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elbow hit

Just got back from my dream elk hunt that turned into a little bit of a nightmare. We called in a bull on day 4 and I stopped him at what I guessed was 40 yds. Turned out to be 46 yds and my arrow dropped out of the kill zone. I heard a loud CRACK at impact as the bull wheeled with my arrow sticking all the way out of his upper leg at the joint. We found the arrow 10 yds away, clean break at the base of the insert with a very small amount of splatter blood on the shaft. We backed out and let the bull sit for 4 hours and came back and started trailing him. We found him not too far away, but couldn't get in close enough for another shot. Over the next day and a half, we trailed him for over 2 miles with the same result. Never any blood, but we could pretty easily follow his tracks because he was having to put all of his weight on his other front leg. Never got close enough for a finishing shot, but we saw him multiple times and his leg was obviously broken at the elbow. He couldn't bear any weight on it and it was flopping when he ran. Sad.

I was obviously sick because I knew immediately what had happened and I knew that the odds of recovering the bull were very small. We tried but there was no way of getting back on a hyper-alert bull like that. 2" higher and it would have been a heart shot, but instead it was a crippling shot that may eventually kill that bull.

My question for you guys who have had experience with similar situations is do you think a bull like this has a chance of surviving? Anything that you would have done different on the recovery?

Also, I was shooting a 70lb Mathews No-cam with a 27" Grizzly Stick arrow with 125 gr COC two-blade Masaai head (from Grizzly Stick). Total arrow weight=520gr.

There isn't a person here on this site that can determine what's going to happen with absolute certainty. As soon as an arrow strikes an animal the outcome is either fatal (immediate or delayed) or the animal may recover. Even seeing an animal chasing cows a day or week later doesn't mean much. It may give us a "Feel good" sense that said animal was up and doing what they do, but you just never know the final outcome.

The fact that you actually broke his leg makes it even worse.

No wolves, but east/central Wyoming winters can't be easy, even with four good legs. I'm tempted to go back during rifle season just to see if I can find him again and put him out of his misery.

I love bowhunting, but honestly, this is the part I absolutely hate about it. You spend hours practicing, shooting thousands of arrows, but the only arrow that matters is one.

I would say the same as you, rifle season will be here soon there are plenty of guys that would love the meat he'll go down in rifle season, who knows maybe you'll be the one to pull the trigger.

I'm no expert on elk and every shot and wounded animal is different from my 45-50 years experience. Here's a photo of a mature bear's shoulder that was broken when shot with an arrow. That is what I am pointing at. 2 weeks after me tracking it for near a mile, one of my hunters kills it following a sow. And limping the whole time.

I think I most likely hit right where it points to "olecranon" at the top of the ulna. Or in the bottom of the humerus or right in the joint where the humerus meets the radius. CRACK. Not good. Game of inches.

I shot an elk (rifle) that had a broken front elbow, he was running on 3 legs when I saw him. While we were packing him out we ran into a hunter that said he had been trailing him for two days. (He said he didn't shoot him which I thought was weird, why would you blindly follow a blood trail?)

My gut feeling was that he probably would have lasted a little while but eventually die from it. Once blood loss or infection set in he would have been taken down by a predator of some sort. Very tough to say though.

Sorry to hear about this Sean! You're right.... game of inches. All you can do is practice hard and do your best. Both of which I know you do. I would guess it'd be pretty hard for even a tough old bull to survive too long like you have described.

A few years ago in ID had an arrow deflect off a bull's elbow and hit back and low in the chest at a hard angle that buried the shaft, cut the back of one lung, through diaphragm and into the gut. He didn't go far, laid down. Long story but some time later I was able to slip in and finish him.

Never found any blood or the arrow but found him bedded under a tree maybe 200 yards from the hit. He was hurting for sure. When we broke him down the only real mark other than the finishing shot was a cut to his elbow. A friend wanted the liver so we gutted him and there we found the shaft. The entrance closed up with hide and fat so well there wasn't a even a smudge of blood there, had to look pretty hard to find it. The only blood in his bed was a tiny amount that looked like it came from the cut on the elbow. His chest was pretty full of blood though.

An inch I would have had the same issue you had, another inch the other way likely good. Mine was very nearly good, very nearly bad. Turned out marginally/luckily OK.

Truly as said above..... game of inches.

