as I did that day.

 

 

Thanks guys.

[doublelung]

Unfortunately it happens..I shot a bull one year at 18 yards, full penetration right behind that front shoulder..Bled for awhile and then it stopped..looked for days.. Never found him...Sometimes our perception is that its a perfect shot but in reality maybe it isn't..

 

Either way, it really sucks to lose an animal..As long as you put in the time looking for him, there isn't much more you can do.

[200"mulie]

A pig i shot couple years ago with my bow. The blood trail stopped completely too and i knew it was a good shot. I did find it shortly after and stuck it another time as it was still alive and walking. Turns out the exit would clotted up and stoppped dripping/pouring blood.

 

It might be a little far fetched and two totally different animals but maybe thats what happened to your bull? And went farther than 1/4 mile .... Always check water also wounded animals go to water.

[twigsnapper]

I hit a bull this year at 33 yards. Put it right behind the shoulder with a 125gr Montec G5. I hit him at night as well. We tracked him for 5 hours that night on our hands n knees and for 5 hours the next morning. He also stopped for a moment, bled all over a in about a 3 foot circle then went 310 feet and quit bleeding. He went 1.1 miles total. Sometimes is just happens. I find myself trying to tuck the arrow right behind the shoulder and I have had many guys more experienced them me say you're better off to hit them a little back. Sorry to hear you lost your bull. Many hunters will call BS on putting it too far forward but I proved it to myself this year. It's a horrible feeling losing an animal and it never gets any easier.

 

We had a guy stumble into our camp the next day and he needed help with his bull. We helped him quarter it up and he had gut shot the bull which fell over dead 200 yds from being shot and had half the blood trail mine did. I never opened him up to see exactly what he hit but must have got liver or an artery. If you put pics side by side of where I hit mine and where he hit his, every archery hunter would point to my shot and say "dead elk".

 

You're not alone.

 

Andy

[Coues Sniper]

Look for water and birds. Sorry about the elk man.

[6ANut]

One of the worst feelings ever and still haunts me to this day of wounding a bull elk and not finding it. I put two 7mm 150 grain Remington Swift Scirocco's into the vitals and after blooding trailing the elk for over a mile it just stopped bleeding. I had both pink lung blood and good red blood and it just stopped bleeding. It did run towards a water hole like many are saying on here but then POOF. Spent the next two days looking for crows or trying to find some coyotes howling around my bull and nothing. I still have nightmares about that day. For elk now I dont go for the vitals, as bad as it may sound, rather break that front shoulder, catch up to the 3 legged animal and finish the job. Something like this should not just go away but remind you everyday about how much you need to respect an admire these animals because they are truely one of gods gifts.

[Guest akaspecials]

I haven't shot many animals with a bow but I thought I hit my elk perfectly in the heart this year. I was aiming for a double lung and it fell low but I knew for certain it was a heart shot. After 24 hours of searching and not a single drop of blood, we found the arrow and concluded that I missed completely. Point is, I KNEW it was a good shot, but I was wrong. It was a clean miss. Best you can do it look and look. "Water and birds" is good advice.

 

I also hit a medium sized feral hog with my bow earlier this year. The arrow and the animal didn't make any noise when it got hit. The herd scattered and I started to question my shot... I looked and looked and looked for my arrow or blood and couldn't find ANY. I started a grid search and found the hog 100 yards away at water. There wasn't a single drop of blood where the animal lay, even when I picked him up to move him to gut him. When I opened him up blood poured and poured out of the inside. I found out that I made a double lung shot with a complete pass through. Moral of the story, they don't always bleed even with a good shot.

 

Keep your head up man and keep with it.

[elkhunter]

Someone prob stole the bull

 

 

 

It's happened before where people watched others harvest a coues but the hunter backed out to come back the next day, the observing hunters came down and packed up the buck,

 

 

The hunters who made the shot only found a pool of blood

 

 

If you didn't see any tire tracks or human footprints, the bull probably just got away

 

 

Sorry to hear this story

[trophyhnter]

I haven't shot many animals with a bow but I thought I hit my elk perfectly in the heart this year. I was aiming for a double lung and it fell low but I knew for certain it was a heart shot. After 24 hours of searching and not a single drop of blood, we found the arrow and concluded that I missed completely. Point is, I KNEW it was a good shot, but I was wrong. It was a clean miss. Best you can do it look and look. "Water and birds" is good advice.

 

I also hit a medium sized feral hog with my bow earlier this year. The arrow and the animal didn't make any noise when it got hit. The herd scattered and I started to question my shot... I looked and looked and looked for my arrow or blood and couldn't find ANY. I started a grid search and found the hog 100 yards away at water. There wasn't a single drop of blood where the animal lay, even when I picked him up to move him to gut him. When I opened him up blood poured and poured out of the inside. I found out that I made a double lung shot with a complete pass through. Moral of the story, they don't always bleed even with a good shot.

