Lessons Learned: Complete Arrow Failure on Elk

[Reburn]

Tips for Torque Tuning

Thought I would try to put a Torque Tune on my Hoyt RX3 Ultra this time. I know its usually a bit different for everyone, but tell me, where would you start....with the rest all the forward and sight all the way backward, or vice versa, or what? Move in big increments or small? I have read the...

www.rokslide.com

I torque tune using my dove tail sight bar moving the sight in and out as on my mathews I am using the intergrate rests and they can not move in and out due to the rest dovetail design. Sometimes I have to change my peep size depending on how far I move the sight.

 

[Reburn]

Interested in learning more about torque tuning? I’ve always just practiced as much as possible to avoid torque.

Thats great in practice but I'm not sure about you but I get the fever bad and will torque the hell out of the bow and bend the trigger off. thousands of arrows of practice goes out the window sometimes.

 

[isItFallYet]

It sounds like you want others’ opinions, but then you don’t. Sounds like you questioned HEXX arrows before the season. Now you have a reason to change arrows. Learn, live, move on. FWIW, 400 grains of arrow and QADs have killed a lot of elk. Maybe try an axis?

 

[PLhunter]

It sounds like you want others’ opinions, but then you don’t. Sounds like you questioned HEXX arrows before the season. Now you have a reason to change arrows. Learn, live, move on. FWIW, 400 grains of arrow and QADs have killed a lot of elk. Maybe try an axis?

I do want others opinions and productive opinions like reburns and others on this have been appreciated. It is just frustrating rehashing things covered or having people simply provide blanket answers like you didn’t tune your bow at all or you just made a bad shot end of story nothing to do but suck less.

I made efforts to let people know that wasn’t the case so that’s just kinda frustrating having so many responses be unproductive. I did tune my bow and practice with broadheads (meaning I made sure my form and my bow were shooting these the same as field points) I did not torque tune, hell I don’t think I know anyone who has so that’s a very helpful response and something I can do to make me better for next season. Other people’s responses on experience with various arrows has also been helpful.

 

[Zac]

I remember a while back someone posted a thread about not tuning. The subject of the video was Waddy from Bone Collector. Appeared like he made a decent shot and the buck got away. I know tuning is a giant issue with game being hit and not recovered. However Waddy is not a man that walks into the woods unprepared, with sub-par equipment. This may be a similar issue.

 

[KRA-Z]

I’m not sure what is more interesting, the OP or the pretentiousness on this or any site...

it seems there are way to many engineers involved with hunting...

It’s really sad to see so many people spend so much time and money on the set up and just not learn how to hunt... remember our grandfathers culled and filled the freezers with jeans, a t shirt and probably with a cigar hanging out of their mouths....

But I remember when I was 14 and bought into all the commercialism.... that was way before I’ve dropped more meat than I can count and with less than optimal equipment and many times still in my work clothes just to get into the stand before I dark...

Bottom line to OP is that if you think it’s your set up, than no matter what anyone tells you or you tell yourself, you’re going to believe it’s your set up....

I’ve culled as many deer with a recurve that I have in past with newer set ups, ( used to hunt a lot more) but now I just get my limit, fill my freezer and enjoy my time... I’ve had shots I’ve either missed or thought I hit completely different than where I actually hit... so it does happen, doesn’t matter how much you practice or think you hit perfect, you may not have...

I agree that probably 90% or more hunters would have stopped trailing after your bull went up the rock side.... I’m a tracker so I’d say you should feel fine with the amount you put into the track...

personally I Ike heavier set ups, the speed might slow down, the distance might get shorter, but the KE is up and just more penetration power...

Just because I can shoot 100 doesn’t mean I should!
anything beyond 70 is questionably lethal to me, so that’s my max, I typically like them in around 40-50yrds... I know that’s not always possible but there’s where leering how to hunt, calling them in and being in the right spot will Alan it always get them into that range...

good luck, and find what you feel comfortable with, if it works than use it! If my rig has been working for years, I’m not about to learn a new one and have issues... my arrows go right where I put them every time, unless I can’t see... seems I needed glasses to see my pin... so that problem is solved...

 

[PLhunter]

I’m not sure what is more interesting, the OP or the pretentiousness on this or any site...

it seems there are way to many engineers involved with hunting...

It’s really sad to see so many people spend so much time and money on the set up and just not learn how to hunt... remember our grandfathers culled and filled the freezers with jeans, a t shirt and probably with a cigar hanging out of their mouths....

But I remember when I was 14 and bought into all the commercialism.... that was way before I’ve dropped more meat than I can count and with less than optimal equipment and many times still in my work clothes just to get into the stand before I dark...

Bottom line to OP is that if you think it’s your set up, than no matter what anyone tells you or you tell yourself, you’re going to believe it’s your set up....

I’ve culled as many deer with a recurve that I have in past with newer set ups, ( used to hunt a lot more) but now I just get my limit, fill my freezer and enjoy my time... I’ve had shots I’ve either missed or thought I hit completely different than where I actually hit... so it does happen, doesn’t matter how much you practice or think you hit perfect, you may not have...

I agree that probably 90% or more hunters would have stopped trailing after your bull went up the rock side.... I’m a tracker so I’d say you should feel fine with the amount you put into the track...

personally I Ike heavier set ups, the speed might slow down, the distance might get shorter, but the KE is up and just more penetration power...

Just because I can shoot 100 doesn’t mean I should!
anything beyond 70 is questionably lethal to me, so that’s my max, I typically like them in around 40-50yrds... I know that’s not always possible but there’s where leering how to hunt, calling them in and being in the right spot will Alan it always get them into that range...

good luck, and find what you feel comfortable with, if it works than use it! If my rig has been working for years, I’m not about to learn a new one and have issues... my arrows go right where I put them every time, unless I can’t see... seems I needed glasses to see my pin... so that problem is solved...

I just shoot to a 100 yards for practice. Figure if I can do that in practice I will be better at closer. Magnifies any issues you might be having as well. Figured if I can drop a broadhead and a field point close at 100 something must be working. My range limit is 60 in the field, depending on situation. I’ve take mule deer bucks with a bow at 19, 20, 35, 18, and 57. All spot and stalk or still hunting. All but one were completely clean kills. One had some tracking involved but was recovered. I took a cow elk at 40. With a rifle I’ve taken plenty of deer, elk, and pronghorn. I do enjoy bow hunting mostly for the season and the relative lack of competition. Wouldn’t say I’m an inexperienced hunter at all but there is always plenty to learn especially when it comes to archery. Getting close has never been the issue. For me the biggest learning curve of switching to a bow has been the draw motion. Early on I had all the stalking skills to get right on them but kept getting busted while drawing. That was a big learning curve. I’m always hunting on the ground.

That’s awesome about taking animals with a recurve. I have one and practice over the winter with it but haven’t gotten to where I feel comfortable with it hunting large game. I killed a bull, a cow, and some deer with the “inferior” setups so everyone is right about it being doable. I am liking the heavier arrow idea as well and have already made some orders. Between that and the torque tuning I will feel better prepared for the upcoming season.

 

[Rob5589]

I have a buddy that shot, and supposedly double lunged, 3 deer. We found minimal blood and didn't recover any of them. He swears the hits were good, I have serious doubts for obvious reasons.

In the heat of the moment we can lose control over the shot. Call it buck fever, target panic, trying to "peek" the shot, etc. What one perceives how the shot went down isn't necessarily how it actually went down.

And sometimes it just boils down to this; shit happens.

 

[Cheechako]

Addressing Ethics: I have now had the benefit of time that all you have enjoyed. I try to learn from everything in every way possible. My hunting buddy and I talked about this in detail right on the spot. The coulda, woulda, shoulda's all of us hunters do after every encounter.

The original shot: It wasn't a perfect situation but if ya'll are always shooting unaware elk exposed from hoof to back nose to tail every shot at under 20 yards then good on ya. As for me I will shoot an elk in that position at that range again. Otherwise, I might as well give up archery hunting because even that good of opportunity in general season is rare. I took the shot and do have a burned in freeze frame in my mind of the arrow in flight. Many have told me how bad the shot must have been but I can say I am going to try to make that shot fatal with heavier and better arrows because it potentially could be. All I have is that I know for a fact it wasn't far back and apparently wasn't perfect because he didn't die within any near distance.

