Blood trail

[CoyoteCowboy]

Good luck! Pulling for you!

[7mmfan]

Stay on the track!  I've walked one or two trails of wound game in my life.  My guess is your bull is down.  Please consider. Hopefully you marked the trail when you stopped last night.  Lack of blood trail can be from clotting, or his bleeding out, lack of blood pressure reduces the amount that will flow out before they go down.  Since he's been stumbly from the start, his trail might not tell you if he's going down.  Usually as an elk bleds out he becomes less coordinated and his tracks spread out to maintain his balance.  If you can read this in his tracks then he's definitely going down.  Also when they stop running or moving fast, their tracks aren't so deep in the soil.  So the reason his tracks might become harder to read as you go along is that he slowed down.  Another good sign he's going down.  He's headed down hill, path of least resistant which is another good sign he's going down.  If I read your text right he was hit in the shoulder.  Shoulder wounds bother elk more it seems and maybe because they're concerned if they bed up they won't be able to get back up latter, but it's been my experience shoulder wounded deer and elk tend to walk and not bed.  If you got a lung or the liver they'll bleed out and die maybe on their feet.  Becareful you don't walk past him.  Some times they literally fall off the down hill side of the trail and if it's brushy their tracks just disappear and they're hidden by the brush.  Or they turn, step off the trail and go a little ways down hill as they start to blackout.  When the blood stops start looking up on the brush he would walk through.  You've already notice a high blood trail; towards the end before he goes down that maybe the only blood sign left.  I would not use a grid to search for him.  From the last known point you had his track (and make sure it's his track) put your best tracker on his trail and somebody with them to look on both sides and ahead for a bedded or downed animal.  Mark the trail (toilet paper) as you go.  If you loose the trail.  Go back to where you last had it and search from there to find it again.  If all else fails, have your party fan out on both sides of the line he was traveling and proceed slowly ahead.  He's probably piled up against an obstruction he couldn't get through or around or as he was passing out he turned and stumbled off the trail before going down.  Good luck.

This is great advice and a great description of how it often goes down. it mirrors my experience almost exactly.

Good luck, I'm sure you'll find him in short order this morning!

[JakeLand]

Keep us posted ! Good luck

[10thmountainarcher]

Hopefully y’all are packing out the bull. Had to have been a rough night waiting. Elk are extremely tough animals.

[Birdguy]

Hoped to see an update on this one, hope he found him and all is well!

[2MANY]

Take a dog.

[Rutnbuxnbulls]

Take a dog.

This worked for me on a wounded deer.  I felt it was the most ethical thing to do.  We brought out the housepet dog for my sons first archery doe and the mutt found the deer in short order.  Very cool watching my untrained dog take me right to the deer after we lost blood, tracks, and it rained that night.  Good Luck hoping you found him!

[elkboy]

Take a dog.

This worked for me on a wounded deer.  I felt it was the most ethical thing to do.  We brought out the housepet dog for my sons first archery doe and the mutt found the deer in short order.  Very cool watching my untrained dog take me right to the deer after we lost blood, tracks, and it rained that night.  Good Luck hoping you found him!

Dogs are amazing.  Those noses...

I hope this elk is found soon.  I know what a heartache that search can be. 

[CoryTDF]

Take a dog.

Never take a dog because WDFW says that is illegal . I guess they would rather an animal gets wasted and another likely will be shot. It's management at it's finest! Ya know, cause dogs used after a shot is fired aid you in hunting much like illuminated arrow nocks do. Yeah, I know they changed if for nocks but I would not count on dogs being legal anytime soon. City folks must have some crazy vision of a pack of dogs running a deer or elk down and brutally killing it and it hurts their hearts to think of it. The same people will defend wolves...

Back on topic, I hope you find it. I lost a really nice bull (370 class) once. We followed blood for over a mile and after one last huge pool it just dried up. I spent 4 days walking grids looking for it. It's the worst feeling in the world and will bother you forever. It is part of hunting and as long as you can look yourself in the mirror and know you did all you could, well, that is all you can do.

