It has been a good conversation and I appreciate all of the comments. The situation sucks and it's a tough lesson to learn. I don't want to keep beating this horse but I still can't figure out what I hit. Probably never will. I've look at so much anatomy I feel I could perform surgery lol. Live, learn and go get after them again!
What the heck are these Internet guys thinking? I know that heavy arrows are all the rage and I have been doing my homework. I continue to be baffled by the heavy arrow proponents that brag or even encourage you to put a broadhead in the shoulder. Some of them brag about going through both shoulders and they do it intentionally on big game. Personally, I hunt for the meat. It is beyond me why anyone would intentionally (not you, Gardo) hit the shoulder to not only jeopardize the chances of recovering the animal but ruining so much good quality meat. My Broadhead on a shoulder shot is more devastating than a bullet. I have short draw length. That sucks. My bow is at 72 pounds and I shoot a 442gr. arrow going 252 ft./s. While I am going to explore an arrow that is heavier, I am not going to ever attempt to put one in the shoulder and would not do it if I were shooting 90 pounds with a 31” DL.
I know. I saw an add just today for an arrow that they were specifically pushing the idea it will go through a shoulder and penetrate deep enough. Pretty crazy
There's a lot of talk about "the shoulder" all the time, but people have different perceptions of what that means. Seems most the time that someone mentions "shoulder", they are talking about the shoulder blade. The only thing I worry about is the knuckle, where the blade and humerus come together. I don't care what kind of setup you're shooting......the knuckle should be avoided. But even elk ribs are thicker than "most" of the shoulder blade.
I agree with you on the rib. I Strongly believe I squared up on a rib (maybe two?) which caused something strange to happen. Will the next shot be farther back, absolutely. We watched blood pour out from a spot we both felt was pretty good placement. Again, same shot but a few inches back and I would probably be posting kill pics instead of figuring out what went wrong. I still want to try the iron will HIT and collar. I’ll keep everything the same weight but figure a little extra beef up front can’t hurt.
I agree with you on this.
I know it is disheartening to have that much blood and no elk to show for it. It really stinks but you certainly gave it good effort. My buddy shot an 4 point bull elk this year with a light (sub 400 grain) arrow and Rage. The Rage bent over on entry and a blade actually fell out before the head entered the animal. The arrow deflected off a rib and turned and went back through the liver and into the gut. The bull was slightly quartered away, not to the archer. Arrow broke nearly in half and only front half that was till in the bull was recovered. Track was along one with little to no blood at times. Only one lung hit. Bull died overnight. Had his arrow continued forward and not been turned by the rib, I don't think he would have recovered that animal. Liver damage is what killed him in my opinion. He does plan to go with 500+ grain arrows in the future with fixed blade heads. He already got some G5 Strikers 3 blade 125 grainers and is waiting on his new shafts to show up as we speak. Not that this will fix all his problems, but it will be a setup he will have confidence in and be less likely not to deflect quite as badly.
