Did someone lose an elk?

[piledup]

I found this on Dec. 8th. Seems like a bowhunter shot it but couldn't track it. How long do you guys think it was dead?

[BULLBLASTER]

bad to shoot elk in the guts... they use hay bales for targets for a reason.
it happens... that thing could have covered a lot of ground with the arrow in there if pushed. what gmu is this?

[saylean]

crappy...hate to see that no matter who shot at it. I would say 2 weeks dead.

[GoldTip]

yes, thats a sad deal.  Would probably be a hard animal to track from the looks of the entrance wound.

[croix]

December 15th is four days from now. Did you mean Nov. 15 or was this in '07?

[broken-arrow]

That is a sad site indeed!  This looks like it was likely shot towards the latter part of the early season providing you took the photo on November 15 and not December 15...

[buck470]

Ran across one just similar, 2 weeks ago, the carcass was pretty much intact, except for one hole the size of a tennis ball in it's gut.

It's a waste.

[EastWaViking]

Hate to see that.     

[huntnphool]

That sucks. White nock, green/orange fletching, who is it. HuntWa CSI

[piledup]

That is a sad site indeed!  This looks like it was likely shot towards the latter part of the early season providing you took the photo on November 15 and not December 15...

Wrong date. It's supposed to be the 8th of December.

[broken-arrow]

What GMU did you find this?

[roadhuntking]

Well you can eliminate me, wrong side of elk, right colored fletching and wrong color knock. Sad deal.

[rasbo]

  >:(more and more people are bow hunting for the season not the sport.not that thats what happened..hope they tore up their tag

[rougheye]

You can say the same thing about rifle hunters . This year i came across 3 bucks in the swakane , 2    3- points and 1   4point and i know they werent there during shed season . Unfortunatly it is a sad part of hunting . All we can do is hope they tried like hell to find them but if you hunt long enough than you know chit happens .

[saylean]

I hunt both rifle and bow and I can say I have easily found more animals killed by rifle than those by bow, which were not recovered.

[Bighorse]

Where are the upper legs at?  I don't see two hoofs.  Were they scattered somewhere?  Rear Femur?  Front Scapula? 

How did  the hide look?  Was it cut so the Backstap was removed?

Did someone just fill up a backpack and leave the rest?    Hum?

[fc2038]

yea I would guess two weeks. Could be less. I have see an animal pretty cleaned out in a couple days. Who knows for sure how long.

[GWA Hunter]

THat sucks! What GMU was that in?

[huntnphool]

Bighorse is right, it looks as though the front and rear quarters on the left side are gone.

[WVT]

sad for sure, it happens with all the weapons. I will say that the elk has more of a chance to survive a bad archery shot than a bad rifle shot.

[huntnphool]

sad for sure, it happens with all the weapons. I will say that the elk has more of a chance to survive a bad archery shot than a bad rifle shot.

I was at Outitters house last week and one of his muzzy deer hunters had taken a nice whitetail. While skinning it out Joe found a broken arrow shaft between the backbone and vitals that had healed over, it had been there a year or two.

[Antlershed]

Bighorse is right, it looks as though the front and rear quarters on the left side are gone.

Yep, the shoulder blade and everything is clean gone. 

[piledup]

What GMU did you find this?

Found this on the eastside in gmu 124.

[heavy hauler]

its a shame. i am not sure if someone removed some meat or not.it seems like if they did that they would have pulled there arrow also.who knows?

[bucklucky]

Maybee they used the gutless method. Was the hindquarter on the bottom boned out or did it still have the meat on it? Looks like a *censored*ty feild job possibly?? I dont know.

[wastickslinger]

Maybee they used the gutless method. Was the hindquarter on the bottom boned out or did it still have the meat on it? Looks like a *censored*ty feild job possibly?? I dont know.

I wondered the same thing. Those backstraps look like they were entirely removed. But why leave the arrow if that was the case?

[NWWABOWHNTR]

Looks like it was boned out as said above,  but why leave your arrow?  If it was just not recovered I'd say at least a month and a half to decay and be eaten to that level.

[archery288]

I don't think it was boned or quartered...  I think it was never recovered and the victim of natural decay and critters eating it....

[Old Mule]

Dam, looks like my Arrow, but the only thing I got a shot at was a Turkey in Idaho. 12 Days and I only saw 4 Elk, The Neighbor took Pictures of 14 Wolves in the in the Canyon above Me.

[Big10gauge]

Ok I'm going to take a wild shot here but everyone is assuming that a bowhunter shot this elk and couldn't find it. I have seen several deer and elk laying down shot with an arrow to finish it off look at the angle of the shot. What stopped the arrow? Possibly the ground under the elk. If not IMO that arrow sure seemed to manage to stay in the animal in that thicket and not get dislodged or broken. How it stayed in that position with predators ripping and pulling on the elk also makes me question it. Like I said just my opinion but too many variables in that picture for me not to be suspicious of the common assumption.

[Chesapeake]

I'm guessing it has bean dead a few weeks. It doesnt look like a poor cleaning job to me. It looks like the animals drug off the two legs they could drag off. The front leg isnt attached by any bone and the hind leg would just require chewing the hip joint loose.

Were the ivories in it? I would guess even a sloppy hunter would have grabbed the ivories and the arrow.

I found a 5x5 bull elk during rifle season several years back that looked just like that. Actualy so very close to that its almost scary. The arrow in the elk I found had bean chewed on around the knock and fletching. It was a camo easton aluminum with a Muzzy broadhead. Still have it.

[MIKEXRAY]

I was hunting late season by Naches River and ran into a young indian who was driving around looking for crows. He said thats how he got his buck last year, by looking for the crows & finding another archers kill.   I also found a fork horn mulie drilled in the fore head and left to rot, it was a three point area. That is a sadder situation than not finding game, shooting something not legal and leaving it.

[bucklucky]

 

[1bowhunter1]

It looks like the elk was going the other way when shot  (From behind)    To bad!

[Hunterman]

Well even nature gets a free meal every now and then.. Looks like the 'yote and birds had a good time.. Nothing goes to waste in the forest.

Hunterman(Tony)

[robb92]

After looking at the picture it would seem to me that no one tried the gutless method or even took any of the meat.  Looks like some yotes or cougar got ahold of it and cleaned it out. because it looks like the gut sack has not been moved but just openend. The bottom line is that it is a waste and to bad the "shooter" couldn't find it. Just hope he or she didn't figure that it was only nicked and went on hunting.

[jae]

Where are the upper legs at?  I don't see two hoofs.  Were they scattered somewhere?  Rear Femur?  Front Scapula? 

How did  the hide look?  Was it cut so the Backstap was removed?

Did someone just fill up a backpack and leave the rest?    Hum?

+1

[Slow-1]

I would say it was not found. If it was found and only high graded they would have take their arrow .If the it had the gutless method used all the legs would be gone.Also it was not that bad of a shot with the forward angle it got one lung for sure and maybe caught the other one its hard to tell in the picture exactly.looks like a poor track job to me.