Tracking: We waited for plenty of time and did a great to excellent tracking job. Never rushed it when I didn't find blood and always made sure that blood and direction were established before moving forward. There were some difficult patches even early but we made it through them all and picked up a good trail after. Post "gushing" over rocks got tough. That's when I got real concerned we wouldn't recover him. We had just had encouraging blood but he was closing up fast. I also wasn't encouraged about his decision to go uphill at every split. He invariably decided to go up instead of down when given a choice. Into the sagebrush clearing is when it got really tough. At this point, I think he may have lost a certain percentage of hunters. This required a lot of discipline to not get too far out in front and to stick with always having blood before moving on. Then the uphill turn. Here, I think you would have lost most remaining trackers. He had no reason and there were fresh elk tracks on the trail he should have stayed on. Blood was already minimal and I think most would have continued on the trail and assumed he just stopped bleeding. Instead, I stuck with the having blood before moving rule and eventually found a smear on the bottom of a branch on one piece of sagebrush above where he was last on the trail. Faint and off color but clearly taste like elk. At this point it gets ridiculous and we still somehow keep on him but daylight is burning fast and we are getting 10 yards at a time at less than a yard a minute. Eventually, it fully looks like he switched back on us. He is now on a trail and should have again stayed on it. Instead, under a tree that makes tracking tough, he decides to flip back on his route to head the direction he was originally going. Again, no trail there. No reason to turn up and back through sage. But he does it. This turn took a ton of time to overcome. Then it gets even tougher and I am forced to jump ahead more than I like because at this rate even if he was dead less than a mile away he would be fully rotten by the time he is found. I get lucky and find his path onto better tracking. Still tedious but much quicker. Then he enters a tougher spot than any I have overcome yet just before dark. I choose to glass for him the next morning by hiking to a good vantage point. Hoping he comes out into one of the clearings. He doesn't. I then post up my buddy to watch clearings from across the canyon so I can try to get back on his trail and he can see if the bull gets bumped. I grid the area for blood for about an hour when chapter 3 of ethics starts. I think there are at least 3 situations where 90 percent of the general hunting population loses the trail to break out and grid an area that would have been completely hopeless. Ultimately determining they lost the elk but gave it their best. Then the hunter would choose to keep hunting or not. At this point they could have said "lost the trail bad shot" and yall maybe woulda went "shucks that happens" better luck next time and congrats on getting a bull the next day. However, I did do the tracking and tracking skill or effort alone doesn't disqualify me from rightful criticism I am receiving.

Second Shot: I wasn't stalking this bull. I wasn't calling this bull in. I didn't glass this bull up and decide to move in on him. I was walking around looking for blood when I heard the bull. I did maneuver into position hoping it was the same bull. Somehow as we likely all have had happen the bull went from here to there quick and caught be by surprise. I expected him under me to only catch him angled uphill from me. My time physically seeing him was very brief and a very rapidly closing window. I made a decent shot quick. The decision time to take the shot was in seconds. Time I had to decide not take the shot would be measured in the same. The bull wasn't sticking around to be measured and analyzed.

In hindsight. Yeah, probably not the same elk. What are the actual odds? Not great! At the moment with heart-pounding head going a million miles an hour I was damn near certain it was the same bull. It came out very near where I lost the trail and here it was. Lucky me! I saw what I wanted to see. I didn't have time to really reflect on the odds and I saw what I wanted to see in an emotionally charged moment. I can tell you that in my mind if that bull turned and ran before I shot I fully expected to see my arrow in it and to lose it forever. Illogical as that may sound. I get excited when I hunt and I can't say we all think clearly with adrenaline. We do the best we can but shit happens fast a lot of the time and we are just reacting to it. In clear hindsight I would risk it being the same bull and not take the second shot. My statement likely would be the exact opposite were I telling that story though. I would be saying how I should have taken it and likely finding comments echoing that here.

Realities are this. That first bull was likely never going to be found. I think we all know that. I really wanted it and had a terminator like mentality. If it keeps bleeding even the most minuscule amount I will find this bull and kill it. That's what I was feeling. My next steps were already laid out with my hunting partner. I was going to look until around 10:30 am to 11:00 am for blood. If I didn't find any I would head on his last known bearing and grid out likely bedding spots with my partner on overwatch. We were a couple miles from the shot at this point and this bull had barely even stopped the whole time. He was only getting better and not worse. In all likelihood, he was too far for me to realistically get to and grid before we had to get the mules back. But there was maybe a chance. A damn tiny one but maybe just maybe. There is always a chance every time we end a search. Where that line is drawn is the devil in the details. Was the chance of bull number 2 being the same bull equal or greater than the chance of me finding bull number 1 another way? Maybe but both in hindsight were tiny. However, now we have two dead bulls by one hunter and not just one. That is a worthwhile ethical debate for sure.

