I did follow the blood to private and unfortunately it dried up pretty fast. As Laramie stated in analyzing the shot and knowing how tough elk are I'm not ruling out hat he will die. But yes after that rodeo I tracked him to the edge of private.
Talk to a biologist that night and he said I knowing the landowner it is extremely unlikely that I will gain access. But I'm searching for a number now anyway. I would agree that I am not certain. That bull will die. I'm not certain he won't. What I am certain of is that situation would have been much different if people had courtesy for others and treated them the way they would like to be treated in that situation. Not trying have a sob story for myslef, at the end of the day I didn't make the best shot I could, just want to know if the courtesy and expect to have is unreasonable.
A game warden is your best option. Most of them have relationships with landowners and they are motivated to help. A biologist doesn't have the same pull.
Yeah I have really broken down our "hunting community" just from a societal perspective and where we are at today... People seem more greedy and self involved than ever before, world is going crazy....
Gutshot deer and a shoulder shot elk are vastly different. The deer will most certainly die, just a matter of time. I have harvested elk with broadheads buried in the should bone on 2 different occasions. The wounds were 1+ years old and were not visible until processing. I have also found bullets against an elks shoulder. There was one in my bull from this past season. It was also at least a one year old wound.
Odds are that's a dead bull, IMO.I'm of the opinion one should make every attempt to keep a wounded animal in sight so as not to lose the ability to track the animal and understand its health trajectory. Waiting in place without visual on a wounded animal is a real gamble.
I would agree if the situation allows. But given the wind and the terrain that was simply not an option, without blowing him out myself. And with 30 alert cow eyes to fool that would have been a tall order.
We though so as well but had him on camera several times throughout archery grazing in the wallow area, interacting with elk, etc. He lived and acted fairly normal for at least 2.5 weeks.Tough to tell on your pic I guess, but I'd have guessed that arrow was off the bone, into the lung area. I definitely would have thought I killed that bull if that's where I hit him and with that much penetration, which I guess proves your point.
If that wounded animal sees or hears something following it, it will travel exponentially further. You absolutely do not do that with an elk. Even with a great shot, adrenalin can carry them quite a ways. They may only be alive for 10-20 seconds but an elk can cover 300 yards in 20 seconds at top speed if it thinks something is chasing it.
Exponentially further? What exponent are we talking here? Certainly an elk can travel 30+mph. I'm talking about stalking them after they've gone out of sight, as this animal was.
You don't spook them and they go about 100-150 yards, you spook them and they go 1000-2000 yards or more. That kind of exponentially.
That may be, if that was the case I would have been happy to show them the missing arrow from my quiver and the blood where he was shot. Understand the skepticism but that doesn't excuse that kind of behavior I think.
