Have you wounded, missed or lost an elk out past your max range?

Beendare

WKR
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May 6, 2014
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Corripe cervisiam
Rifle or Bow?
I'm talking a longer shot past the range that you know you are money- every time.

I have....about 30 years ago, I shot a ranged bull with my bow at 78y in Co OTC. And that was when I could really shoot.
There was a little bit of wind I didn't account for at that distance and I caught the bull dead in the front leg. Almost no penetration and the bull went hobbling off....I literally watched him for over 1/2 mile.

Edit; sparse blood trail, didn't recover him.
 
I missed a bull that was in the 400" range with 40 cows back in the '80's when the only rangefinders were the type that you have a sloped curve and put the body of the animal inside the curve to guesstimate the range. It was wrong by about 5 yards and I shot under him. I was reliable to 50yds then and he ended up being 55yds, with fat slow arrows at that time they literally fell out of the sky at longer ranges.
 
I’ve never lost one that I shot past my max range. However, I have lost three well within my comfort zone. I’m talking within 20 yards with my bow.
With the wounded bulls, were there any learned lessons from those?

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Yup

When I was just getting into bow hunting I puller into one of our pieces of land, 2 quarters, and stopped when I saw a bunch of blonde along the west fence. Too big to be deer I pulled out my binos and holy crap elk! I literally took off running and the wind was blowing in my face. The coulee willows covered me and when I got to the herd the bull was 59 yards away and if I had went right instead of left I'd have gotten to about 40 but going left I got pinned down by 2 cows so I let a hail marry shot fly and shot under the bull.

2 things. Practice for longer, and since it was going to be my first elk I was all "gotta get the bull" I was greedy when I should have tried to shoot a cow.
 
Yeah. Suck less. But specifically, stop trying to force it. All three shots were too far forward. I’m a bit more patient now.
It's a process, we have all been there...... at least you admit it and realize what you need to do to improve.

BTW, it's the reason for this thread....maybe someone can learn from my mistakes and others.

In the case I started the thread with, 2 small bulls standing together in the trees. They had already spotted my buddy and myself but were trying to decide what to do. It really was a prayer shot I shouldn't have taken. It wasn't like I could have done anything better....except NOT to shoot. My buddy thought the bull moved slightly on the shot, I dunno if it was that or wind drift...but it was long...and at a fidgety animal. Bad choice.

The other part of this....if you have hunted long enough....stuff happens. Sometimes there is nothing we can do to avoid it.
 
Everyone has a plan and solid shooting technique until their bull starts moving, either walking into the trees or trotting over the ridge. Lol

How many guys know how much to lead a moving target? Almost nobody. How many take the shot at a slow trotting elk? Almost everyone.

Even my first memory elk hunting was a group of cows running across an opening and two pickups worth of hunters blasting at them as fast as the bolts could be racked. I’m sure they hit at least a few of them, but it was behind the diaphragm and none of them slowed down in the slightest. That was the last day I thought those older relatives knew how to shoot. Lol
 
I had a 6x7 bull just below me at 7 yards. Me at full draw and a big rock covering his vitals.
As he trotted down the hill out of view I let down but he stopped broadside and looked back at me.
I made a perfect 40 yard shot on a 53 yard bull and the arrow landed under his chest.
Just to rub it in he trotted out into some open sage at about 125 yards (I'm guessing so it's probably actually 150), bedded down and stared at me.

I don't live around elk and they are so big I always underestimate distance when I don't have time for a rangefinder. Since I started using the trick pin method of Darin Cooper I've had far fewer problems with range-less shots.

 
Everyone has a plan and solid shooting technique until their bull starts moving, either walking into the trees or trotting over the ridge. Lol

How many guys know how much to lead a moving target? Almost nobody. How many take the shot at a slow trotting elk? Almost everyone.

Even my first memory elk hunting was a group of cows running across an opening and two pickups worth of hunters blasting at them as fast as the bolts could be racked. I’m sure they hit at least a few of them, but it was behind the diaphragm and none of them slowed down in the slightest. That was the last day I thought those older relatives knew how to shoot. Lol

It could be shooting at moving targets is a lost skill. in the Jack OConner and Fred Bear days, it seems to me there was emphasis on practicing those shots.

Just about every trad shoot I've been to has a moving target, shooting from a moving canoe, deer on rollers or flying goose. It's great practice.
 
It could be shooting at moving targets is a lost skill. in the Jack OConner and Fred Bear days, it seems to me there was emphasis on practicing those shots.

Just about every trad shoot I've been to has a moving target, shooting from a moving canoe, deer on rollers or flying goose. It's great practice.
Those targets sound like fun.
 
Yes, I took a shot at a late season cow that was slowly moving up slope at what I later determined was about 550 yards. But I was guessing at the time and in any event I wasn’t shooting a 550 yard setup. I broke her hind leg.

The rest of the herd left and she tried to follow but eventually laid down. I followed-up and was able to finish her about an hour after I initially shot her.

That first shot was the most unethical thing I’ve ever done hunting.
 
No, but in fall 2023 my dad shot a really nice 6x6 southeast of Pagosa Springs that had a fairly fresh-looking broadhead lodged in its body just above the spinal column. We suspect it came from the adjacent USFS lands.

Dad doesn't remember the bull acting injured but it was bedded when he saw it and he shot it as soon as it stood up so it's hard to say what impact it was having on the bull but he generally looked/acted fine.

I have killed several whitetails over the years with old injuries. Usually along the top of the shoulders, like they 'jumped string' and got hit way high during bow season.
 

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My max range is evidently somewhere around 12 yards; missed last year at 22 yards broadside, and the year before at 32 broadside.
Did you switch to a longbow with stone points and not tell me? grin

Not elk, but I missed a coyote at 6 feet once....I still don't know how that is even possible...and yeah, I know you have to use your 40y/50y pin.
 
I have wounded one, but was lucky enough to finish the job.

Watched him come in from over a mile away and he was coming into range like he was on a string. Problem is, he was moving at a decent pace, and once he got inside about 400 yards he was going to be in some really thick juniper and sage that would provide extremely limited views of him until he inevitably disappeared completely. It was either going to be a long shot or very likely no shot.

I ranged several trees, rocks, and bushes between 400 and 425 yards away so I knew that if he walked through any given gap I had picked out he would be in that window. I referenced my drop chart to see how high I needed to hold my rifle, a Remington 700 in 7mag with a Wal-Mart Simmons scope (duplex reticle). A hand me down from the grandfather that introduced me to elk hunting, and even though I knew this setup was limiting my capabilities significantly I was determined to kill an elk with it. I had only shot that rifle at >400 yards once or twice but I did at least know my chart was going to put me in minute-of-elk-vitals if I got the holdover right.

Sure enough he had slowed his pace to a slow walk and was coming in to one of the gaps I had ranged, though he wasn't going to stop walking. I picked the spot where I'd shoot, estimated my hold, squeezed off a round, and watched him take off into the thicket that could have prevented me from ever seeing him again. Thankfully he didn't change directions, and as I caught glimpses of him between junipers getting closer and closer to me I could tell he was injured, but now he was definitely trying to get out of dodge, not just taking a stroll.

He was now well into "hit where you aim" range so I wasn't worried about a holdover anymore, just getting the reticle on him again. He was headed towards a small clearing where I would have probably 4-6 wounded elk strides to shoot him before he disappeared completely into a nasty, deep ravine. Almost exactly 100 yards in front of my position on the ridge. I setup, swung with him like I was wing shooting, and fired again just before he dropped off into the ravine. I lost sight of him immediately, but it was one of those where it felt like he fell out of my sight picture, not that recoil had me looking somewhere else. Everything was silent, and had he still been running I should have definitely heard it.

I packed up and tried to calm myself down, walked down the ridge, and found him dead about one stride past where I took the second shot. There were tracks and blood in one place, and a dead bull just over the edge of the ravine...thankfully he hadn't tumbled all the way down. The first shot hit nothing but meat and bone high in the front leg...just a few inches low of going into the chest cavity when it passed through. The second shot was through his heart.

Took the lesson from those extremely tense minutes about picking a shot, choosing a shot, and letting them live when the situation isn't perfect. Upgraded my rifle, scope, and shooting out to 500 yards before the next season so I could be a lot more confident in the future. Between better equipment, better skills, and better decision making, I haven't had any more close calls or oopsies since then.
 
Did you switch to a longbow with stone points and not tell me? grin

Not elk, but I missed a coyote at 6 feet once....I still don't know how that is even possible...and yeah, I know you have to use your 40y/50y pin.

Single pin that I said for years would work just fine. It'd probably still be fine if my brain worked.
 
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