HELP NO BLOOD

[mt terry d]

I always follow up shots (good or bad) until I find a reason to stop and back out.
But I follow as though I'm hunting, super slow, glassing, marking as I go, not disturbing any tracks or blood.

My buddy made what we thought was a perfect shot one evening. Followed it slowly until about 150 yards into the timber we found the arrow which had a deformed broadhead.

Backed out and came back in the morning. another 100 yards or so we. Stunk like bull and we found where he'd laid down and got up and rebedded about 6 or 8 times. Frothy blood at each bed. Finally found where he'd headed. On hands and knees we tracked him about a half mile. Pine duff, some needles moved here, a pinhead drop of blood only occasionally.
He got in with some other elk and we lost him. Continued to hunt that same area for a few days hoping for magpies or crows or eagles or something. Nothing.

One lung. Probably 25 years ago. It still hurts a bit.

 

[COelk89]

I am certainly scratching my head at you and similar approaches. You lost 1/3rd of your meat while wasting 8 hours on the Internet and in your vehicle.



No doubt he died in a quick minute, it died on its back at 80 yards, so it lost consciousness on its feet and not bedded down. The way to know what that situation is is to go learn it; walk over and mark your sign, follow it, go as slow as you want, get high to glass, change your perspective, etc. That animal you chose to shoot is either alive or dead and you cant figure out which by leaving, you are only handicapping your efforts.

Haha dude you have no idea what the context was or where I was. Get off your high horse. You live in CO you should know what the NW part of the state looks like, or maybe you just stick to the front range? Chokecherry hell at around 8000 feet in the Aspens. Charging in after a gut shot elk sounds like a brilliant idea! My point was I got lucky. Like 1 in 100 lucky, otherwise that elk is never getting found.

Edited: And I recovered enough of that elk to restore my freezer and feed me for over a year. So considering all the people who charge in after wounded elk and bump them never to see them again, that is a successful hunt in my book. I reaalllly wish the best of luck to you on your next tracking job. You never know when you may just wish for it.

 

[COelk89]

Hey all you guys who are hunting these areas where you can see out way in front of you and avoid bumping a wounded elk are welcome to share your honey holes with me via dm I won't tell a soul!

 

[sndmn11]

Hey all you guys who are hunting these areas where you can see out way in front of you and avoid bumping a wounded elk are welcome to share your honey holes with me via dm I won't tell a soul!

The most productive honey hole I can share with you at this point would be the archery range to work on front half shots.

You're a hunter, right? When you can get within range of a perfectly healthy one, why are you petrified of doing the same on one you wounded?

Food for thought...Your tracking confidence was so low you went to the internet first, while your animal rotted. The Internet was your go-to resource then, there's no reason you can't gain any knowledge now.

Charging in after a gut shot elk sounds like a brilliant idea!

I always follow up shots (good or bad) until I find a reason to stop and back out.
But I follow as though I'm hunting, super slow, glassing, marking as I go, not disturbing any tracks or blood.

 

[COelk89]

The most productive honey hole I can share with you at this point would be the archery range to work on front half shots.

You're a hunter, right? When you can get within range of a perfectly healthy one, why are you petrified of doing the same on one you wounded?

Food for thought...Your tracking confidence was so low you went to the internet first, while your animal rotted. The Internet was your go-to resource then, there's no reason you can't gain any knowledge now.

You do you man clearly I take a more conservative approach and it has worked well for me. You know it all until you don't and clearly you have not experienced enough scenarios to have to make the difficult judgement that I did. To sit here like a troll and say I let my elk rot is absolutely ignorant. I am sure you would troll the same if I went in there to track it after the shot, lost it, and shared it here. I am 100% sure you are in the minority of what most experienced archery hunters would have done in my situation.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Yeah if I knew I gut shot something ain't no way I'm going right after it unless I had reason to believe I could get another shot off.

 

[sndmn11]

clearly I take a more conservative approach and it has worked well for me.

Except in shot selection and execution.

