- Thread Starter
- #21
Ross, very true words sir! We are not ready to throw the towel in on him, but he will be tough to find it's big country! (grin)
Rizzy, yes it was a very nice Idaho bull & would have been nice to nail him! But things don't always go as planned! (grin) The country is steep, rugged & unforgiving, it's not the type of area where you can see a bulls travels that easily especially once he's been fooled & shot at! We did not see him again because we did not go back into that area anymore after that hunt. It's an area few if any go into because of the terrain. We will go after him this year hopefully!
As far as tracking goes, my son & I knew in the 1st 200yds we would not find this bull, the blood loss was minimal & he mostly went straight up the mtn & that was no easy task if the bull would have been mortally wounded. As I mentioned above the entire arrow was found a short distance away from the bulls exit & not enough good blood was on it to peak our hopes! In the 4 hrs of tracking you could.t paint one palm of your hand with all the blood found, it was more of a flesh wound. Sure we were disappointed as no one enjoys loosing any elk regardless of size. We put out a solid effort in tracking & doing our best to find this guy in hopes of finishing him off, it wasn't to be but we weren't surprised either. We would have spent the same time & effort if it would have been a spike bull, the size was irrelevant. We owe it to the animal to give everything we've got once wounded.
Here's a couple photos of the country & another bull that wasn't as lucky to escape us! (grin)
ElkNut1
Rizzy, yes it was a very nice Idaho bull & would have been nice to nail him! But things don't always go as planned! (grin) The country is steep, rugged & unforgiving, it's not the type of area where you can see a bulls travels that easily especially once he's been fooled & shot at! We did not see him again because we did not go back into that area anymore after that hunt. It's an area few if any go into because of the terrain. We will go after him this year hopefully!
As far as tracking goes, my son & I knew in the 1st 200yds we would not find this bull, the blood loss was minimal & he mostly went straight up the mtn & that was no easy task if the bull would have been mortally wounded. As I mentioned above the entire arrow was found a short distance away from the bulls exit & not enough good blood was on it to peak our hopes! In the 4 hrs of tracking you could.t paint one palm of your hand with all the blood found, it was more of a flesh wound. Sure we were disappointed as no one enjoys loosing any elk regardless of size. We put out a solid effort in tracking & doing our best to find this guy in hopes of finishing him off, it wasn't to be but we weren't surprised either. We would have spent the same time & effort if it would have been a spike bull, the size was irrelevant. We owe it to the animal to give everything we've got once wounded.
Here's a couple photos of the country & another bull that wasn't as lucky to escape us! (grin)
ElkNut1
