Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Elk Hunting => Topic started by: wapiti hunter2 on November 08, 2009, 06:29:00 PM
-
I shot a bull tonight as it was getting dark. :) Good solid shot (250 yards dead rest) but by the time I got to where he was standing it was to dark to see. :bash: He acted hit, turned and ran into some real thick brush. I am going back at first light to start the search, but I was wondering how long in this weather till the meat will spoil beyond salvage?
-
Weather is cool. Find him in the am. Drink a shot for me, enjoy the fruits of ur labor. Hope the rain don't screw it for u.
-
This is a bad situation, an animal is around 101* F while he is alive and unless you open him up he begins to spoil.
I would take ashort nap, or whatever , grab some flashlights and lanterns, and go take care of him.
It wont be that bad because it isn't that warm out, but the hide and fat on an animal will keep the heat in which is what causes spoiling.
-
Get out there with some flashlights. It will be bloated before morning.
-
You should always carry a flashlight with you...if you gut shot him the meat will be ruined.
-
stiknstringbow is right. but if it was a good shot and no guts were opened you sould still be o.k. threw to tomarrow morning. i would not trust it past then. i would try tonight because of the chance of loosin blood if the ground is wet you might be able to follow tracks but be better if you could find blood. good luck
-
I would recommend getting out there just a bit before first light. I know some say you should be out there with a lantern and hunting damn near all night but I dont think that is the best thing you can do...the only thing that changes this is rain. If its raining then get out there all night. If it isnt raining you can track blood, if you fumble around in the dark you can miss something that may tip you to where your elk is. If its raining jsut get to him ASAP so go out in the dark.
If you think you made a good hit on him (sounds like you did) he's dead within 300 yards. If you cant find him right away start walking circles (progressively getting larger) from the last sign or spot you saw him.
Congrats and good luck! Post pics of the critter after you find him.
Also remember wounded elk will most likely take the easiest route of travel or travel down hill.
-
It isn't a science. Contrary to extremely popular belief, bigger animals don't spoil as fast as small animals. Rest assured - smaller animals spoil faster which means your elk will be fine depending on where you shot it. To add to my credibility, I must say that I've worked in a slaughter house and have a rather high level of experience in this with wild and domestic animals.
If you didn't gut shoot it, it will be fine.
The other thing is, did you get it on the west side or the east side? Either way, get to it early and work it up quickly and process the meat asap and it will be just fine.
Don't get the meat wet. Wet meat will spoil faster. Don't cool it down with water. Just air cool it. When you find it in the AM, it will still be warm but don't worry, it will be fine.
Use my 'how to bone-out a deer tutorial with pictures' in the deer section. You will risk too much if you gut it out. Do your best regardless and you will have good meat.
-
Thanks, I have rounded up a friend and we will be at it at first light. It is relatively flat ground, west side. My feeling is we will find him pretty fast or It will be a long day.
-
One more thing: if you did gut shoot it, the animal will take longer to die, thus it will be a shorter time period from death till butcher time. Sad - but that is the way it happens sometimes.
And yes, as noted before by someone else, mortally wounded animals go downhill.
We wait for your story.
-
I would go now and look for him. I made a choice on a bull I wasnt sure of the shot on , well it was in the snow and very cold. I thought I could get away with leaving him over night. Guess what, all spoiled. Big animals take longer to cool. Simple math, big bones more meat . Takes longer to cool, there fore bone sour. You are taking a chance on this one. I had a friend kill a bull and gutted him and propped him open over night to cool, lost all the neck meat to bone sour. Good luck man. Hope it works out !
-
This is a bad situation, an animal is around 101* F while he is alive and unless you open him up he begins to spoil.
I would take ashort nap, or whatever , grab some flashlights and lanterns, and go take care of him.
It wont be that bad because it isn't that warm out, but the hide and fat on an animal will keep the heat in which is what causes spoiling.
Drink a ton of water on the drive back, and get back out there. He will bone sour by morning, especially the side on the ground. :twocents:
-
Grab some light colored jeans to wear if you have them, bring dry cloths to change into after. The light color may pick up blood from bushes that you can't tell has blood on it.
I would get out there tonight though!!!!
-
Also, just an FYI for anyone interested - slight threadjack here, but related - you should check out Judd Cooney's interview on Bowcast.com. He talks about how bacteria works up through the throat, etc. Pretty interesting stuff.
-
I myself would be out there now, the rain can wash all your sign away, the one issue if it is gut shot may not be dead and you could jump it and never find it again. I have gone both ways on leaving it over night, one was a moose shot towards the last hours of the night and went into some thickets, we found it first thing the following morning and it was all good. had a buddy get an elk down and could not find it, We found it before first light with flashlights elk was dead for maybe 8 hours and the entire thing was bad, conditions were about the same as they are now. Wish you the best of luck on recovering that animal quickly and all turns out for the better on the meat..