Yeah if I knew I gut shot something ain't no way I'm going right after it unless I had reason to believe I could get another shot off.

Why wouldn't you be able to get another shot off? You guys are running away from wounded animals because you believe you will get close enough to bump them, correct? In your skills set as a hunter, why can you not turn that scenario into another versus a bump? You just demonstrated an ability to do so by wounding/killing it, go do it again.

The person above has described their shot a few different ways; gut, rump, leg. Regardless, it was quickly fatal, however, it speaks to most hunters not understanding where their shots end up. The OP is the same, so much so he doesn't know which direction the arrow was traveling into that bull's body.

There's no way to know the condition of the animal, or eliminate possibilities to a few, while running away. The knowledge only comes from the discovery of what is left behind, and theirs an expiration on all of that sign. His bull died in 80 yards, likely quicker than it took to pull the arrow from the quiver and nock it, and he walked away without learning anything. Keep hunting, that's why you are out there.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

Except in shot selection and execution.



Why wouldn't you be able to get another shot off? You guys are running away from wounded animals because you believe you will get close enough to bump them, correct? In your skills set as a hunter, why can you not turn that scenario into another versus a bump? You just demonstrated an ability to do so by wounding/killing it, go do it again.

The person above has described their shot a few different ways; gut, rump, leg. Regardless, it was quickly fatal, however, it speaks to most hunters not understanding where their shots end up. The OP is the same, so much so he doesn't know which direction the arrow was traveling into that bull's body.

There's no way to know the condition of the animal, or eliminate possibilities to a few, while running away. The knowledge only comes from the discovery of what is left behind, and theirs an expiration on all of that sign. His bull died in 80 yards, likely quicker than it took to pull the arrow from the quiver and nock it, and he walked away without learning anything. Keep hunting, that's why you are out there.

My experience is primarily with Whitetail, little Elk experience. With a rifle I wouldn't have a problem but I've never had a rifle wounded animal. With a bow I don't think I could get a good shot off at a running animal fleeing if I bump them. Deer will typically lay down and watch their trail and expire where they lay to be found easily later, but if you bump them once they're pretty much gonna run til they drop, at least they do where I hunt. I've made that mistake twice now because I thought the shots were good and accidentally bumped them. One I recovered around 2pm the next day and the other I managed to find around midnight. Both of those would've been easy breasy had I waited a couple hours.

 

[sndmn11]

My experience is primarily with Whitetail, little Elk experience. With a rifle I wouldn't have a problem but I've never had a rifle wounded animal. With a bow I don't think I could get a good shot off at a running animal fleeing if I bump them. Deer will typically lay down and watch their trail and expire where they lay to be found easily later, but if you bump them once they're pretty much gonna run til they drop, at least they do where I hunt. I've made that mistake twice now because I thought the shots were good and accidentally bumped them. One I recovered around 2pm the next day and the other I managed to find around midnight. Both of those would've been easy breasy had I waited a couple hours.

So, you recovered them?

How were you tracking them?

 

[AlwaysChasinTailNHorns]

A 500 lb elk leaves tracks where ever he goes, with or without blood.

THIS. Based on the blurry pic it looks like you should have some sort of droplets of blood…if you have a hunting partner and some glass keep an eye on him until you don’t see him anymore and mark everywhere he walked after the shot and you need to check those spots and everywhere between for tracks and blood but if you truly don’t have blood you’re gonna have to get on the tracks up to last visible location and start reading terrain and guessing where you think a wounded animal would go and grid search from there but the biggest thing right now is give him some time if he went a ways without going down. Did you only have four inches of penetration? Or did the arrow penetrate then get pulled out and break off on a branch? May have got a single lung and those elk can go a long ways on one good lung and a heart before expiring. Good luck keep us posted.

 

[COelk89]

Why wouldn't you be able to get another shot off?

Read chokecherry hell you cannot see 2 yds in front of you where he ran. You are talking out of your azz clearly lacking context or experience.