I was on my first elk hunt with an outfitter years back and when we came in at night one of the hunters had shot a spike in the "elbow" area. The fell out and the spike bedded down immediately in some fallen trees. We waited several hours and went back to find a dead spike. The arrow had cut an artery in the front leg and bled out right there. If he would have taken off running we would have probably never found him. It wasn't like hitting a femoral artery that pumps it out pretty good.

Sorry this happened to you, but it's part of it. A few years ago, I was hunting pronghorn in eastern Wyoming, and took about a 45 yard shot at a crooked horned goat. The year before, on the same place, I had killed an antelope at 47 yards. The first one never moved and he went down in seconds. The crooked horned one busted at the shot, uphill and right. I hit him in his ankle. Yes, his frickin ankle ! I tried to follow up, but the terrain was just too open. That was the only year that I went goatless. I was plenty bummed, and the rancher told me to shoot another, but I wouldn't. Didn't feel right about it. He said the gun hunters would get him and gun season was only a week or two away. I hope they did. This is the reason I now limit my distance with a bow. You just can't predict what they are gonna do at the shot. Looking back, I never should have taken that shot, because he was a little spooked. Not bad, I thought, but enough for him to run at the shot. Piss poor planning on my part !

I called a bull in for another guy and was directly behind him when he made the shot at about 25 yards. Hit the elbow and I actually saw the arrow pop out. It knocked the bull flat out on the ground but he got up and ran with no problem. When we got the arrow the head was bent double and no blood past the ferrel. The bulls bone did not break and evidently the arrow hit the joint swell. How in the world the broad head got bent and then popped out we could never figure out. The bull went about 75 yards away to a bunch of little trees and just raked and beat the tar out of them. He evidently though he was blindsided by another bull. Anyway we dry tracked him after waiting a couple of hours about two miles or so with no blood and no sign of great distress and finally lost the track. I believe your bull could live minus a predator or infection. I have seen some live through wounding you would think impossible and get killed the next year or two. One I saw had massive scaring from a straight through double lung. Another can't figure that one out deal but man an elk can flat produce a lot of blood and still live. I add this up as one of those things you just do not want to happen. But if you are a hunter and you hunt a lot you will eventually see it. The only consolation is that we do all we can and that is all we can do. It sounds like you did that.

God bless, Steve

I was on a elbow hit bloodtrail for a bear once and we found to clots and eventually the bear. I suspect he hit an artery but it was a long arduous trail and we would lose blood then find a clot and it would open up again. I suspect if the artery was not cut he has a chance of survival.

I agree with pat. I had a wt doe that one year during rifle season came by me with a leg flopping. I let her go and had her on camera four a few years. That first winter was hard on her but after that she was good. It's amazing how fast a three legged animal can run though.

I considered getting a similar arrow and broadhead setup but after reading your post I think I'll stick with what I have. I know you were going for maximum penetration but I would prefer to have that little extra bit of trajectory and thus a better chance of hitting where I aim.

As for your bull I don't think he will expire as a direct result of your shot. Like others have stated he will be more vulnerable to predators and hunters. Hopefully someone gets him in rifle season.

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Thanks for the replies. As for my setup, it may have worked to my detriment on several levels. First off, as mentioned, my trajectory has suffered significantly shooting a heavier arrow. A lighter arrow may have compensated for my misjudgement on yardage. Second, having such a heavy arrow with a solid broadhead on the business end did not bode well for the elk when it smashed into his bone. A lighter arrow or weaker broadhead may have been more likely to deflect or maybe not wreak so much havoc. Who knows? It's all second-guessing and I've re-shot that arrow thousands of times in my mind and it never changes the outcome.

I have seen deer survive.

This ain't no deer.

Can a horse survive with 3 legs, in the wild, with several feet of snow? Predators?

I would give it very, very low odds.

Then again I have been wrong before...

Your right sage a bull is much tougher than a deer.

He might survive if not for Rifle season. Rifle season is extremely effective at culling weak and injured animals from the population.

My nephew worked for the forestry dept. out of Fairplay Col. every year for 4 yrs. they would see a bull with 3 legs one front leg missing below the elbow!Gone before late summer but always returned next summer.They called him "Tripod"

Sean Sorry to read this. I know you prepared for the hunt and did all you could to finish it. It may haunt you but dont it stop you from going back for round 2. Good luck! Hearst

It happens. