Hunting Washington Forum
Big Game Hunting => Bow Hunting => Topic started by: hunterrcc on September 15, 2011, 03:23:31 PM
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I am an experienced hunter and tracker, killed and tracked many deer and elk, etc but not this one. My buddy called me two nights ago because he hit a bull and wanted help tracking it. He said on his release it quartered more towards him. He said it was super load whack and he spun around and ran. he waited 20 minutes and looked for his arrow and blood. no arrow and little bit of blood then he backed out waited til I got there about 2 hours later and we when after it about 9:30pm. We started with small drops at first then about 50yards away it was spraying the ground and brush and it got pretty good for about 2 miles up hill through reprod, clearcuts, old grow etc... Not once did it show any signs of laying down or bedding all the blood was dry except for the more heavy areas of brush where it rubbed the grass or brush. But it didn't sit down until about 4.5-5 miles on the GPS. It was pretty easy to follow until it laid down in the dry pine needles and moss/dirt. Then the blood became chunks of wet/blood dirt which was super hard to follow. It was no blood for 50 yards then a little tiny bit on a dirt chunk. then we totally had no blood we followed the general trail it was on and the direction it was headed. The blood was clean red blood, not any sign of lung hit, no bone, no arrow that we saw, there were chunks of bloody slime like the kind between the front shoulder but that was it. the blood was darker clean red blood. I figured it got the dirt on the wound and it clotted it up and walked it off or it ran out of blood and ran on adrenline and its dead somewhere close to the last blood. more on the side of the second but don't know. We didn't get out of there til 4:15am and then he looked all the next day and grid searched for it and nothing. the wierd thing was it was close to water and didn't go to the water it went up hill away from the water. Any ideas or thoughts. I really hate to lose an animal and with that good of a trail to follow bugs me alot.
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I wonder if he hit it square in the shoulder and didn't get enough penetration to puncture a lung?
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I wonder if he hit it square in the shoulder and didn't get enough penetration to puncture a lung?
I was thinking the same thing. It sounds to me like you guys have done everything right so far. I would keep after it at least one more day and see what you can come up with. :twocents:
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I wish you could use a dog in this state cuz I have a feeling it is down just sucks for him... I feel bad cause I would have bet thousands on it after the a 1/2 mile that we would be finding him that night with the amount of blood but at about 3.5 miles I was thinking in my head man this thing should have lay down by now!!!
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Who says you cant take your dog out for a walk, say around or along a certain trail, maybe with a shotgun looking for grouse?? Just sayin...
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If he went 5 miles he wasn't hit in the lungs... probably wasn't even hit as hard as it may have appeared? They're tough, but not that tough!
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If I had more time yesterday I may have took my dog for a walk since I didn't shoot it and see if I could find any big grouse.lol
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Buddy whacked one in the shoulder blade a few years ago. Same LOUD whack sound- lake a wood bat hitting another wood bat. We waited a couple hours. Found the arrow minus broadhead 40 yards into tracking. Had blood about like yours but not as far. Tracked until about 5AM. I went into town and called in sick to work. Went back and grid searched for 12 hours. Nothing.
A friend of his got it later during modern. Wound was almost completely healed. The almost still useable broadhead was still in the shoulder. The guy who shot it said the bull wasn't even limping. It was just a standard 4 X 4 raghorn.
They're pretty tough. Sorry you lost it but you did the right thing spending time really searching for it.
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hunterrrc, that bull is alive and very sore to the shoulder and no more right now. No way does a bull thats going to die from a wound go 5 miles by GPS. He smacked the shoulder blade or lower leg bone square on and did nothing but meat damage to the bull. I'd bet money on it. Now, that doesn't mean you couldn't find him all stove up and sore, but unless he egts found and killed by wolves, this bull is going to live.
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Glad to hear you think he will live from this. He is hunting hard still today trying to find it die or alive but its on the west side in the thick brush and clearcuts so it makes it hard. I haven't done much bow hunting so wasn't sure much on the damage it may have done. I usually hunt muzzleloader or rifle so thank you all for your comments. I will forward it on to him. Have a good night and hopefully I will have a picture of this bull from my trail cameras to confirm its alive still.
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I only got 1 lung on my bull this year. We jumped him twice in 7 hrs. Both times we jumped him he would go less than 100 yards and lay down again. I think if it was sick it wouldn't go that far. But I'm not an expert.
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Don't think he got enough into him to hit a long. Probably just hit a vein and that's the blood you were seeing. If it does not get infection he should live.