The person above has described their shot a few different ways; gut, rump, leg. Regardless, it was quickly fatal, however, it speaks to most hunters not understanding where their shots end up. The OP is the same, so much so he doesn't know which direction the arrow was traveling into that bull's body.

Again lacking context or reading comprehension, probably both. I was not giving an anatomy lesson or expecting a troll to jump down my throat when I initially shared my experience accusing me of "letting an animal rot." The words I have for someone who accuses me of that, really are not fit for an internet forum but it is pretty fitting for an ignorant dickhead to throw those accusations around! Nearly 10,000 expert posts on rokslide man congrats must feel good to be an expert!

 

[ScreamingPotato]

So, you recovered them?

How were you tracking them?

Yes they were both recovered. Yes tracking blood. The first one was more quartering than I thought and only got one lung. It looked good so I put my backpack away and packed up my tripod and all my gear because we were headed home that night. Grabbed my knife and kill kit following the red brick road with blood everywhere. Saw a deer jump up and take off, thought that's weird a deer would be bedded right there. That was around 4pm, trailed her all evening til blood ran out then grind searched and scored around midnight. She was probably dead 5 minutes after I bumped her, stuff as a brick. She had gone in a bit dogleg around 900 yards.

Other one was liver but missed lungs. I thought the shot was good, waited maybe 5 minutes for wife to join me and we started trailing and bumped her right around dusk. We backed out and went to the boat and grabbed a snack and drinks for about an hour but again were headed home. We trailed her a few hundred yards and bumped her again probably 8pm or so. There were good pools of blood and consistent bleeding so we kept tracking til it ran out. I knew she had run out of blood and was dead but we couldn't locate her and gave up around midnight. I'd left flagging tape on that one so went back to pickup tape and clean up the mess and make one last attempt and ended up glassing her body sticking up out of the grass a few hundred yards sideways in a canyon around noon. I quartered the whole thing and she was one of the better eating deer we've had.

Liver hits are common knowledge that they take a while to die and if left alone they won't go very far and usually expire where they lay. Some say 4 hours and some say 6. My second doe would've been dead at 4 hours I think.

 

[sndmn11]

Read chokecherry hell you cannot see 2 yds in front of you where he ran.

He wouldn't be able to see you coming! You're a sneaky hunter who went to thick strictly to kill an animal.

"letting an animal rot." The words I have for someone who accuses me of that, really are not fit for an internet forum but it is pretty fitting for an ignorant dickhead to throw those accusations around! Nearly 10,000 expert posts on rokslide man congrats must feel good to be an expert!

Based on what you wrote, it is factual, not an accusation. You went to the internet for help (experts like me who didnt need context then and don't know), and drove around for 8 hours.

Yes they were both recovered. Yes tracking blood. The first one was more quartering than I thought and only got one lung. It looked good so I put my backpack away and packed up my tripod and all my gear because we were headed home that night. Grabbed my knife and kill kit following the red brick road with blood everywhere. Saw a deer jump up and take off, thought that's weird a deer would be bedded right there. That was around 4pm, trailed her all evening til blood ran out then grind searched and scored around midnight. She was probably dead 5 minutes after I bumped her, stuff as a brick. She had gone in a bit dogleg around 900 yards.

Other one was liver but missed lungs. I thought the shot was good, waited maybe 5 minutes for wife to join me and we started trailing and bumped her right around dusk. We backed out and went to the boat and grabbed a snack and drinks for about an hour but again were headed home. We trailed her a few hundred yards and bumped her again probably 8pm or so. There were good pools of blood and consistent bleeding so we kept tracking til it ran out. I knew she had run out of blood and was dead but we couldn't locate her and gave up around midnight. I'd left flagging tape on that one so went back to pickup tape and clean up the mess and make one last attempt and ended up glassing her body sticking up out of the grass a few hundred yards sideways in a canyon around noon. I quartered the whole thing and she was one of the better eating deer we've had.

Liver hits are common knowledge that they take a while to die and if left alone they won't go very far and usually expire where they lay. Some say 4 hours and some say 6. My second doe would've been dead at 4 hours I think.