-
That throat bacteria will destoy a cape also, people wrap up a head and cape and dont plug the throat, that gunk will pool on the cape and cause bacteria to rapidly deteriorate the cape, more than likely it will slip.
-
A gas lantern will show the blood better than a flashlight. The blood seems to "shine"
-
Unless your sure of the shot, I wouldn't go after him till morning. I have seen a lot of bulls that have been left overnight, and if you get the meat off the bone first thing, it won't sour. I have lost a bull and in hind sight it was due to pursuing him too soon, and only got one lung. :twocents:
-
As allot of others have said...............you should be out there right now with lanterns and flashlights. I lost one to Bone sour and that was the last one as I will never leave one over night again. Consider looking in the dark an extra great memory for when you are old. It's kinda fun........till you get lost.
-
If you waited until this morning to go after your elk, congrats you wasted your elk. You might as well just cut the head off tag it and plan to shoot some 'yotes and cats off it. NEVER and I mean NEVER leave an elk over night without gutting, skinning, quartering, and hanging it. Been there done that. Hard leason to learn.
All these damn so called hunting shows that "Have to back out and recover the bull the next day" sure the hell ain't going to eat the meat. Any out fitter that dose that just lost my money..
Hunterman(Tony)
-
So, lets hear an update. There are obviously mixed feelings on this topic among all of us fellow hunters.
-
If a good hit on West Side where is does not get cold enough now would go back that same night with a friend. Bring toilet paper to mark blood trail. As mentioned lantern works well. Get the animal guuted, skinned, cooled off ASAP. Have tracked many animals at night. If you see not a good hit. Wait until morning be out at first light.
-
I learned the hard way. Even in freezing temperatures you are likely to be dissappointed in the result if you leave an animal overnight. I have had it go both ways, but I think the one that was not sour did not expire until after midnight. The other had a more efficient kill shot and was soured by morning. Elk are just too big and too well insulated to leave the heat in them overnight. It does a lot of damage and happens quicker than TV shows would have you believe. I don't think it is quite as critical with deer.
For me, the right think to do is search for elk at night. I give them an hour or maybe two, but then I get after them. The few that I've blood tracked at night were recovered.
-
It is night again, what happened to this animal? I hope you are busy boning/packing but after this long it is probably not found......
-
shot a couple bulls with a bow and wasnt sure of the shot despite feeling good about the shot. i left and came back at first light both bulls were dead within the first couple hours. meat was still plenty warm underneath the hide. so i took the meat immediately off the bone. meat was fine and i found both bulls. more elk are lost to guys that that go after them at night than anything else. :twocents: :twocents:
-
It is night again, what happened to this animal? I hope you are busy boning/packing but after this long it is probably not found......
:yeah:Doesnt look good. :twocents: Mark
-
OK, here's the update. Myself and a friend went out at first light. I went to where I shot from and he went to where I thought the elk was when I shot. We had to do some correcting but I got him to the spot. Tons of tracks, poo, but no blood, no hair, nothing. No rain overnight either. :) So we started searching. Concentric circles, grid work lots of toilet paper flagging. etc. We worked out to at least 300 yards in all directions. nothing zip nada :( We looked all morning but finally decided to call it at noon.
But, I had to satisfy my self that I could have missed. Believe me, I have been running this through my mind over and over. Here's what I remember, don't laugh. This all happened ofer no more than 2 minutes. Bad light, final 10 minutes of shooting time, getting dark fast, already pretty dark and grey. Buck fever real bad due to the fading light and no way to close the distance. Hurry, Hurry, breathing hard, Binoculars fogging-wiping, Scope fogging-wiping, both due to how hard I'm breathing, try to get situated, He sees me and looks like he will bolt, wipe scope, slightly blurred due to the fogging and my bad wiping, rifle over log, solid. Cross hairs half way up the body in the shoulder crease, fire. Elk looks like he turns on a dime and is gone. Took 10 minutes to get there.......
Today I looked through by binoculars over the shooting lane and there were at least a dozen bushes that I shot through. No leaves so I didn't see them in the bad light. Since we found no sign, I have to accept the possibility I missed. I hope so. I will still look more. I was back out tonight too. This is close to home. Many lessons learned and lots of never do agains.
-
The good: sounds like no meat was wasted.
The bad: your tag is not filled and you may be forced to eat inferior meat from the store to satisfy your canine teeth.
The ugly: you need to drag your ass out there again and get that monster in spite of the pouring down rain, mud soaked roads, and miserable hunting conditions.
-
Sorry that it did not turn out as hoped.
Great that you made the effort to search for the animal. A lot of guys will spend a few minutes and they do not see anything move on. Good to see guys like you in the woods make the effort. I guess chalk it up to a learning experience. Have experienced similar.
