Any chance for this elk?

[One-shot]

Aw geez so sorry. First, and I’m serious, switch to rifle hunting from now on. Time and time and time again bow hunters spend more time tracking wounded animals than instant one shot, down, pack out, in freezer. Track the animal more and ask for some help. Find him.

 

[Geewhiz]

Find a dog asap

 

[Thomasj1107]

No dogs available. Tried all the resources, only guy around is out of town for the weekend. Going to continue grid searching in the morning. Just frustrating because he could’ve gone 600 yds, i grid 500 and never see him, most frustrating thing that’s ever happened to me hunting for sure

 

[cuerro viejo]

This is some thick stuff, did you just grid search and look for the animal and not even worry about blood? I can’t imagine it was less than 200 yds because I searched that whole space for blood and found nothing

I marked where I saw him stand last , backed out and came back in a few hours. I had a video of where I hit him so I know he was dead. Zero blood. He didnt crash, he laid down and died. I walked up the hill in the direction he left in and found him in some thicker tree piled up. We where in an aspen bowl he made it up to some thicker short pines and went night night

 

[cuerro viejo]

No dogs available. Tried all the resources, only guy around is out of town for the weekend. Going to continue grid searching in the morning. Just frustrating because he could’ve gone 600 yds, i grid 500 and never see him, most frustrating thing that’s ever happened to me hunting for sure

You may find him in the morning. Keep the faith and head on a swivel

 

[Wellsdw]

Probably no on calling a dog. Problem with grid searching is you disturb the scent trail for the dogs, Probably should have waited 10-12 hrs before trailing on a gut shot. Generally if not pushed they won’t go far and leave hell of a scent trail for a dog. Next time find a tracker reach out before hand and see what they prefer.

Advice for everyone, find a good tracker with a dog. Make friends with them, may be even give them some lay up tracks. Don’t wait til you need a dog to find one.

 

[JK_CO]

No dogs available. Tried all the resources, only guy around is out of town for the weekend. Going to continue grid searching in the morning. Just frustrating because he could’ve gone 600 yds, i grid 500 and never see him, most frustrating thing that’s ever happened to me hunting for sure

In a pinch don't forget that any dog (not even a trained tracker) has a better sniffer than any human. And they love smells. ALL the smells. Sure it might take a bit of time, but even with a labradoodle or mutt I'd say you're more likely to find a trail than just trying to use your own eyeballs. Good luck, pulling for you to track this one down!

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Surprised the arrow stopped in that area, was it high enough to hit spin by chance? Good luck!

 

[Szwampdonkey]

Chances of finding a gut shot animal that’s been pushed by going after him too soon and grid searching, slim to none. Forget 500 yards that animal can go miles with no blood trail when pushed.

Lesson learned is the only real positive. Sorry man but that’s huntin sometimes.

 

[Thomasj1107]

Chances of finding a gut shot animal that’s been pushed by going after him too soon and grid searching, slim to none. Forget 500 yards that animal can go miles with no blood trail when pushed.

Lesson learned is the only real positive. Sorry man but that’s huntin sometimes.

Update. Didn’t recover the bull. You are right, I screwed up from the beginning when I should’ve done it all different. Lesson learned and a hard one at that.

 

[brndog1]

Most likely expired. Keep after it and be diligent.

 

[hobbes]

Surprised the arrow stopped in that area, was it high enough to hit spin by chance? Good luck!

My opinion:
Think of a big bag of wet hay, then an arrow that's had quite a bit of steam taken out of it by clipping a branch. That's if it hit stomach. Still, any arrow that clips a limb is losing some penetration ability.

If the bull was truly gut shot, it could take a serious amount of time to die. He could have survived until today. One thing for certain, birds or not, he's going to stink after he dies. I've not trailed dozens and dozens of shot elk but if you get down wind of him, you may smell him. If I thought he was on a specific ridge, I'd probably hike it down wind of the possible areas and use my nose. If he's alive, you'll have to be closer of course but elk stink even when alive. The live stink is a glorious smell. Those dead a day or two are not.

 

[Thomasj1107]

Update - A week later I decided to go back into the same general area again to hunt. About two hours in I heard a mess of birds just going crazy. Didn’t register at first, but once it did, walked right over and found my bull there. Bittersweet moment, really sucks to lose all the meat but glad to have some closure.

For those of you that were following along, the bull was 270 yards from where I shot him. He died on the side I shot him on so I can’t see the point of impact. He wound up going completely lateral and not down like I thought. While gridding, my tracks had me about 50 yards from where he died, it was just too thick to see. I am pretty confident that if the tracking dog owner had not been out of town we wouldn’t found him the next day.

In the end, it really sucks, but I am glad I found him in the end, and was able to have this learning experience in year one of elk hunting. Thanks for all the help and advice everyone.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Man I hate knowing you're so close and just didn't stumble on him and get lucky, but it happens. Glad you found him and now you know, lotta people never get that.

 

[Thomasj1107]

Man I hate knowing you're so close and just didn't stumble on him and get lucky, but it happens. Glad you found him and now you know, lotta people never get that.

Yeah, it was definitely ruined what should’ve been a great moment when I found him. Looking back over my onx tracks and seeing how close I came was really crappy

 

[Ucsdryder]

Update - A week later I decided to go back into the same general area again to hunt. About two hours in I heard a mess of birds just going crazy. Didn’t register at first, but once it did, walked right over and found my bull there. Bittersweet moment, really sucks to lose all the meat but glad to have some closure.

For those of you that were following along, the bull was 270 yards from where I shot him. He died on the side I shot him on so I can’t see the point of impact. He wound up going completely lateral and not down like I thought. While gridding, my tracks had me about 50 yards from where he died, it was just too thick to see. I am pretty confident that if the tracking dog owner had not been out of town we wouldn’t found him the next day.

In the end, it really sucks, but I am glad I found him in the end, and was able to have this learning experience in year one of elk hunting. Thanks for all the help and advice everyone.

after people said over and over to look and listen for birds it didn’t register? Lol!

Post up a picture!

 

[Thomasj1107]

after people said over and over to look and listen for birds it didn’t register? Lol!

Post up a picture!

This was 7 days later. I was out there 24 and 48 hrs later and walked almost on top of the bull and there were no birds. That’s why it didn’t register at first, because in my mind he survived long enough to get far far away. I obviously didn’t WANT it to end this way, so yeah

 

[Thomasj1107]

 

[Texasbuckeye]

glad you found him, but what makes you think a dog wouldnt have found him?
that statement was a little strange to me

 

[Thomasj1107]

Typo, shouldve said “would’ve” found him