Anyone ever hear a loud crack after shooting an elk?

[realunlucky]

Sorry to hear this.

 

[Shrek]

Yeah , get after them. You didn't get that bull because your destiny is a bigger , badder bull. Go fill the freezer !

 

[Evan Williams]

I would have said off side shoulder with 18" of penetration ...

 

[Buster]

Sorry, missed the 18" of penetration. Good point.

 

[Jared Lampton]

Sounds like you made a helluva effort to find him, that's all you can do. Just gotta learn from it and move on. Elk are extremely tough critters. Better luck with the rest of your hunts.

 

[moxiejh]

YES, was so loud I told my buddies i missed and hit the tree behind the elk.....125 yards later 298 inch 6 point lay dead in his tracks! good luck. Follow the crows

 

[Hunt'nFish]

Look for the birds.
Hunt'nFish

 

[sk1]

Sad to say I recovered my elk 5 days later.... On my way out hunting that evening the first time since searching for him I smelled something just horrible. I figured what it had to be but was praying I was wrong, i followed where the wind was coming from for 50 yards and there he was.

My first bull and first elk with a bow...am excited yet so disappointed about the meat. Talk about mixed emotions, still not sure how to feel. It looks like I shot forward on the front shoulder, hard to tell much else the elk was in bad shape on that side. Even worse in my grid searches I missed him by 150 yards. He did a death run over a ridge and died on the other side, completely opposite behavior based on the tracking.

Here he is, my wasatch front bull

 

[Buster]

Well at least the story has an ending for you. Sometimes it's not perfect, but you did everything you could. That deserves a congrats.

 

[realunlucky]

Glad you got closure whether it was what you wanted it not. Each experience has something to learn and I'm sure you learned a bunch from this one. Hope you smile and remember the highs of the trip whenever you see his rack

 

[CaseyU]

Stoked for you about the closure sk. And he his a great bull at that. Tis that time of season again!! Work work work

 

[velvetfvr]

Sucks but sometimes that's the nature of the beast. I hit a buck high and missed the spine and lungs and it seemed to just hit a bone. Never killed him thank god but it definitely is mixed emotions. But it makes the motivation greater on being perfect.

 

[trdhunter]

+1 realunlucky. I once had an experience and wish I could have at least found him. Anyways good work on the Wasatch front as it is not an easy place to get animal. What part of the unit were you hunting?

 

[elkmule123]

Glad you were able to find your bull. I know its always a big possibility to not retrieve an animal shot with an arrow, cross my fingers that I don't have to experience it.

 

[In God We Trust]

Glad you found him. Tough break bud!

 

[sk1]

I am glad to know what really happened to the bull, and if he had to be dead, that I did indeed find him of course. I just put so much effort into learning how to elk hunt and scouting over the last couple years since moving out west, i guess i had just pictured the moment of walking up to your first elk completely proud of what you've accomplished....spoiling the meat definitely takes away from that even though im happy I finally tagged my first archery elk.....and in an area where not many early season elk are taken.

I have a cow permit im out trying to fill right now and cant wait for a another chance to make a good shot and redeem myself, also filling the freezer.

 

[Buster]

Redemption will come. It's obvious you have the drive to make it happen. When it does, enjoy it, you will deserve it.

 

[Jared Bloomgren]

I am way late on a reply for this thread but.....

It is always a hard thing to swollow when you hit am animal and you are not sure of the animal's fate because of the unknown shot....but I guess you did get closure. Better then not finding him at all maybe?

The loud crack that you speak of. My bull last year took two arrows. He was quartering away. The first entered his paunch and blew out the opposite shoulder. I got on the bull again and placed another arrow that entered his back lobe of his near lung and busted his opposite shoulder. He was quartering away slightly and downhill. The second arrow made the loudest CRACK I have ever heard. My guess is because the aeeow hit the opposite shoulder.

 

[InDeep]

Sad to hear , but it sounds like you did all you could to recover him! I had a similar experience this year it went on for 14 hours of searching over the course of 2 days , and then the rains started . I have been up there 4 times since ( 2 weekends ) and makd sme sick would have been my best bull to boot !

 

[sk1]

I am way late on a reply for this thread but.....

It is always a hard thing to swollow when you hit am animal and you are not sure of the animal's fate because of the unknown shot....but I guess you did get closure. Better then not finding him at all maybe?

The loud crack that you speak of. My bull last year took two arrows. He was quartering away. The first entered his paunch and blew out the opposite shoulder. I got on the bull again and placed another arrow that entered his back lobe of his near lung and busted his opposite shoulder. He was quartering away slightly and downhill. The second arrow made the loudest CRACK I have ever heard. My guess is because the aeeow hit the opposite shoulder.

interesting Jared.....and I was thinking the offside shoulder would be more of a "thud" because the arrow would be hitting it internally....i guess anything is possible and you never really know what happened without a recovery. let me tell you the crack i heard sure was loud......hope i don't hear that again either after these results.

I am still not sure what happened to the front 2/3's of my arrow, once it decays enough i plan on checking to see if it was still inside the elk, although not expecting to find it