Ultimately, we had two hunters with tags in the field and two bull elk were killed. No, I am not condoning party hunting. Just stating a fact. So in the future what will I do differently? In no order of importance here it goes.
1. Switch arrow systems. I get the perfect shot argument and it is an important area to focus on. I get on paper my arrows can kill elk. Hell, they did. However, more penetration really would have helped in this case and performance on bull number 2 was unacceptable for what I am after. I am not okay with the deflection off that rib.
2. Take a good look at when I will consider a tag filled vs keep hunting. I was already planning on leaving the bow in camp the next day if I didn't find the bull but having a preset rule can always help when making emotional decisions.
3. Would it have been better for me to be the one spotting and my partner who hadn't shot be the one looking for the blood trail? That way if this situation were to happen its win win. However, he has less experience with blood trails (though he was a great help in tracking) and he wasn't there when I last lost blood so maybe not a good option here but in the future it's worth considering.
4. Is shooting a bull a good idea this late into your planned hunt? We had to scramble pretty hard to get bull number 2 out and the way the tracking was looking for number one it would have taken a full day or more to get him were it ever to happen.
5. What can I do to continue to give back to elk, deer, and wildlife. I took two lives this season. I have an extra debt. What can I do beyond my current involvement in conservation to make sure I am doing my part seems how I took more than my share?

As critical as you all are on me I am just as much so on myself. I've mulled this over a thousand times. This was my first archery bull elk. Should have been a better experience but no I am not hanging up the bow and I will never be the guy who does everything perfect. I have killed dozens of deer and elk but still get pretty damn excited. Now onto my dad's bison hunt and my muzzleloader buck hunt.

This is a great response and what I think you should have started this discussion with.
Shit happens and it’s up to us as hunters to wrestle with our decisions and their outcomes and what we owe to the animals that sustain us. It sounds like you learned quite a bit.
As far as equipment goes I’m certainly
not an expert, but sacrificing a little trajectory by using heavier arrows might be a good way to increase penetration, efficiency, and foregiveness in your setup.

 

[MattB]

I have a buddy that shot, and supposedly double lunged, 3 deer. We found minimal blood and didn't recover any of them. He swears the hits were good, I have serious doubts for obvious reasons.

In the heat of the moment we can lose control over the shot. Call it buck fever, target panic, trying to "peek" the shot, etc. What one perceives how the shot went down isn't necessarily how it actually went down.

And sometimes it just boils down to this; shit happens.

I have a friend who guided bow hunters for ~30 years and makes a point of quizzing his hunters after the shot about shot placement. They were rarely correct. “A little high and back” was usually quite a bit of both.

 

[dla]

Here is my 2021 elk story warts and all. Hoping someone can learn from this. The good. I harvested my first archery bull. The bad, I hit another bull and the arrow setup failed for a second time on the second bull.

First my setup:
Bow: Hoyt carbon defiant 70lbs
Arrow: 330 spine easton hexx with 50 grain brass inserts and 125 grain QAD exodus broadheads. Around 16% FOC and 425 grain total arrow weight.
Sight: Black Gold with three pin

I will start off by saying this setup shot lights out. As my friends all bought valkyrie arrows I just couldn't drop these because of how well they shot. For one I shot better with both broadheads and without. I also got super lucky and completely nailed it with the first sight tape I tried. Last summer I was dropping 100-yard bombs with broadheads reliably. I haven't traditionally been a great archery shooter but the last couple of years have really come together, because of this I was reluctant to change. Additionally, I had killed a deer at 55 yards with this setup except at 60 pounds (broken wrist that season) and penetration was plenty adequate.

This season after several days of hunting we finally struck up an eager bull. I snuck in within 20 yards and while the lower third or so of his body was covered and he was aware of my presence it was a pretty ideal broadside shot situation. He fell twice after the shot and sauntered off. He was a big mature 5 point in a general season unit. We wait 3.5 hours. Initially, blood was pretty good. Bright red with bubbles and not buckets but tracking was a slow walking pace. Even a mile into the track he was still consistently dripping blood. At about a mile and a half, he kicks it straight up a steep mountain. It's brushy and dry in the area he does this and tracking slows to a crawl. Maybe an hour every 30 yards. Multiple times the trail is completely lost only to be found after crawling through the brush for over a half-hour. He is clearly starting to clot up now but only after losing gallons of blood. He also is still dripping but it's much much tougher to find. I shot him at 8 am and now it's getting close to dark. I send my companion back to take care of the mules. TIme is ticking but I get really lucky and find blood 200 yards from my last blood spot in the rocks. The rocks make for easy tracking to a rib of pine trees. I decide to back out as its getting dark and restart in the morning.

