Shot my first elk BUT

[demontang]

I finally got a shot at a cow I had been playing with the last few days. It was around 6:00pm last night I heard an elk moving around so I set up and waited. At around 7:30pm a cow finally walk in to a clear shooting line at about 5yd's and I let one fly and it connected Well being so late I just made sure there was a good blood trail and went back to camp and planed on returning in the morning(mistake) . I woke up this morning after being excited all night that I had gotten my first elk and headed up to where I had shot it. It took me about an hour to track it down (rained) but when I got there all I found was a gut pile someone had found it and taken it and on top of it I miss a shot at another today because of a stick I didn't see . When I got back to camp tonight my tent had leaked and all my stuff was wet. Talk about going from an all time high to an all time low Now I have to what tell late season to give it another try.

[ICEMAN]

   Someone stole the Elk? WTF is this world coming to?  Hopefully they just decided to tag it thinking someone else had surely lost it...and that was their only concern...

Bummer for sure.

[demontang]

I dont know why they did it but man I was pissed off when I found the gut pile

[boneaddict]

Honestly, you are lucky someone found it and tagged it and it didn't go to waste.  With these temps its Hollywood that you see ont he TV screen of the animal sitting overnight withthe guts in them.  Its my opinion the animal would have spoiled.  You have time and will get another shot at one.  Sorry it was your first.  And maybe they didn't just steal it, but thought  they were salvaging it.  Some people lose animals and never find them....They may have thought they were doing a good thing

[12Gauge]

Those people that found your elk must have been watching you and worked all night to get it out before morning.  That is really to bad there are people like that

[demontang]

It ran across a main trail so maybe someone found the blood trail on there way out There where 3 sets of tracks there too.

[bankwalker]

the first elk i ever shot was 2 years ago. i had lost the blood trail after hours and hours and hours of looking. i had told some guys about what happened and the general area. a couple days later i shot another elk in the same area and my dad found my first elk with my arrow still in it and the back half of the elk cut off. with about 100ft of rope laying next to it.

[demontang]

I wish that it didn't rain so much and get my stuff wet, I still had one day of early season left. It might be a sign that I should go down and try to get a bull late season

[robodad]

I guess I am with Bone on this one, you really needed to get some lights and help and get that thing found and packed out and cooled down ASAP in this weather, Leave all the weapons at camp and grab some good lights and get at it, not trying to bust your chops but you shouldn't have even taken the shot that close to dark knowing you would likely have a tracking job to do. If nothing else get out and find it and get the guts out and hang the quarters in a tree or something and leave the packing for daylight but leaving it over night with guts in and not even making the attempt to find it is irresponsible in my opinion.

I am actually kind of glad someone found it and made use of it cause you would have found it in the morning and then tossed it in the trash because it was spoiled.

I'm sorry you had to experience that for your first elk and maybe this is a bit of a lesson we can all learn from !!!

Sorry Dude !!

[Curly]

+1

[hard hunter]

I had a similar experience in Idaho.  My buddy and I came across 2 bulls at 25 yards. He shot the smaller 4 point that turned and walked back to the main trail.  I shot the larger 5X6 and it went up the hill. I ran back down the trail and cut up a draw.  I was able to anchor it with a second shot.  I then returned to help my buddy with his because it was on the main trail.  We packed his out in a couple of trips (we were almost 4 miles from the road on a foot trail). My buddy took my pack for the last trip while I finished boning out the last little bit of meat.  As he was returning he hear some noise up the draw from where my elk was and figured I had finished and was starting on mine.  WRONG, when he go up there he found two guys quartering my elk.  He asked them what they were doing and was told that they had shot this elk.  He informed then they were wrong as the only shots that had been fired were by us.  At that point both of them put there hands on their pistols and told my buddy that this was their elk. He came and got me and would not let me go up and confront them, I was ready to, and we went back to camp and then down to the nearest town to call fish and wildlife.  When they finally called back they told me to go back to the area tomarrow and get a licence plate and description of their vehicle and they, fish and wildlife, would see what they can do.  I went back to camp for the night feeling dejected and then back to the kill area at first light.  I found that they had worked all night to get that elk out in 19 degree temps.  I ended up leaving and coming home because of an emergency that same day. 

