45 minutes into the first morning, we were set up on our second bull of the morning. After a little coaxing they were barreling down the mountain at us, FAST. First a cow, she made it to 10 yards and then bounced but she didn't go far. Then came a spike and the same thing happened, then the bull. As soon as I saw antlers, I drew. He must have caught a little movement as I finished my draw cycle and he stopped at 20 yards head on. I don't have the guts to take a frontal shot so I waited. It seemed like hours, but a few seconds later he wheeled and I stopped him broadside at 30 yards...
CRACK! He wheeled and started straight uphill. When he was turning away from me, I saw my arrow sticking out of his shoulder with not much penetration at all, and my guide said he thought it sounded like I hit a tree and not an elk. Not good...
We found my arrow, it snapped off about 5'' plus the slick trick and had almost no blood on the shaft. We gave him some time and then followed VERY little blood for about 300-400 yards. We found where he laid down, again VERY small amount of blood in the bed, and a few steps out of his bed there was no more blood to be found...
I am 99% sure it was a non fatal hit to the shoulder, and the bull will live. While it would have been perfectly legal for me to stay and keep hunting, I opted to notch my tag. I know I am not the first to hit and lose an animal, but I felt terrible, and I was a little embarrassed, so I packed my bags and headed home with my tail tucked between my legs...
The ranch is beautiful! The lodge was nice, with all the comfort you would expect at a mountain cabin. The staff was friendly and professional. We had awesome steaks for dinner, a good hot breakfast, and I am sure the remaining meals were going to be top notch as well. I could tell that the guides were all good hunters, bowhunters, and not just some ranch cowboys that put on a camo shirt...
As far as the elk go, this ranch is in an OTC area, and it is Colorado, so the age class of bulls is low, but it was much higher on the ranch than I was expecting. I saw a few good bulls in my spotter, and one that would have gone 310-320. Score is not important to me, so I was pleased that there were more than a few mature bulls roaming the ranch. The elk density was impressive though, I saw a TON of elk and heard plenty of vocal elk while I was there...
All in all, I would rate Rocking R as a first class operation, Dan is a stand up guy, and I think he will continue building a successful outfit. If you are looking for a fun hunt with an opportunity to chase average bulls and see a lot of elk, I would highly recommend this hunt. I am mostly a DIY hunter, and this was my first guided big game hunt, but I will probably book with Dan again in the future...
There were a few other bowsiters in camp, and it was great to meet them, I hope they have/had a wonderful time and I wish them all the best of luck, can't wait to hear how the rest of the week went...
Cheers...
Don't beat yourself up too much.
I am sure others will have opinions on what they would do but the only thing that matters is what's right for you! C
If you were done hunting, why did you have to leave the mountains?
Was it camp policy that if you hit one, you were done?
There were six other bowhunters in camp, and I didn't want to interfere with their respective hunts...
If I had an inkling of a thought that my bull was severely hurt, I would have stayed and looked for him/birds etc. as long as I possibly could. I honestly believe that bull will be ok based on what I saw...
I made the decision that I thought was best, I will second guess my equipment and my shot and my fitness and everything else that goes along with archery elk hunting for the next 330+ days, but I won't second guess my decision to leave, I believe firmly that I did the right thing...
There is no such thing as a broad head that' never lost an animal! Not even your magical Simmons. I would be willing to bet that the Slick Trick head has taken as many or maybe more game than the Simmons.
First off, Tom is welcome back any time. He is a great guy and we enjoyed the short time we had with him.
Second, when I arrived back to the lodge after a morning of hunting, Tom's bags were already packed and he was ready to leave. In fact, he was waiting for me to come back. His mind was made up to leave. I did not even have a chance to discuss the situation. He felt strongly about his decision and, of course, we honored that.
Last, he was encouraged to stay and take advantage of the vacation time. Again, we could not talk him into staying.
I hope that answers a few questions.
I appreciate his honest opinion on an open forum and look forward to possibly hunting with him again.
Thanks guys.
I'll add that everyone including the elk did their job. I was the only one that failed when I made a poor shot on what should have been a slam dunk. I'm pulling 68lbs and pushing a 476 grain arrow so I should not have had trouble killing the elk had I placed the arrow where it needed to be.
Wounding the bull had only a small percentage in my overall decision to leave. my brother was just diagnosed with a pretty serious medical condition, so after my poor shot, I elected to head home to help support him while he and his doctors were figuring out a treatment plan. Normally I keep that sort of thing private but I didn't want my decision to leave to negatively reflect upon Rocking R. I am fully confident that had I stayed, Dan and his team would have done everything in their power to help me hunt that bull. I remain optimistic that someday down the road, one of Dan's hunters will harvest the bull and we will know for sure what happened...
DJ
TBM, like someone pointed out, there is a big difference between "shoulder" and "shoulder blade" and there is NO broadhead that is 100% kill/shot. I have seen/heard what Hoot stated and was actually able to watch the animal for several hours. The shot? It hit the humerus, that huge round bone that connects to the shoulder blade. Even at 10 yards, 65#, 2413's and a solid steel head, it just pretty much bounced right off! BTW, after watching that elk for several hours, it finally got off and strolled away with the rest of the herd, not even a limp.
