Final weekend this it it... Hopefully I do it different
CodeRED
9/3/09 3:05pm
So, I was going to wait to post anything up until I actually got my Elk down (superstitious). But I decided to tell my story of a spike I missed last Sunday...
Im camped in quite a remote spot along with some friends who on Friday night before I got to camp (coming from work) already took down 2 spikes. I still had Saturday and Sunday to hunt and we've been seeing a lot of activity in the area. Friday night we packed 1 out and stopped tracking the other because it was too dark and we'd jumped the Elk. After packing one down that night, we headed back up Saturday morning to find and pack out the other one... Which was only 30 yards from the last blood sign we'd seen after jumping him. I decided not to go to the Honey Hole Saturday after hauling all that out because we were up there in the morning to finish packing the 2nd Elk out and made quite a bit of noise.
In the midst of everything going on, there are some other Drunken Idiot Campers in another camp about 80 yerds away from where we're camped. Its really frustrating when you know someone is there to discourage your hunt by being loud and obnoxious. They kept us up in the night with their loud music and drunk screaming, I thought maybe I should just pack up and go home. Sunday comes too early and my friend and I hike to the Hole to set up. We're sitting there around 10am and can already hear movement. We'd thought they're gonna bed down for the day so we should just lay down and join them in a nap.... NOT A GOOD IDEA! I awoke to a noise @ 2:55pm and standing 17 yards in front of me was the spike I was supposed to shoot!
I watched him motionless standing there until he jerked his head back to look at something back in the forest. I thought, "this is my chance" and tapped Chris' knee to wake him up. As I lean up and start to grab my bow the elk looks back toward the wallow hole and puts its head down to take a drink. I slowly pick my bow up and attach my release to the D-loop. I start to draw and can see his eye look up at me while I was pulling back. Here's where the sad part comes... As im drawing my bow, the arrow is not fully nocked on the string and fell off the bow as the Elk started to pull his head up. As the arrow falls to the ground I come to full draw witht he Elk staring me right in the eye just fast enough to bolt off safely into the woods. GRRRRRR! Needless to say I was pretty disappointed I didnt even get a shot off because of a lazy mistake.
I am really hoping to tag out this weekend after what happened. I have to say that buck fever had a lot to do with this too, I really hope to tell a GOOD ENDING to this story by the time the hunt is over...
-Cody-
Im camped in quite a remote spot along with some friends who on Friday night before I got to camp (coming from work) already took down 2 spikes. I still had Saturday and Sunday to hunt and we've been seeing a lot of activity in the area. Friday night we packed 1 out and stopped tracking the other because it was too dark and we'd jumped the Elk. After packing one down that night, we headed back up Saturday morning to find and pack out the other one... Which was only 30 yards from the last blood sign we'd seen after jumping him. I decided not to go to the Honey Hole Saturday after hauling all that out because we were up there in the morning to finish packing the 2nd Elk out and made quite a bit of noise.
In the midst of everything going on, there are some other Drunken Idiot Campers in another camp about 80 yerds away from where we're camped. Its really frustrating when you know someone is there to discourage your hunt by being loud and obnoxious. They kept us up in the night with their loud music and drunk screaming, I thought maybe I should just pack up and go home. Sunday comes too early and my friend and I hike to the Hole to set up. We're sitting there around 10am and can already hear movement. We'd thought they're gonna bed down for the day so we should just lay down and join them in a nap.... NOT A GOOD IDEA! I awoke to a noise @ 2:55pm and standing 17 yards in front of me was the spike I was supposed to shoot!
I watched him motionless standing there until he jerked his head back to look at something back in the forest. I thought, "this is my chance" and tapped Chris' knee to wake him up. As I lean up and start to grab my bow the elk looks back toward the wallow hole and puts its head down to take a drink. I slowly pick my bow up and attach my release to the D-loop. I start to draw and can see his eye look up at me while I was pulling back. Here's where the sad part comes... As im drawing my bow, the arrow is not fully nocked on the string and fell off the bow as the Elk started to pull his head up. As the arrow falls to the ground I come to full draw witht he Elk staring me right in the eye just fast enough to bolt off safely into the woods. GRRRRRR! Needless to say I was pretty disappointed I didnt even get a shot off because of a lazy mistake.
I am really hoping to tag out this weekend after what happened. I have to say that buck fever had a lot to do with this too, I really hope to tell a GOOD ENDING to this story by the time the hunt is over...
-Cody-
6,827
Good luck
So the update... I went up to the camp site @ 10:30 Friday morning. The day was nice and hot so I knew they were going to be watering. We wasted no time getting to the watering hole and set up. Hearing noises all around us and even a couple of bugles were going on. We didnt see any activity until 4:30 in the after noon when a Cow and Calf came in to water. She walked behind a tree and her eyes were hidden so I draw back the bow. After holding for what felt like an hour, she started to head back to the water... She stared at me for a minute and then put her head down to water. It was a frontal shot that I was certain would be ethical. When I released the arrow it hit her square in chest right in front of her shoulder. She jumped up and turned to the side and I could see the arrow sticking out just behind her arm pit on the same side of the body. The arrow was deflected off (most likely) a rib bone because it was a nice hit but had literally no penetration inside the rib cage.
I sat there hoping for a fatal hit and waiting to hear her hopefully crash down a few yards into the woods. We sat for 30 minutes and didnt hear anything. We start heading up the mountain to track the blood and find my arrow. The tip of the broadhead was bent and there was very little blood on it. Tracking the blood up the mountain and on some heavily used game trails we get about 500 yards away from where the shot was made before the sunlight started to dim. With blood being a few drops here and there I decide to stop tracking in hope she will be down soon and we can stop pushing her further away so we made markers on the trail to get back to camp.
Saturday morning came and we head up to the spot where the last blood drops were found. Continuing on this trail took us up and around the whole mountain and the blood was beginning to be about every 10 yards rather than about every 5. We get to the peak and find no sign she bed down for the night. There were no signs of fresh blood anywhere, all of it was dry from the night before so I knew we werent pushing her further. We kept looking for more blood and the trail ended up stopping in a meadow at the peak. The rain came in for about 5 minutes, so any sign of blood would still be visible with the little amount of rain drops we got. After spreading out (5 people in the search party) and looking for any further sign of blood, we go back to the last good blood drop we found which happened to be a pine cone in the middle of a game trail in the meadow. This tracking job ended up taking us around the whole mountain all day long and no more signs of blood anywhere. With the sunlight Saturday going dim we headed back to camp again to rest and try again on Sunday. By the time Sunday had rolled around it had rained on us pretty good throughout the night, we headed up about mid-day Sunday for any sign she was bedded down or bleeding and found nothing... We spent 2½ days to trying this elk and ended up on a dead end. I feel really bad about wounding this animal and not being able to recover or finish with a kill shot. #-o
I had a similar situation last year. I think the thread is probably still up on the board, but I shot a 5 point at 26 yards broadside and hit a little high because I estimated the shot at 30 yards and it was downhill. I saw the arrow sink 2 and 1/2 feet deep into the bull. Blood was very little and very far between. Never found the bull. We looked for 2 days and one night. It haunts me all the time. That was my very first archery experience and I know that in the future, I will make sure I take enough time to wait for the PERFECT shot before I loose another arrow. It was probably good it was the first time for me, I hope it never happens again.
GPWDeer
I hope that I can learn from other's experiences and be patient for the right shot. Thanks for sharing your story.