 

Keep your head up man and keep with it.

 

Thats the point I was going to make! Good or bad shots dont always result in external bleeding. The bull I shot in 09 dropped withing 50 or so yard of the waterhole and the most of blood was from the bull coughing and sneezing. When we openned him up, all the blood came pouring out...gallons! The shot was right behind the should.....In my mind, a perfect shot for external bleeding.

 

I know the feeling.....Look for birds!

[huntjunkie]

I think we don't mention it much cause it brings backs the feelings and frustration. I think we've all been there! Unfortunately it happens for whatever reason. I shot a 380 class bull 3 years ago. Blood for 400 yrds then nothing. I still lay in bed at night thinking about it. Could'a, should'a, would'a!! IT SUCKS!!! I'm more particular about my shots now ,I want them to be perfect! I think it makes you a better hunter. Don't let it get you down.

 

[AZDOGMAN1]

I think that in most these cases the "perfect shot" is actually not perfect. In the excitement you think it was but it's not. I have seen a lot of stuff get shot and when an elk truly is hit perfect they don't go far. Not saying this is the case on yours but I think 95% of the time that's the case.

[double lunger14]

Look for birds and or coyote howels. The deer in my avatar was the same way. Blood everywhere for a long ways peices of meat or something on the ground in blood. Bubbles in blood i tracked it forever and the blood finally came to a end in a thick wash. I was so bummed and frusterated cause i knew i hit him decent with all the blood and bubbles. I wanted to give up on hunting after that cause i knew i might have just lost a awesome buck. I didnt give up though and the next day i had to work but my dad and brother headed back out in search of him. At first light my dad and brother heard some coyotes going crazy not to far up the road from where we last found blood. They headed that way and by the grace of god my dad glanced over and saw his tines shining. (from the truck). The bucked was so tired that a pack of coyotes took him down not 60 yards off of a well travled dirt road. I got lucky that my dad and brother got to him before anyone else did. Good luck man i hope you can find him. Dont give up.

[Hicks]

Rough Cut, First of all, as others have mentioned you're not alone. I'm certainly no expert as I've hunted 9 seasons and only taken two shots on bulls. But I can definitely relate to your frustration. Last week I spotted a herd bull @ 7 am that was leading a dozen cows across a huge rocky bowl at 9500' toward a major pass. I just barely got to a lone pine right below the pass and put a slick-trick in the "pocket" at 42 yds. After waiting 3 hrs on what I thought was a double lung hit, we followed a 200 yd long blood trail that vanished a quarter of the way back across the open bowl and above 3-4 drainages that we erroneously assumed he went down into. After hours of hands and knees at the last sight of blood and 2 1/2 days of scouring every potential drainage BELOW and ALONG the same line of the blood trail, I found him uphill and over 1/2 mile backtracking on his original line with huge wound openings on both lungs, albeit the 2nd lung was just clipped. 2 1/2 days and two sleepless nights knowing the meat sitting in the 80 + degree heat may be a total loss was NOT supposed to happen,..ever, let alone w/my first bull. You did your best I'm sure. I hope this helps a little with what you must be feeling. I've been depressed for days with what I could've or should've done to have found that animal faster. Good luck next year and keep the wind in your face!

[112coues]

i havn't personally had this happen to me but, i have talked to many hunters that did, my brother shot a bull a couple years ago and he said it was a perfect shot and we never could find much blood at all just a few drops at first we looked for him for 2 days and never found him, and like others said its a sick feeling. iv heard people make the suggestion that if a bull is hit a little high that it takes a lot of blood to fill the chest cavity up and start coming out of the wound and during that time you lose the blood trail. or the animal dies before the cavity fills up enough to trail. just keep your head up it sounds like you tryed your best there are a lot of people out there that would have given up long before you did. I talked to one guy this year and he said he shot three bulls and lost them all!! that made me sick to hear that, I asked him how long did you look for them, and his answer was 20 minutes! It was pretty hard to keep my mouth shut after he told me that.

[AZHUNTER05]

I happened to come across a hunter in the field this archery season who had shot a bull.. He had been following the blood trail for probably 3/4 of a mile and lost the blood trail. I helped him out and i was able to locate the blood trail he lost. We followed a good blood trail for probably half a mile and then nothing! I helped him search for hours and we never found it. He continued to look for it after i left and still never located anymore blood. Unfortunately it was his first ever archery animal and he lost it.

After talking to him i think he bumped it. He told me he only waited about 10 minutes after the shot to look for it.

 

I shot my bull the next day right through the heart. Luckily it died with in eye sight so i didn't have to track it. I followed the path that my bull took after i shot it and there was absolutely no blood on the ground! I got a complete pass through with a 2 blade rage. I figured there would be blood everywhere but there wasn't. I haven't lost a animal yet fortunately but i have felt the stress of not finding one and it was horrible! Sorry to hear you didn't recover yours.