I keep reading about these bulls people are tagging and not finding....

[Gerbdog]

Out today in my stomping grounds bugling for a friend heard ravens smelled into him hunters lost bull archery is tough and things happen just sad to see had found his shed this year about 4 miles away up canyonView attachment 216874View attachment 216875View attachment 216873

Well that's sad for sure, maybe I dont see it in that photo but wheres the head in the rotting corpse pile? or was it scavenged?

 

[Ross]

Let’s just say it stunk reached in with saw and sawed off antlers and ran that is photo 1....not as bad as this one decades ago that tree took out but not pleasant enough to make you heave your cookies found enough over 4 decades cut and run

 

[Gerbdog]

Let’s just say it stunk reached in with saw and sawed off antlers and ran

haha, hope you strapped them to the roof for the ride home

Well Ross, I think that's the first time I've ever seen a photo of a tree that crushed an elk. Clubbed it right across the neck just perfect even.

 

[Rob5589]

I would guess here in NM the number of bowhunters that wound an animal each season is close to 60%. About 2/3 of bowhunters I talk to have shot at least one elk and many times it’s multiple elk. By the end of sept there are wounded elk all over. Guys just suck at archery and blood trailing. It makes me understand why some people dislike bow hunting.

We spoke to a guy in Idaho 2 seasons ago that told us he had arrowed 2 cows and one raghorn but hadn't recovered any. It was, disheartening, to say the least.
The one and only elk I shot was this year, and it was a bad hit. Ended up getting a partial femoral shot and tracked him 500+ yds before getting another in him and ending it. I cut out his heart and it was literally dry, no blood to be seen. Yet he was able to travel a significant distance bleeding like crazy. Lesson learned for sure.

 

[MesaHorseCo.]

My opinion is that many of these hunters who are filling a tag without finding the animal are doing so knowing that their hunt is over due to the season ending or their trip ending. I am sure there are honest guys out there who feel that once they put an arrow in an animal, their tag is used regardless if they find the animal or not, but there are also many hunters who would not hesitate to release another one if the opportunity presents itself.

Many.

 

[Gerbdog]

We spoke to a guy in Idaho 2 seasons ago that told us he had arrowed 2 cows and one raghorn but hadn't recovered any. It was, disheartening, to say the least.
The one and only elk I shot was this year, and it was a bad hit. Ended up getting a partial femoral shot and tracked him 500+ yds before getting another in him and ending it. I cut out his heart and it was literally dry, no blood to be seen. Yet he was able to travel a significant distance bleeding like crazy. Lesson learned for sure.

Good on you for sticking to it, that's a heck of a track, you should be proud just for that tracking, congratulations!

The 2 cows and raghorn from the other hunter though.... i dont know the whole story but if you poke a hole clean through the animal there's a good chance its gonna die, if not soon, later from infection. Maybe he made 3 shoulders shots though and they were all flesh wounds... I'll try and think the best of it.

 

[DanimalW]

Good on you for sticking to it, that's a heck of a track, you should be proud just for that tracking, congratulations!

The 2 cows and raghorn from the other hunter though.... i dont know the whole story but if you poke a hole clean through the animal there's a good chance its gonna die, if not soon, later from infection. Maybe he made 3 shoulders shots though and they were all flesh wounds... I'll try and think the best of it.

If you’re making more than one bad shot on a hunt, then you pack it up and head to an archery shop to shoot until you figure out the problem. That’s just a sad story.

 

[Wellsdw]

If legal a trained dog can make the recovery of lost game so much quicker and more successful you will wonder why it isn't legal everywhere game is hunted. I know in my province its kind of a legal grey zone, some DNR officers will start writing tickets and charges in the hopes they can get a couple to stick, others will actually commend you and some have even asked if I was willing to try my bird dogs on a blood trail to help. Much harder to fool a dogs nose than our eyes.

Very true on a dog. Most tracking dogs will have no problem on a 16-24 hr trail as long as it’s not to disturbed by us, or extreme weather. A lot of Blood isn’t even necessary for many dogs. He’ll I brought mine to Wyoming just in case and boarded him in the near by town. A good resource to find a tracking dog is United blood trackers website.

 

[Gerbdog]

Very true on a dog. Most tracking dogs will have no problem on a 16-24 hr trail as long as it’s not to disturbed by us, or extreme weather. A lot of Blood isn’t even necessary for many dogs. He’ll I brought mine to Wyoming just in case and boarded him in the near by town. A good resource to find a tracking dog is United blood trackers website.

Thats an awesome tip, I hadn't even heard of or considered a website where blood tracking dogs could be found

 

[Gerbdog]

What I was trying to say but maybe didn’t convey correctly is that: out of all the hunters I contact who have shot elk with arrows, probably 60% of them do not recover the animal.

I can start keeping a talley but just for today....the only hunter I contacted who had shot something did not recover it. So that’s 100% unrecovered today with a sample size of only 1.

Still a pretty big number, tracking a wounded animal is a skill set all by itself that many hunters arent gonna get a lot of experience with. Something I don't have a ton of experience with myself yet but I'm sure if I keep finding animals sooner or later ones gonna get away from me after it catches an arrow. Hopefully my brother keeps having bad luck with his draws in NM (not really, hope he draws next year and I can go call for him) and can keep coming on my hunts, he's uncanny at finding them even after the blood trails gone.