Thank you.
The commonality in all of these "no blood" type threads (I think this is the third already this year) and posts, is people walk away. Sign, track, blood, etc. deteriorates from second one. Blood soaked into the ground, the wind flips that leaf over, some WKR comes along and swipes your BOAL. You are living proof that working through the track is a path to success and even though you bumped animals, you recovered them. There's a million things that can happen in the time that a person walks away that they would have no idea about, just like when a tree falls in the woods. The sooner one walks away, it seems like many of these are at the shot, the less they understand about what the animal has done.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

He wouldn't be able to see you coming! You're a sneaky hunter who went to thick strictly to kill an animal.



Based on what you wrote, it is factual, not an accusation. You went to the internet for help (experts like me who didnt need context then and don't know), and drove around for 8 hours.



Thank you.
The commonality in all of these "no blood" type threads (I think this is the third already this year) and posts, is people walk away. Sign, track, blood, etc. deteriorates from second one. Blood soaked into the ground, the wind flips that leaf over, some WKR comes along and swipes your BOAL. You are living proof that working through the track is a path to success and even though you bumped animals, you recovered them. There's a million things that can happen in the time that a person walks away that they would have no idea about, just like when a tree falls in the woods. The sooner one walks away, it seems like many of these are at the shot, the less they understand about what the animal has done.

I get what you're saying. One of the reasons we kept going on that midnight recovery is a storm was coming in hot and there would be no more blood trail if it reaches us. But, that deer would've been recovered before dark had I waited 20 minutes to go get her and we would've been long gone. The noon recovery had I waited 4 hours she would've been dead 150 yards from where I shot her and we would've been able to go home that night instead of setting our entire camp back up after midnight.

Nothing is absolute when it comes to recovering animals, it's a game of best odds and likely scenarios. It's been my experience that it's best to wait if you think the shot is questionable, unless other circumstances such as storms incoming dictate more of a rush.

I will say my son's bull a few years ago we tracked, with zero blood, by hoof prints and dirt marks on rock and such, and he shot it in the back of the head running full speed away from us when we bumped him. That was a rifle though. We didn't wait with him as the shot was in the shoulder, the Creedmoor just didn't do the job fully.

 

[COelk89]

He wouldn't be able to see you coming! You're a sneaky hunter who went to thick strictly to kill an animal.

Based on what you wrote, it is factual, not an accusation. You went to the internet for help (experts like me who didnt need context then and don't know), and drove around for 8 hours.

Again, you are straight up making things up. Drive around for 8 hours? There was no driving involved around for 8 hours. Go back and re read what I said if you care to correct yourself.
You've taken about 4 things I stated out of context or misinterpreted them (impact or shot, habitat type, what we did I'm the meantime, and my tracking confidence/ability). Sure I went to the internet to look at what to do, because you know what, I had never gut shot an elk (or any animal) with an arrow. So what would you do when in the wilderness when you were in a situation you had never been in before and did not particularly anticipate? And no that statement is not factual. The way you use the word "let" implies willful intent to let something spoil. That is dead wrong and IMO you are questioning my ethics at that point which you may as well come on over to Rifle and you can question my ethics to my face.

Congratulations, you have demonstrated your superiority on essentially wrong or misinterpreted information. If your reading and comprehension is anything like your tracking proficiency....yikes.

Seriously, quit being a DB. This really is not the place for it. You are not helping anyone and you know it.

 

[sndmn11]

Again, you are straight up making things up. Drive around for 8 hours? There was no driving involved around for 8 hours. Go back and re read what I said if you care to correct yourself.

Your own account of the story.

The interweb indicated wait 8 hours and start trailing so we did that after hiking out camp and driving around on a road that would get us closer to the shot.

So what would you do when in the wilderness when you were in a situation you had never been in before and did not particularly anticipate? And no that statement is not factual. The way you use the word "let" implies willful intent to let something spoil.