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Just talked to a sales rep who came in yesterday that I see every week. One of the guys who works for him, that used to work for me went elk hunting last week down south. He arrowed a nice 5x5 just before dark. They tracked it they best they could, working to almost midnight until their batteries went dead and still did not find him. They were out at first light in the morning trying to locate him with no luck. Finally around noon some other hunters in the area found him. He had actually went up hill in a zig zag pattern and expired in a small bowl above where he was shot. He had already started to bloat but they tried to save the meat. But it had been too long. He tagged it anyway. No meat but a nice mount. :(
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I'm impressed that you were able to track it that far in the dark. Really bright flashlight or??
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The five miles by GPS sure makes think he is not that sick. But on the other hand he was heading to water then left. It could have been something down there to keep him from going to water.
The grid pattern is a great idea as I have found animals that way. But I think you are right that the hit was a shoulder hit. What was the blood spray that you were talking about? You think it was a high hit and hit a vein?
I feel for the hunter as that is a terrible emotion to work through. Good luck to him and you if you continue to help him.
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He had already started to bloat but they tried to save the meat. But it had been too long. He tagged it anyway. No meat but a nice mount.
As he should have
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Band... Yes a stream light, a mag light, three clip on lights green & Red, a hand held spot light, and two other head lamps.... We know better then to not have enough lights... Still ran out of good light but was able to use the clip on lights to walk our way out of there.
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Don't think he got enough into him to hit a long. Probably just hit a vein and that's the blood you were seeing. If it does not get infection he should live.
Along the lines of infection. About 10 years ago I harvested a Rosey bull that was moving along fine when I shot him. I shot him during modern season. Once I started quartering him up I found a problem with one ham. There was no entry hole apparent in the ham. Nearly all the meat in that ham was grey in color and had a smell. I knew this ham meat was bad at that point so I kept cutting away at the worst of it out of curiosity and found a broahead in mid ham. This bull in my opinion would have not survived the winter due to this infection. The entry wound through the skin had healed up. All I'm saying is yes these animals are tough. Just because it appears they are moving along fine does not mean infection cannot set-in in any wound and kill the animal some time later. I fully support your efforts in doing everything you can to recover your buddy's bull.
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I talked with Shane today (guy who arrowed the 5x5) and he had already made up his mind, either if or if they did not find the bull, he was going to notch his tag.
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That bull is alive and well. Elk won't go that far if they are really hurting, they will bed down if they aren't pushed. A kid I know killed an old bull last year that had a piece of arrow and the broadhead, plus two healed up muzzy slugs in him. A guy I know killed a big bull back when I was in high school who had been shot by another friend of mine two years before. It was a steep shot and only caught one lung. That bull lived with one lung for two more years, the bad lung was shriveled up like a piece of leather when the other guy shot it. They are tough period!
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First Elk I got dumped buckets of blood... When I shot him at 35 yards I could see the blood pouring out. It was a "good shot" maybe a hair low and full pass through. Two areas looked like he dumped quarts of blood and then it was a spot every 3-10 yards. Tracked him across a sagebrush field, then got pulled off the trail (luckily) at 10:30 pm (we were two hours from base) Found him early the next morning in the woods bedded down and barely alive. Hate to think what would have happened if I'd gotten too close. Tough animals.... would have notched my tag if we hadn't found him.
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It's amazing what they can take , the bull i shot two years ago had huge horn gashes in his neck and shoulder. If that bull was hit hard even one lung he would have bedded up . Acouple of things i use in determining to go after a elk right away is , solid blood on both sides of the trail and is he heading down hill . most of the bulls That ive hit hard have headed down hill pretty quick . one other thing is if they peel away from the group this ussaully tells you there gonna tank. the shoulder hit will often bleed more when he is heading down hill while your lung and rear honch shot bleed worse going up hill. One bull I hit in the liver stood with blood pouring off the arrow for 45 minutes . any elk that goe'd more than 500 yards isnt a good sign . I heard of a gal shooting a bull right near there camp while her husband and friends where off hunting she just went back to camp and waited for them they got back and went to tracking the bull it was hit in the nose . he went about three hundred yards and bedded up and died of a nose bleed !
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I have hit an elk in the shoulder and that sound is un mistakable. a wound llike that will bleed a fair amount but the bull is prabably still alive.
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You don't say if he was traveling up or down hill. The shoulder shot sound like the likely placement. If he traveled up hill it was defenitly not a vital shot, the added stress of hills and movement of mussel mass make it difficult at best for them to endure it for very far. 5 + miles is a long way if hi Hard.... Sorry about the loss, never like seeing it happen but sooner or later it happens to everyone.... :bash:
