Your shortest recovery

I once shot a rag horn 5pt at 20yards behind the shoulder with slick tricks. He spun 180 degrees and crashed as if he had been shot with a magnum. Literally did not move 1 yard, and was on his feet for less than second after being shot. I wish they were all like that…
 
My wife's biggest bull she double lunged at 50 yds and he slowly walked 10 yds and tipped over.I've shot a bunch that I've watched die including a raghorn shot at 10 yds that I called back in and he died right beside me.
 
Most of mine have gone 40-50 if not spined. I had an almost vertical shot at 2 yards on a buck where the arrow stopped in the offside leg. He moved to about 5 yards quartering away trying to decide where to run. I hit him with another one that stopped in the offside shoulder and he moved to about 8 yards and dropped onto his stomach. He was still looking around and breathing and I'm not real bright, so I put a third arrow in him. That stuck in the dirt below him. He jumped up and rolled down the steep hill we were on and ended up dead against a tree about 30 yards away. So, my closest, non-spined recovery should have been about 6 yards from the shot, but it ended up being a lot farther and it resulted in 3 snapped shafts and two missing broadheads.
 
Have had a few go less than 20. Oddest I can remember was a doe I shot at about 25 yds from a treestand, she just walked slowly to the base of my tree and tipped over.
 
My buddy had one— a bull I called in for him back in the 90s in Oregon over the counter.
The bull was coming in and spotted my buddy tracking him at FD and turned quickly facing us like a cat. I thought the jig was up, but my buddy shot him straight in the throat at 25y and the arrow disappeared inside of the bull. (We found the tip of that,ightweight 2213 wedged in the hide of the hind quarter)

That bull reared up on his hind legs and pawed at the air a few times like the Lone Rangers Horse Trigger in that show intro, then took between two and three steps and tipped over. To this day, the coolest kill I’ve seen.
 
Last edited:
Because they don't die right away and can require a quiver of back ups
Telling for a friend
 
Shot this bull at less than 10 yards when he came charging in over a blind knob. he didn't know what hit him, trotted 20 yards away from me and stopped, bled out and died right there in front of me.

I remember my mind was just blown at what took place over those few seconds that morning.

20 09 elk.jpg
 
Last edited:
My shortest is also one I can't explain. Small PA buck, about 30 years ago now. 35 yard shot almost hit the elbow and another 1" or so lower I may have just its skimmed brisket. Buck whirled around the way it came, took 1 leap, and fell over and never moved again.
 
My first archery elk was a cow at 15 yards. Had to shoot through a softball size hole in a pine tree. She had no idea I was there. She ran about 15 yards and stopped, stood for 10 seconds and then just fell over dead. Rolled about 10 yards and died on a nice brush pile that made a great butchering table.

I killed turkeys that died immediately and one bear. Arrow went through onside shoulder blade, the spine and then the off side shoulder. Instant death.

Most of the animals I've killed don't make it 100 yards.

Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk
 
Also my shortest hunt, sat in stand for <20 min and stuck a basket rack 5 pointer with a 2 blade rage from 7 yards ( only deer I ever shot with a rage ) and it didn't know what hit it. Took 2 bounds, stopped looked back and then pile drove for 10 yards downhill. Was under 40 yards where it laid.
 
Not including spined animals....arrowed a polar bear perfectly in the lungs/top of heart that let out a big roar and jumped ahead one step. A few seconds later he was down and never moved. Inuit guide said it was the quickest he'd ever seen one die. He went the bear immediately to pull the arrow as he was worried about his sled/bear dogs getting cut...not an issue as the broadhead was in the offside shoulder but he did not know that. 29" penetration.
 
I’ve had a couple short ones, 2 bulls within 70-90, another I watched run out about 100ish and tip over.
I’ve never had a deer go more than 100 yards, closest besides a spine shot was probably 30 yards, it was snowy he sprinted at the shot and caught his front legs under a down log when he tried to jump, broke both front legs and flipped over the log and never moved.
The one antelope I’ve killed ran out like 30 yards, staggered and tipped over. He gave me time to grab the phone and get some footage.
 
I've spined a few deer and one elk. Those were obviously short recoveries, like instant. My very 1st elk, when I was in my teens, took one lunge uphill, stood up on her hind legs, and fell over backwards. She pretty much ended up right where she was when I shot, double lung. I've had a bear make it about 15 yds on a double lung shot, same with a buck. And a frontal shot on a bull elk resulted in a 10 yard recovery.
 
My first archery kill was a dandy of an antelope at 40 yards. He didn’t take a single step.
 

Attachments

  • A005D743-721F-4758-86E5-7F0AB09813E5.jpeg
    A005D743-721F-4758-86E5-7F0AB09813E5.jpeg
    464.8 KB · Views: 13
My other buddy had one….it was his first bull with a bow.
The bull kept coming with him at FD and stopped at about 5 steps facing him at FD. He did not wanna shoot the frontal shot ( now he knows better-grin) and waited for the bowl to turn. Well they always turn faster than we think and he shoots as it was turning and catches it in the spine right behind the rib cage.

The bull goes down right there…but starts crawling away as he is trying to finish it off…it was ugly…an effing crime scene…but didn’t go far. That gave him a good souvenir.
30EF3506-6F3E-45FD-BC1B-7B58BFAB8F56.jpeg
 
A cow elk I shot from a blind at a water hole from 40 yards ran 80 yards after the shot, turned and came back 80 yards and died 20 yards closer than where I shot her. She also died right in the middle of a two track dirt road and had to be moved off to the side so I could pull my truck up next to her to create shade for the field dressing job. This is the “shortest recovery” I’ve had. I drew a cow elk tag for this unit for the first time since this last hunt and I plan to hunt from the same spot.

A NM bull stutter stepped after the 25 yard shot (high heart pass through with German Kinetics 2-blade) took two more steps and fell over 30 yards away. That‘s the shortest an animal has traveled after the shot for me.
 
I shot a 3 year old whitetail buck at 10 yards. He had no idea what happened and just stood there bleeding. It was like pouring out a pitcher of red kool-aid on the ground. He turned to look at the blood pouring out of him, then fell over in the pool of blood. It was my best whitetail at the time and I was truly shocked at what happened. When I gutted him, I found my arrow went perfectly between two ribs so guessing he didn't feel anything.
 
I shot a doe through the lungs at less than 10 yards from a tree stand. No major bones hit. She fell over almost like she'd been spined.
Not the shortest recovery but certainly the most spectacular for me: I shot a small buck quartering to me at about 10 yards from a tree stand. The arrow entered just above and in front of the right shoulder, traversed his entire body and exited just left of his scrotum, jerking out a wad of fat and guts with it. The arrow buried about a third of the way into the ground. He took off in a staggering run, smacking into the tree I was in, then smacking into another tree 5 yards away before falling stone dead. The internal damage that 3 blade Muzzy and 2315 arrow did was unreal.
I've shot quite a few deer with my bow that ran less than 50 yards. As others have mentioned, some of them ran a short way and stopped, seemingly unaware that they had been shot.
 
Back
Top