I replay the shot countless times. I grew up elk hunting with a rifle. I keep thinking that drawing on a bull staring right at me I must have quickly settled the pin on the front shoulder area. I hit him far forward for a bow shot. I wake up at 4:30 hike the 6 miles up from camp and glass the clearings surrounding the trees I know he at least went through. Nothing. I was hoping to see him maybe try to get out and feed or find his herd. I head up to comb the rocky slide where he would have headed to hopefully find blood where it's easy before going into the much more difficult pine duff I last found blood in. While walking around with my head in the dirt I hear a short locate bugle. I hear a bull going through the brush coming out of the timber the bull I had hit went into. I get into position and catch the bull with his head and front shoulder covered at 20 yards. Though he is mostly covered he still bust me when I draw. He is ready to bolt any second. This may be controversial but I figure I will be more upset to watch the bull run off with my arrow from yesterday in him than to shoot another bull when my chances at recovering the other bull are slim at best. I draw and let loose. This time holding plenty far back into the lungs. I am expecting a full pass-through.

When the bull emerges on the opposite side of a small drainage I see an arrow sticking well out of his side. YES! I think. its the same bull! He stops twice before going back into the timber he emerged from. I wait a couple hours and find him taking his last breaths just inside the treeline. Less than a 100 yards. I instantly see though that he is smaller. Both 5 points similar frames but smaller tine length. Upon getting to him I pull the arrow out and find it broken at 6 inches from the broadhead. Must have went through and broke when he went down I thought. However, after flipping him I find an exit out the top of his flank. He was broadside and that's a gap well exceeding my 27.5 inch arrows. It occurs to me that the arrow likely snapped on the rib with the broadhead portion ricocheting through the other side. While the fletching side of the break just barely penetrates. Maybe it was another shot? However, after fully breaking the animal down its clear that exit is from me.

Here is what I can best figure. I was slightly underspined and at those close ranges I had some flexion putting my arrows at risk of breaking on impact or at a minimum not penetrating to their potential. My setup wasn't the ideal but I would say it was also better than average but I got significantly worse performance than average. I attribute that to arrow spine. Regardless, I know for certain that had I been shooting a superior arrow setup I would have harvested that larger 5 point bull. With two holes in his hide he would have expired. The shot wasn't ideal, I surely hit bone. However, I wouldn't consider that placement bad and I don't want to shoot an arrow setup that demands perfection. I rarely find it in field conditions. I watched my hunting partner ass shoot a bull broadside at 60 yards. A god-awful shot. Only to have the arrow penetrate through both femurs and severe the femoral artery... The bull died within 20 yards. He was shooting boutique expensive valkyrie arrow systems. I am not saying that you can totally mess up and get away with it nor should it mean you don't have to make good shots by buying expensive stuff. However, what I can say is my shot a few inches forward on that first bull would have made my first archery bull all high fives instead of a complicated mess.

What ultimately happened is our cool temperatures gave way to high heat right after the second bull went down. He was 6 miles from camp and camp is 10 miles from the trailhead. The trailhead is another hour or more drive to the nearest ice. We focused on getting that bull off the mountain by the end of the next day. I never did get a chance to continue my search for the first bull. Tracking had slowed to a crawl and I had found the track already a dozen or so times more than some might. Still is hard though. I can tell you one thing for certain. My pockets will be lighter and my quiver heavier next year.

Hit to tag ratio greater than one isn't usually an arrow problem.

 

[Beendare]

Del
.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

Idk if this was asked, but is it possible the arrow was damaged way before the shot, and just sent a weakened arrow at a critter?

 

[Reburn]

Idk if this was asked, but is it possible the arrow was damaged way before the shot, and just sent a weakened arrow at a critter?

The fact that neither arrow broke on the impact is pretty clear evidence IMO that there was nothing wrong with the shaft and it didnt fail. Broadhead failure maybe, torquing the bow maybe, elk fever maybe, Shaft underspined maybe just a touch, just pain ole missing the mark maybe. Shaft failure it was not.

With out knowing exact specs this is as close as I can get.

 

[Stubborn_bowhunter]

The fact that neither arrow broke on the impact is pretty clear evidence IMO that there was nothing wrong with the shaft and it didnt fail. Broadhead failure maybe, torquing the bow maybe, elk fever maybe, Shaft underspined maybe just a touch, just pain ole missing the mark maybe. Shaft failure it was not.

With out knowing exact specs this is as close as I can get.
View attachment 332476

 

[Billy Goat]

One thing that might get confusing is when the term weak is used.