I would look for the animal I willfully sent an arrow into. You were no further from it than 80yds + the shot distance. I can't imagine your camp and vehicle were closer than that sum, yet you chose to seek both out before the animal you had killed. In the meantime, large portions of meat went from bad to good. Willful intent is exactly what it was; you didn't accidentally end up sending that arrow, or accidentally end up not looking for your animal, those were intentional choices.

Of course I am questioning your ethics in that situation. People in CO are voting on trophy hunting in several weeks. The pro hunting side has been campaigning on, "we hunt for the meat!" to reach undecided voters. Should your story be used to campaign on?

Is it representative of great preparation for a shot decision?
Shot execution?
Preparation for possible outcomes of shot impact?
Prioritization for meat care?
I assume you didn't saw off 1/3rd of the antlers.

These threads and stories like yours aren't accidents. You are 100% in control of the answer to every question above and each has more than one answer that may have been a little harder but had a better outcome than the easy way out. Nobody is hunting to survive and there's no genuine need to intentionally create these scenarios. It's not being a good steward of hunting heritage or the positive promotion of the privilege to hunt in this state.

As far as meeting you, I'm happy to meet up at the range and would be happy to pay for professional archery lessons.

 

[Scoot]

Interesting thread... some really good comments and some really uninformed and rude ones. There's definitely more than one way to skin a cat, but there are also approaches that are just flat out stupid. Some of them have been described in this thread...

 

[COelk89]

@sndmn11 my own account of the story is that I researched how long to wait before trailing a gut shot elk and multiple references indicated to wait 8 hours with stories of successful recovery. We did not drive around for 8 hours. We waited 8 hours and took action during that time to ensure a faster recovery if we were successful. The alternative in my mind at the time is this elk is still alive and if I track it I will likely bump it and never see it again. And your previous post infers that a wounded elk only uses its sense of sight, as if that is the primary way elk bust people, when in my experience scent and sound are more likely to bump an elk especially in the thick stuff.

As for questioning my ethics, then you can go on and question the thousands upon thousands of archery hunters who have lost meat or not recovered animals due to any number of reasons over the past around 8k years in North America. You would probably question the ethics of natives who participated in Buffalo jumps, all that wasted meat!

In my opinion, posting the garbage that you are is more likely to be seen by someone inexperienced and they are going to go in there and bump an animal never to see it again. I will never be ashamed to admit I research multiple references if I don't have an informed opinion, and come to my own conclusion. I am constantly learning as I hunt new species in new places with different equipment. I will never claim to have it all figured out, and I never did. The people who do so tend to make themselves look foolish. I simply shared a story with an outcome that I thought was interesting, you turned it into an issue questioning my ethics in meat recovery, knowing nothing about me or why I hunt outside of reading that story and maybe a few of the handful of other posts I have shared.

For you to even describe the ballot initiative as a vote on trophy hunting is unbelievable and is a ridiculous assertion that gives baseless merit to their cause. It has nothing to do with trophy hunting and if you think it does you are deluded and probably too far gone living so close to the gaping orifice of the state. To go further and in some dark corner of your brain to attempt to equivocate my actions during a successful recovery having any bearing on that vote or outcome shows further how ignorant you are.

As for your offer on $ for archery lessons, why don't you donate that $ to Coloradans for Responsible Wildlife Management and post the receipt here. As I indicated in a previous paragraph, I am constantly learning and improving and that goes for archery as well. It is the beauty of learning. The year I shot that elk I was struggling with target panic, however I did not even truly recognize what it is. I learned and practice, learned and practiced some more. This year I shot my second archery animal, a bull, at the same distance and I was cutting it up within an hour.

I will happily meet you at the archery range in Glenwood Springs if my schedule allows during your next trip this way.

 

[mt terry d]

Liver hits are common knowledge that they take a while to die

Interesting.
I'd never heard this and my experience (elk) has been the exact opposite.
Liver hit practically as good as a heart shot.

 

[MikeDeltaFoxtrot]

So... I guess the OP isn't coming back?