Learn the frontal if you want to kill elk

[Beendare]

Ah yes the frontal. It’s definitely a devastating shot! I’ve done it twice. The first bull in 2013 got shaky legs immediately, staggered about 10 yards and tipped over and rolled down the mountain. The 2nd however went about 300 yards without a single drop of blood that i could find. That was a stressful track job. When i found him the next morning, the meat had soured and he was full of blood

That sucks.

One problem with hunting and calling for others is all of the Bro stuff after the shot.

Most times if you focus and listen, you can hear them fall, that much animal hitting the ground, its usually pretty loud. If I hear crashing I like to follow up pretty soon after the shot.

I was calling for one buddy that yelled, “ YES, THATS A DEAD ELK” instead of bugling or cow calling to slow the bulls exit that only picked up speed when he yelled. . I’ve seen elk stop after being shot with an arrow and look back to locate the bugle- then tip over.

 

[mike.adams.467]

That sucks.

One problem with hunting and calling for others is all of the Bro stuff after the shot.

Most times if you focus and listen, you can hear them fall, that much animal hitting the ground, its usually pretty loud. If I hear crashing I like to follow up pretty soon after the shot.

I was calling for one buddy that yelled, “ YES, THATS A DEAD ELK” instead of bugling or cow calling to slow the bulls exit that only picked up speed when he yelled. . I’ve seen elk stop after being shot with an arrow and look back to locate the bugle- then tip over.

Did you find his elk?

 

[WVELK]

That sucks.

One problem with hunting and calling for others is all of the Bro stuff after the shot.

Most times if you focus and listen, you can hear them fall, that much animal hitting the ground, its usually pretty loud. If I hear crashing I like to follow up pretty soon after the shot.

I was calling for one buddy that yelled, “ YES, THATS A DEAD ELK” instead of bugling or cow calling to slow the bulls exit that only picked up speed when he yelled. . I’ve seen elk stop after being shot with an arrow and look back to locate the bugle- then tip over.

Yea I have been the caller and the shooter many many many times. It always helps if your shooter can cow call or bugle right after the shot. I have been blessed by taking and getting good shots. Only one went over 50 yards.

 

[Beendare]

Elk is a larger version but essentially the same skeletal structure

Did you find his elk?

Did you find his elk?

Yeah, found it but further down the canyon than we would have liked.

I had another “ Dead bull” I called for a buddy in 76 Co, that he shot and the bull came trotting back to us and stopped 15y from him….without him getting another arrow in him. I would have shot but the bull stopped directly in line with my buddy between the bull and me.

We glassed that bull 1/2 a mile away going over the continental divide. The frontal must have been inside the shoulder blade but outside the rib cage. Blood…then no blood and wasted a day searching for him.

 

[PaBone]

I regret not taking a frontal shot last year on a nice bull. My son had already killed a bull and was calling for my other son and I. The bull come straight up the hill and directly at me, had an easy frontal shot at 15 yards until he winded me and did a rooster tail spraying me with pine needles. At least it saved me from another pack out up over the mountain.

 

[trophyhill]

Elk is a larger version but essentially the same skeletal structure






Yeah, found it but further down the canyon than we would have liked.

I had another “ Dead bull” I called for a buddy in 76 Co, that he shot and the bull came trotting back to us and stopped 15y from him….without him getting another arrow in him. I would have shot but the bull stopped directly in line with my buddy between the bull and me.

We glassed that bull 1/2 a mile away going over the continental divide. The frontal must have been inside the shoulder blade but outside the rib cage. Blood…then no blood and wasted a day searching for him.

In my case, it was ever so slightly quartered, and the broadhead was stuck in his front leg bone. He probably died within minutes but the fact he went 300 yards without dropping any blood was a problem. I was able to follow his tracks into the bottom where there were tons of other tracks which compounded the tracking because tracks went in all directions at that point. All that was sticking out after the shot was the fletching and about 3" of arrow and when he turned to run he ran into a juniper and broke it off, so I knew I made a great shot. But even that wasn't good enough to get a blood trail. Despite a bugle and a cow call or 5, he kept going unfortunately. It's a scenario I play out to this day second guessing and wondering what else I could have done other than not taking the 16 yard shot. Turns out, it wasnt as great of a shot as I thought initially since I lost the meat.

 

[Beendare]

Yeah, I’ve seen that a fair amount; High shot….good shot but most of the blood ends up in the animals body.

IME, a blood trail is more dependent on shot location and 2 holes than the size of the BH. I’ve seen low shots with a 2 blade leave an oil slick of a blood trail…and high shots with big mech heads leave nothing.

Then factor in, an animal that spooks at the speed of light will leave less blood. Critters with arrows stuck in them tend to go further- all else equal.

My buddy shot a bull I called in MT frontal at 27y and he only caught one lung. The arrow was sticking out 1/2 way…and that bull freaked out. Very little blood for the first 300y….but then he must have slowed and walked as the BT was very easy to follow. We found him about 600y from the shot lolling around on the ground trying to get up….we put another arrow in him.

 

[Riplip]

Had the largest Bull I have seen on hoof present a frontal shot at about 7 yards, for some reason I froze/hesitated. He ran off to about 70 yards and then gone forever. Still haunts me to this day.

 

[Beendare]

I told my one buddy who had never shot a bull how deadly the frontal shot is....and to take it.

He didn't. A bull came in to him FAST and stopped frontal at about 5 paces....he decided he would wait for it to turn then shoot Broadside.

You already know how this is going to turn out.....grin

After what he says was almost a minute, the bull turns but very fast and he ends up shooting it in the hind quarter- spine shot. The bull drops, and starts crawling away with its front legs. He runs up and finishes it off and it was a total oil slick of blood 4' wide for about 30 feet- crazy.

Take that frontal shot and aim up into the mane a foot or so....it's deadly.

 

[cnelk]

The key is to know where your arrow will end up in the elk, not where it entered

 

[WoodBow]

I have found that the frontal doesn't get much use in rifle hunting. At least not publicly. I have found it to an absolute show stopper on every animal I have tried it on. All the good stuff is tight to the front of the chest.

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[Ozarkansas]

The only elk I’ve killed was with a frontal shot. It was at 12-15 yards and I hit it higher than I meant to, basically right below the Adam’s Apple. My arrow stuck in one of his neck vertebrae and he ran about a hundred yards and keeled over.
If I hadn’t been using a 46# recurve there’s a good chance I would have broken it’s neck and dropped it. As it was I must have severed the jugular (all the blood was dark so I didn’t hit the carotid) and trachea but most of the blood drained into the body cavity.
Because I didn’t see where the shot landed and mistook the crash of the elk falling for other elk running off, I backed out for 6 hours and then came back to follow the blood. The blood trail was sparse but we found it fairly quick.

 

[Ross]

Have always passed with a bow on this shot, but taken several rifle bulls with it a couple between 5-10 yds. My last bull two yrs ago the second day of rifle took him at 40 yds frontal as he popped out of the deep huckleberry brush looking for his two hr bugling adversary was pretty cool as he came sauntering down through the brush all I could see was rack till he popped out above me. ………………Edited for last years bull. Same scenario as 2022, second day of rifle long bugle match never saw the bull till he stepped out at 12 yds. Boomstick frontal in the jungles once again.

 

[Dave_]

I have found that the frontal doesn't get much use in rifle hunting. At least not publicly. I have found it to an absolute show stopper on every animal I have tried it on. All the good stuff is tight to the front of the chest.

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I've killed lots of whitetail with rifle frontal shots, (mostly rattled in). All dropped on the spot.

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[WoodBow]

I've killed lots of whitetail with rifle frontal shots, (mostly rattled in). All dropped on the spot.

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That has been my experience. I have taken pigs, a nilgai, and an oryx with frontal from a 6.5 and they have all dropped in their tracks. I have taken way more animals broadside and I can't think of any that have dropped on the spot that were not spine or shoulder shots.

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[Dave_]

I've only used it once on a bull 8-9 yard shot and he fell in sight. Only problem was my arrow went in enough to puncture the stomach and I didn't find out until I cut a Lil to deep and green juice spewed out all over one of the backstraps.

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[Geewhiz]

I took an opportunity at a frontal one time and it didn't end how I had hoped and I have no explanation for what happened. You won't find me doing it again.

 

[KsRancher]

I've killed lots of whitetail with rifle frontal shots, (mostly rattled in). All dropped on the spot.

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I have taken that shot numerous times on whitetail. But have steered clear of it for the past several years. I only shoot does with a rifle. Have switched to the head shot. We hang our deer for a week or two. Skinning and gutting those frontal shot deer is a mess. The whole chest cavity is a big bowl of heart, lung and guts chili.

 

[Roadhunter69]

The key is to know where your arrow will end up in the elk, not where it entered

This. I regret my choice to take a frontal on my first ever morning of my first ever elk hunt. Called in a bull in the first 15 minutes of shooting light. Didn’t factor in the elevation differences between myself and the elk which was maybe only 10-15 feet but was enough that the arrow did not end up in the boiler room even though it entered in the good spot of the mane. Haunts me to this day. Lots of guys love the frontal but you better be accurate and know where to put it.

My new pre shooting checklist acronym is you want to see RED when you go look for blood: reference, elevation, distance before you shoot.


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[Eleven]

Anyone take this frontal shot on a black bear?

I’ve taken it on a few whitetail, and wouldn’t hesitate on any hoofed animal if it presented. But the black bear anatomy is a little bit different. Any experience with this?