HELP NO BLOOD

[CalvinMax]

This morning I went to shoot a bull head on at 15 yards, he whirled as I punched it and I caught him somewhere between broadside and quartering well away. It’s hard for me to say exactly the angle he was at as he was moving. The arrow broke off on the nearest tree he hit, about four inches of the shaft and the fixed blade broadhead must still be in him, and I have about a foot to fourteen inches of good blood up the arrow shaft. My partner got a video of him a hundred yards after the shot and he’s got a deep red blood stain down his side. I’ve included a screen shot below. To me it looks like it hit forward of where I would have placed it if I’d picked it…

There’s not a speck of blood on the ground. Nowhere. I’m at a loss for what to do, everything I’ve ever shot went down at the end of a red highway and here I have nothing.

As interested as I am in ideas about why this went awry, in the near term I’m working to recover the animal and could use any and all advice to that effect.

 

[Jbehredt]

Put your phone away and go look. Everywhere. Twice. For blood. There’s no magic answer. You effed up. Go grid it out. And don’t fling any more arrows at moving elk. Hope is a bad strategy.

 

[Gatorgrizz27]

4” of penetration and hitting ahead of where you’d want makes me think it hit the spine of the shoulder blade. Elk will likely be fine.

 

[PA farmboy]

If you read what he said it whirled as he shot, no where so I see he is shooting at moving game with a bow! Give him plenty of time and grid searching is about best you can do if you aren't able to follow his tracks.