 

[Gila]

I would guess here in NM the number of bowhunters that wound an animal each season is close to 60%. About 2/3 of bowhunters I talk to have shot at least one elk and many times it’s multiple elk. By the end of sept there are wounded elk all over. Guys just suck at archery and blood trailing. It makes me understand why some people dislike bow hunting.

That's not the numbers that the success data shows on good units...I think you are way over board on your numbers. What I have seen is that most bowhunters (being one myself) who are serious about their hunting, only take ethical shots to begin with. There are times when a shot is off, I think that happens to all eventually. The arrow tells the story most of the time. It is paramount to find the arrow before going to find game unless you see the animal crash.

It is standard practice to let the animal expire before pushing it. So, SOP for bowhunters is to wait at least 30-45 minutes before going after the animal. I nipped one lung and it took an hour for the deer to expire. Using lighted nocks is a big help too. I build all of my arrows with neon vanes and wraps. Just about every state requires a bowhunting certification these days which teach principles and ethics. I've only seen several this season on this forum who lost an animal and as many hunters who post here, that is fery few.

 

[bloatmar]

we had that happen this year. Shot was slightly forward and alittle high. The blood trail was lung blood and the arrow had 10’-12’ of penetration when we found it. Tracked .40 miles then blood dried up and never found him. Searched for 7 hrs after last blood trail and never found another drop. Even came back next day and looked for 5 more.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

Once you have wounded one you punch your tag.

This ^^^^ I can’t stand it when guys go out there and sling lead or arrows wounding one or several and keep hunting. If people were required to punch their tag if they drew blood, I bet they would spend a lot more time practicing and be a little more patient waiting to get a better shot. I hunt for meat, but it doesn’t give me the right to wound one or several of these animals in the process.

 

[PredatorSlayer]

That's not the numbers that the success data shows on good units...I think you are way over board on your numbers. What I have seen is that most bowhunters (being one myself) who are serious about their hunting, only take ethical shots to begin with. There are times when a shot is off, I think that happens to all eventually. The arrow tells the story most of the time. It is paramount to find the arrow before going to find game unless you see the animal crash.

It is standard practice to let the animal expire before pushing it. So, SOP for bowhunters is to wait at least 30-45 minutes before going after the animal. I nipped one lung and it took an hour for the deer to expire. Using lighted nocks is a big help too. I build all of my arrows with neon vanes and wraps. Just about every state requires a bowhunting certification these days which teach principles and ethics. I've only seen several this season on this forum who lost an animal and as many hunters who post here, that is fery few.

I bet maybe 5% of hunters out there take hunting seriously and put in time and effort necessary to make consistent clean and ethical shots. Those should be the ones who respect the animals enough to punch the tag on a wounded unrecovered animal.

 

[COHunter33]

Got this trail camera picture a few years ago. The bull has an arrow in his back strap. I never did find him dead, but this was also the last picture I ever got of this bull. Really sucks to think of how much pain he was in. I’ve always been curious about how far he made it

 

[robtattoo]

All of this is the reason I quit bowhunting completely. I spent years & years being a really good target shot (not bragging, I have the trophies) but I realized that when a life is literally on the line, my confidence went to hell. I shot 4 whitetail in 3 years that I would swear on a stack of bibles were perfect shots & only recovered one of them. I just had to figure that I can't follow a bloodtrail very well & bow shot critters seldom die where they're hit.

I hate to not hunt, but not as much as I hate hurting an animal.

 

[mod700]

Makes me sick when I hear of guys loosing animals... I think a vast majority don't do near enough practice with their bow. And I'm still amazed at how many guys use to screw on fixed blade broadheads, the night before the hunt, and find out they aren't grouping the same... and mechanicals don't make up for lack of practice.
Had a buddy some years back hit a young bull, it turned as he shot, arrow went under the scapula and along the ribs, he thought it was a better hit. It began to drizzle, we elected to trail, instead of waiting ( which we always do),the bull bleed down the inside of his front left hoof, We lost his trail several times, had buddies set with last blood, made loops and found sign again, had to eat aspirin twice that day, from headache of being bent over, and on hands and knees. We caught up with him 12 hours later, and buddy finished him. You got to respect the resource, and not just move on to the next animal.
Mike

 

[Chesapeake173]

So another side of this debate is rifle hunters. I can only speak for here in Michigan but I have to believe it’s similar (or worse) in the west with the longer distances.

I can’t tell you over the years how many people never go look for blood or the animal if it doesn’t drop within sight. Lazy people shooting too far and even if they do go look they might not even be able to find the spot in the low light with their 500 yard shot.

Lots more rifle hunters out there and an animal is more likely to survive a bow hit. Happens to both but bow hunters always take the brunt of it.


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[PredatorSlayer]

So another side of this debate is rifle hunters. I can only speak for here in Michigan but I have to believe it’s similar (or worse) in the west with the longer distances.

I can’t tell you over the years how many people never go look for blood or the animal if it doesn’t drop within sight. Lazy people shooting too far and even if they do go look they might not even be able to find the spot in the low light with their 500 yard shot.

Lots more rifle hunters out there and an animal is more likely to survive a bow hit. Happens to both but bow hunters always take the brunt of it.


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It definitely goes both ways. Guys think they can buy a creedmoor and go kill stuff at 1000 yards. Treat game like targets. Its pretty bad over on LRH - you got the hammer bullets guys marketing their low BC bullets as long range killers.

 

[tt_johnsclist]

The scientific research on big game wounding rates, mostly done on whitetail deer, shows that about 15-20% of game hit are wounded and never recovered and about 85% of those wounded animals live.