It might be the spine flexes too much (weak) but that doesn't mean the shaft is structurally inferior and it will snap. Likely it would snap at the shot rather than impact if that were the case.

Unless we are going back to shooting cinder block.


No more weight than is on the back of the shaft, if it can survive launch it will likely survive impact short of rock or other surface that has no give. Even a shoulder has a little cushion over it of skin, muscle, and tissue.

 

[KRA-Z]

I just shoot to a 100 yards for practice. Figure if I can do that in practice I will be better at closer. Magnifies any issues you might be having as well. Figured if I can drop a broadhead and a field point close at 100 something must be working. My range limit is 60 in the field, depending on situation. I’ve take mule deer bucks with a bow at 19, 20, 35, 18, and 57. All spot and stalk or still hunting. All but one were completely clean kills. One had some tracking involved but was recovered. I took a cow elk at 40. With a rifle I’ve taken plenty of deer, elk, and pronghorn. I do enjoy bow hunting mostly for the season and the relative lack of competition. Wouldn’t say I’m an inexperienced hunter at all but there is always plenty to learn especially when it comes to archery. Getting close has never been the issue. For me the biggest learning curve of switching to a bow has been the draw motion. Early on I had all the stalking skills to get right on them but kept getting busted while drawing. That was a big learning curve. I’m always hunting on the ground.

That’s awesome about taking animals with a recurve. I have one and practice over the winter with it but haven’t gotten to where I feel comfortable with it hunting large game. I killed a bull, a cow, and some deer with the “inferior” setups so everyone is right about it being doable. I am liking the heavier arrow idea as well and have already made some orders. Between that and the torque tuning I will feel better prepared for the upcoming season.

I still get busted on the draw sometimes... not sure if it’s because I’m slacking or just some deer have learned to look up... I’m usually in a stand, so it happens, and I’ve been bow hunting longer than I care to admit... (age)

I’ve taken white tail at 70ish and the kill was clean and the penetration would make anyone think that 100 wouldn’t be an issue... but I didn’t even want to take the one at 70, it was like I was shooting at a 3D target, clear, broadside and still.... I knew I would place it, my only apprehension was penetration... I’ll target at 100 for fun, but we all know targets and the real deal are not the same...

I have 2 recurves and they are hanging with many of my old bows, people usually ask where I got them, and they are in disbelief when I tell them I’ve hunted them.

I would have to go into my paperwork to honestly tell you what set up in using right now, it’s been my set up for 6yrs and the stopping power is the best I’ve ever shot... it’s not even an expensive or hot set up as far as many would say, I’m shootings a bear motiv6@70 with grim reaper heads., on carbon bloodlines I know I’ve weighed it all but cant remember what it was when I was setting it all up, I had a heavier set up but too much drop, I can go lighter but the KE is really really good, the advertised FPS is 350 but my set up is at 300... believe me, if I see a deer and come out of the woods empty, it’s my fault, not the equipment...

 

[4fletch]

You are up around 29" or so total arrow L at 175g up front from a 70 lb bow with a 330 spine arrow? I bet that shaft was like a wet noodle when point hit and slowed making its way between the ribs. Pretty violent series of events. I would err on the side of stiff. If you can make bullet holes at 8 feet and say 12 yards in paper and stack them up like dimes in practice you can never be overspined.

 

[tcpip95]

I understand people’s frustration with taking the second shot but I really wish they could see the amount of skill and work it took to get as far into the blood trail as I did.

It's not about the skill and work it took.....

You pulled trigger on an (at the time) unidentified bull - after you had already shot one. Had that not been the same bull (thank goodness that it was), you may very well have left two wounded elk out there.

If you were on a guided hunt, the shooting part of your hunt would have been over unless you were able to positively identify the elk. No way the guide would have allowed you to shoot that 2nd shot unless had positively identified it as the first one.

That's not a high horse opinion - that's hunter ethics.

 

[tcpip95]

Horrible ethics huh? You must be a mind reader as well. You have no idea what was going through the OP's mind at the time. He was in a very stressful situation, it is not right for you or anyone else to impose your ethics upon another hunter. It's very easy for a bunch of arm chair warriors to sit behind their keyboards and state what they would have done in that situation. The OP had a split second chance to make a decision. He didn't have time to ponder how the Rokslide Jury would judge him.

So in a split second you make rash decisions with a weapon? I hope I'm not afield anywhere near you when I'm out hunting.