Vernon Edeler's Link
Would like more info on how far the bull went, recovered? It looked like not the greatest penetration and a little far back. Not a criticism but curious how it ended up. Normally people tend to put that in their videos.
After the rush of adrenaline started to wear off I decided to look at the footage my wife took. Wow! When I saw the penetration and angle of the arrows impact my heart sank. By playing it in slow motion and using pause and zoom you could see the faint line of a dead pine branch that deflected my arrow up into the bull. You can even hear it smack the branch on video. Damn how did I miss that branch?
The sun was bright as we walked up out of the timber onto the meadows edge where the branch about the size of my pinkie was cut clean in two by the rage head. It had been about a half hour so far and we waited another hour and a half before pursing the bull down into the timber.
Edit; Here is the arrow impact- that neutral colored branch is a nightmare- almost invisible...... but if you know to look for it in the video-its there....and it clearly deflects the arrow high into a non lethal area
How about some after pics? Probably not though. Bad to the bone comes to mind here quite nicely.
He's a cool bull and would love to see him on the wall.
Cheers, Pete
Good luck, Robb
When starting to follow the trail we saw the usual signs of torn up ground and broken branches as the bull made his escape. There where some blood splatters here and there but nothing real promising until we made +/- 100 yards of tracking and there was a pool of blood the size of a dinner plate from the bull stopping to stand in the trail. There was no sign of him lying down. As we continued on the blood trail was sparse up to another pool of blood just a little bit smaller just 100 yards from the last.
When looking ahead I could see my fletching another 20 yards down the trail. Upon retrieval there was only 5" missing this included the Rage broadhead and there was hardly any blood on the shaft at all.
The track was leading us to the bottom edge of the timber. We would be coming out onto a big open sagebrush and grass slope that dropped into the creek bottom then up 150 yards to a main highway. When we came out of the timber the blood trail had disappeared a little ways back but the tracks keep going for another 30' then they too disappeared.
Looking over at the highway I saw my brother waving us to come over to the truck. When we got to the truck he started telling us about a 6X6 bull that came out of the timber about an hour before we did. He explained that the bull was walking with a slight front limp moving at a good pace and had no trouble going up or down the hills. The bull skirted the timber for about 500 yards then went back up into the pines and diapered. Dang that was my bull. We decided to come back in the morning and start fresh.
I kept watching the video that night getting more and more disappointed with the pentatration plus inclination of the arrow as it entered the bull. How did I not see that branch? If it was 1/4" either way there would have been a dead elk to be packed out.
The next day we covered all of the timber starting from the end the bull was heading toward. We worked in grid formations up, down, and side to side multiple times till dark. Nothing. I was pretty sure the bull had went down around the corner into a bigger canyon to hide out and heal his wound. I truly believe after watching the video over and over that the arrow when deflected went up and entered the bull at a steep enough angle to run up against the shoulder blade and stop. I keep waiting to hear a hunter bitching about some damn bow hunter that left a broadhead in his bulls shoulder.
I did make this debate free because I have already beat myself up over that shot multiple times since then and didn't want a bunch of computer jockeys telling me I f*!# up. I know this fact very well and hope it never happens again. May you all have a successful archery season and please watch out for those phantom branches.
Elk are big tough critters for sure and they can go a long ways with an arrow in them
All the evidence points to a high probability, that this bull will be out there chasing cows again this Season.
Best of Luck, Jeff
I feel you pain Vernon, and I for one am thankful that you posted this.
If you bowhunt long enough, sumpin like this is gonna happen. All you can do is practice and do your best to stay poised at the moment of truth. (which you look like you did)
I live in Florida, so I am only able to afford elk hunts every other season. Thank God this is a "on" season. Colorado here I come.
Good Luck y'all }-------------->
Cheers, Pete