Elk advice, 2 lost in a row where am i going wrong?

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

After watching an elk that was lifeless for long enough for a buddy to smoke a cigarette, load up the packs, hike 300 yards on the way to it through a small drainage, only to have the elk awaken from the dead when I slipped on some rocks about 50 yards away, get up, turn around and crest a hill… I will (and have) always shoot multiple times, even if they are “down”. That was an eye opening experience. It was laying head down, front leg stretched out straight down hill, with its tongue hanging out for easily 30 minutes. It looked dead as any other dead animal I’ve seen. But it wasn’t.

I've had the funny opposite. We kept shooting a barbary one time thinking it was still alive, but its head was propped against a rock making it look alive and alert.

 

[Choupique]

kept shooting a barbary one time thinking it was still alive, but its head was propped against a rock making it look alive and alert.

My old man shot a 1" 4 shot group in a whitetail last season - head propped on a log.

He only quit shooting because he ran out of bullets. That shoulder required a lot of trimming.

 

[waspocrew]

Help me understand what you wrote here. Are you referring to the .308 WIN cartridge or the .308 caliber as a whole? Explain how it’s too slow?

I'm suspecting he's saying .308 Win and using "caliber" instead of "cartridge".

 

[intunegp]

My old man shot a 1" 4 shot group in a whitetail last season - head propped on a log.

He only quit shooting because he ran out of bullets. That shoulder required a lot of trimming.

One time when I was young and had only been hunting for a couple years, I shot a doe out of a group of three and when they scattered one of them ran almost straight towards me. I was sitting on the ground at the base of a fairly steep ridge. Once the movement stopped I looked over my shoulder and could see a doe's head poking out from behind a tree, looking around on alert, but seemingly not aware of my presence. I thought to myself "cool, two deer on opening day" and squeezed off a confident head shot. She disappeared.

I called my dad and he agreed to start working on the head-shot doe while I found blood and trailed the first one. Once the blood trail took me back towards my dad and within about 40 yards of where he was standing I asked him if the deer he was gutting had a hole in the head and chest...yup. The doe I shot ran towards me, laid down to die about 20 yards from me, and I shot her in the head before she could expire from the bullet through the chest.

 

[HunterGatherer]

Shoot 4” behind the crease instead of 1” and recovery rate goes way up. If there was a way to know the actual statistics on lost game I’ll bet way more are lost to shoulder hits than guy shots