my first bull

[miah]

well got to shoot my first bull yesterday at 6 in the morning and he was a jiant, problem is I hit him super low and never recovered him. the shot was right in the pocket but only about 5 or 6 inches up the chest cavity. we found two spots of blood and that was it. I'm figgin sick to my stomoch still. everything happened so fast. he came into my tree stand chasing two cows at about 50 miles an hour and stopped 30 yards in front of me to get a drink of water out of the creek so I let him have it and he ran directly under and behind my tree where I didn't have another shot than he just walked off after about a minute of standing there making my heart sink. I'm almost certain he would have made 340 inches or better. I only hope he survives to meet me again.

[MuleySniper]

You find your arrow? That sucks man. I had that happen to me a couple years ago. I sat and sat then tracked and tracked. Three of us. Went from finding quarter sized blood to tiny specs over a mile or two. I had a complete pass through too with bright red blood.  Might want to get a mod to move your post to bow hunting or the elk section.

[miah]

I found half of my arrow that broke off right on a tree after the shot but the business end is still in him lodged in the brisket area and I had 3 other guys plus my self looking for him and we found no blood trail other than 20 yards from my stand and that my brother jumped him about a quarter mile away and he took off down hill with no blood to be found

[bowhunterforever]

Dam man that sucks,hopefully you find him.

[bow4elk]

I hit him super low and never recovered him. the shot was right in the pocket but only about 5 or 6 inches up the chest cavity. we found two spots of blood and that was it.

Sorry to hear this.  Not judging you, but in the spirit of helping you recover your bull, I need to have you dig deep here a minute and really try to remember your shot placement.  As described, on a broadside or quartering away animal, this is good shot placement which should result in a heart or top of heart, clipping lower frontal area of the lungs (depending on angles).  This hit would have killed this bull in seconds and the recovery would have been strewn with a painted blood trail.

Tell us more about the shot, body position of the bull, etc.  Stay on him and keep looking.  If the front half of your arrow stayed in the chest cavity, he didn't go far.  Good luck!

[medic6]

Extremely unfortunate   With the warm weather get a good vantage point of the area last seen and look for the birds.  They will often locate your animal for you.  Good Luck

[miah]

well the bull was perfectly broadside and the arrow went strait in directly behing the front leg and if you look at the bottom line of the animal behind the leg go up from that about 5 inches and that is where I hit him, I'm sure it wasn't high enough for a heart shot but there is a big artery there and I don't see how I could have missed both. I looked for him again today and never seen any birds or nothing so I don't know. It would be like finding a needle in a hay stack litteraly

[bucklucky]

Thats too bad. I double lunged my bull last year and only had a few drops of blood. He went about 300 yards and died. I was chitting bricks looking for blood, but had good tracks too follow. I think my bull ran a full 30 seconds before expiring and rolled about 100 yards to the bottom of a revine. 

[WonkyWapiti]

My bull today got up and walked 35 yards and went down.  I had no blood for the first 30 yards and started totally second guessing myself.  I ended up having a perfect shot on him.

[colockumelk]

well the bull was perfectly broadside and the arrow went strait in directly behing the front leg and if you look at the bottom line of the animal behind the leg go up from that about 5 inches and that is where I hit him, I'm sure it wasn't high enough for a heart shot but there is a big artery there and I don't see how I could have missed both. I looked for him again today and never seen any birds or nothing so I don't know. It would be like finding a needle in a hay stack litteraly

What position was his front leg in.  Was it back or forward.  If the leg was back you may have hit his shoulder blade or leg bone and thus did not penetrate far enough to get the heart which is what sounds like happened.  Especially since you found a broken arrow.  This happenes when the arrow hit the bone and doesn't penetrate all the way and sticks out of him.  Then the animal starts to run and breaks the shaft.  If the leg bone wouldn't have been there the arrow would have blown strait through him and you would have found it sticking in the ground covered with blood.  I wasn't there but this may have been what happened. 

[halflife65]

 

I suspect that Colockum is right - it sounds like you might have hit bone.  At 30 yards, the arrow probably (but not always) should've gone through the elk (a friend of mine's daughter made a 30 yard broadside shot on a 5 point in Montana with a 47 pound bow and it was a complete passthrough).  The shot placement sounds good enough (if everything was right) to kill the elk.  Also, are you sure you didn't hit forward or back of where you think you did? 

You should probably go back to the area and look again.  I found a dead cow this year that had not been gone for long and actually spotted it because of the ravens and two coyotes that were on the carcass.  It's unfortunately probably too late for the meat but maybe you can still find him.

[bankwalker]

well got to shoot my first bull yesterday at 6 in the morning and he was a jiant, problem is I hit him super low and never recovered him. the shot was right in the pocket but only about 5 or 6 inches up the chest cavity. we found two spots of blood and that was it. I'm figgin sick to my stomoch still. everything happened so fast. he came into my tree stand chasing two cows at about 50 miles an hour and stopped 30 yards in front of me to get a drink of water out of the creek so I let him have it and he ran directly under and behind my tree where I didn't have another shot than he just walked off after about a minute of standing there making my heart sink. I'm almost certain he would have made 340 inches or better. I only hope he survives to meet me again.

i had the same thing happen a couple years back. made a shot on a cow that was a little higher then i wanted. but still in the kill zone. the only thing i could think of was the chest cavity just filled with blood. cause i never found a drop, the elk ran through some thick trees and i never seen which was she went after that. looked for about 5 or 6 hours with my parents and never found her.

its a sickening feeling. but 50% or more of archery hunters will experience this feeling at some point. no shot is ever perfect, sometimes these animals will to survive is just to strong

[AKBowman]

Since you found the shaft of the arrow broken off you most likely hit him somehwere in the shoulder bone or upper femur. Probably about an inch away from a perfect heart shot. I've heard of guys cleaning elk and finding old broadheads with scar tissue all grown in around them. Elk survived for at least a year with no issues.

The real question is are you going to count that as you elk this year and quit hunting? That is a tough one.

[WAPITIHUNTER]

Souds to me like you are one of the truly ethical bow hunters on here that are actually capable of admitting they are not perfect, just like myself. The flyfisherman mentality does not belong in the bowhunting world. Fly fisherman are so ethical and proper and they sip there wine and life is so perfect for them because every fish they catch always lives and swims away happy. GET A LIFE!!!!!!!

Do your best man and don't give up. If you find your bull .........Tag him and regret the loss of the meat and let the bull be a good reminder of the need of making a better than perfect shot and being diligent in your search for your quarry. Never be afraid to call for help in looking for a hard to find animal. Last years bull went 300 yards after having my arrow cut his right lung in half It took four of us with lanters and flashlights a couple hours to recover him after dark.

DO NOT GIVE UP. YOU OWE IT TO THE ANIMAL TO KEEP LOOKING!

One other tip.......This time of year dictates that you stay out looking all night with your lanterns and lights if you want any edible meat off your animal. If you leave it till morning 75 percent of it will be lost to bone sour!!!!!!!!

[miah]

well I made my last ditch effort today to find him again and I actually found a ton of ravens however they were on a deer kill and not my bull so I asume if he were dead I would have found the birds on him at least. Really is too bad. But I can't say I didn't try I spent 3 whole days looking.