Tips I use:

1) Mark last blood and tracks
2) Circle out from there and look for similar tracks or more blood
3) Use your head, look at the land and try to think like an elk, where would you go?
4) Walk next to game trails as you might cover sign you would have otherwise found later.
5) Don't get stuck on the "wounded animals go to water or downhill" while the is true often it is also often wrong.


Good luck I hope you find that bad boy!
     

[Tribal Elder]

  From the last known point you had his track (and make sure it's his track) put your best tracker on his trail and somebody with them to look on both sides and ahead for a bedded or downed animal.  Mark the trail (toilet paper) as you go.  If you loose the trail.  Go back to where you last had it and search from there to find it again.  If all else fails, have your party fan out on both sides of the line he was traveling and proceed slowly ahead.  He's probably piled up against an obstruction he couldn't get through or around or as he was passing out he turned and stumbled off the trail before going down.  Good luck.

great advice. I use colored ribbon to track my progress. If I loose the trail, I can go back 50-100 yards and pick it up again. If you do use plastic ribbon, retrieve it on your way out. Leave no trace 

[Sundance]

Take a dog.

Never take a dog because WDFW says that is illegal . I guess they would rather an animal gets wasted and another likely will be shot. It's management at it's finest! Ya know, cause dogs used after a shot is fired aid you in hunting much like illuminated arrow nocks do. Yeah, I know they changed if for nocks but I would not count on dogs being legal anytime soon. City folks must have some crazy vision of a pack of dogs running a deer or elk down and brutally killing it and it hurts their hearts to think of it. The same people will defend wolves...

I really hope they change the rules about using dogs to recover lost/wounded game animals. I have "heard" of a certain dog that has recovered 1/2 dozen deer for local hunters near me. "Apparently" this dog has quite a nose and has saved several animals from going to waste.

[2MANY]

There is no law against taking a dog for a walk in the woods.
It's rather therapeutic.

Grab a shotgun and go grouse hunting. 

[bornhunter]

There is no law against taking a dog for a walk in the woods.
It's rather therapeutic.

Grab a shotgun and go grouse hunting. 

 

[10thmountainarcher]

Don’t want to thread jack to bad, but it is in the proposals to be allowed starting 2021. Let’s hope this goes through, and if it does it doesn’t get abused.





Issue 9: Allow hunters to use dogs to assist with tracking wounded big game.
Species: Elk, Deer, Moose, Bighorn, Mt. Goat RCW(s): 77.15.240, 77.15.245
WAC(s): 220-413-060
Background: The Department frequently receives requests from hunters to allow the use of dogs for tracking wounded big game, as is allowed in many other states. Those requests are usually associated with deer and elk hunting, but it is likely to be beneficial for recovering other big game species as well. However, the Department would not allow the use of dogs to track wounded black bears or cougars to ensure compliance with RCWs 77.15.245 and 77.15.240 and WAC 220-413-060. Specific rule language allowing the use of dogs to track wounded big game will be developed prior to the formal rule making
   process but
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
restrictions are likely to include:
Only allowed for deer, elk, moose, bighorn sheep, and mountain goat. Only allowed during legal hunting hours.
Can only use 1 dog at a time.
Dog must always be on-leash.
Must occur within 72 hours of the animal being wounded
Alternatives:
1. No change.
2. Allow the use of dogs to track wounded game as proposed.

[elkboy]

They do need to change the law to allow for retrieval dogs.  Even good shots can result in a poor blood trail (I once shot a small coastal blacktail doe with muzzleloader dead through the lungs.  She still, amazingly, went 130 yards without a single drop of blood on the grouund.  I found her after hours of tracking through her hoofprints and deer hairs shed from the entry and exit wounds.)

I like Dr. John Jeanneney's writing on dog tracking:
http://www.born-to-track.com/our-writing/john/tracking-wounded-big-game.htm

Didn't mean to thread-jack here.  I really hope the OP finds his elk!