Funny thing was if I had known I was going to loose that first elk I could have shot a big 5X5 at 50 yards and would only have had a two mile pack.

My condolenses and I sincerely wish you luck on connecting with another.

[bucklucky]

I agree with Bone also, cant leave them elk over night they will bone sour. Trust me I learned the hard way in the snow , made an iffy shot and didnt want to push him, next mornign found him dead but had started to bone sour, managed to save some meat . That was in 30 degree cold weather too.

Get after it and get another one, at least that one didnt go to waste!

[demontang]

Man a lot of tough love one here. I was by myself and figured with the cold of night it would be fine, and with the rain I didnt want to try and track it at night and loose the trail . I think how ever found it was on it right after it was down because most of the tracks where pretty wet and there was nothing recent. Another lesson learned

[bucklucky]

Sorry man, wasnt trying to be negative just giving good info on leaving elk overnight Dont want people to think they can let elk lay over night and they will be ok in the morning.

[demontang]

Wasnt realy talk about you, And like I said figured it would be ok and now I know.

[Red Dawg]

sorry to hear about your misfortune. that really sucks that you lost your elk. I can see where you are coming from. How far did the cow go from when you shot her.

[bucklucky]

It does suck though  that you didnt get to enjoy your cow Oh well, chalk it up as  a learning experiance

[boneaddict]

Same here.  Alot of inexperienced folks on here and alot of folks watch the tv shows which portray this kind of action all of the time.   As with bucklucky, learned the hard way and want to make sure an animal doesn't go to waste.  That hide, the guts and the heat created with the wound, just ruins the meat.  It cn be pretty nasty even in very cold temps.  These warm temps, NO CHANCE.

[demontang]

She went about 100yards or so, the trees where really thick and I didnt even know there was a well used trail there tell the next day. It also didnt help that the elk where running every where after I shot, it made it hard to track without much blood sign from the rain. This hole archery season has been a learning experience, In the last three days I learned a lot about how elk act by getting busted, not being ready to shot when they walked though a line, and now I'm getting good at finding them and getting setup.

[boneaddict]

They will teach you something on every hunt, I promise.  Thats all part of the experience.  Keep learning and enjoy the fruits of your success whether thats watching a sunrise, a squirell frolicking in the bush while you are patiently waiting for that elk to come in, to two bulls squaring off.  Its ALL good.  You'll have lots of other chances.

[jdb]

we made a similiar mistake a few years back, My Dad shot a buck in the evening and it got dark went back at first light and found it but it layed out all nite. and it was spoiled and that was in november! Live and learn. JB

[demontang]

This season has been great, I had a cow only 5 feet from me yesterday and she never know I was there. That is something I never thought was possible with as little camo I had, I cant wait to get back out .

[Tony 270WSM]

Maybe they thought the person who shot it wasn't able to find and recover it, so rather than letting it waste they put it to use. Could have been done with good intentions.

[LongTatLaw]

Last year I shot one an hour before dark with 2 arrows in the boiler room... I gave it a lil over an hour and tracked it by light for another 3 before losing the blood. I later found out some guys winched it into the truck probably within an hour of my shooting it...drove it up the road and chopped its head off. They left the rest to rot.

I eventually got the head back through much pain... but the animal was wasted in the process...  I guess finding a gut pile is better than finding a moved, rotted full animal just missing its head.

Sorry you lost it... I would def go after it within two hours no matter what. Take lights with ya bro..or this may not be the last time you tell this story!

[Fullabull]

The gents are right on with their assessment.

I once shot a bull before dark and skinned and quartered it out. I laid out the quarters so air could flow around them for the night and went back to camp. When I returned in the morning, one of the quarters had slipped and landed on part of the cape. We lost most of that quarter because the heat could not escape well enough.

I shot my first archery bull this year in the evening and didn't get back to camp till 3am where all the meat was safe and cooling.

It's a hard lesson to learn but I bet it will never happen again

Fulla

[demontang]

I had some lights with me but they just wouldnt put out that much light in the dark of night up there. I have since found my good mag lights that my son had hidden from me. I plan on getting a stinger streamlight with 295 lumens for track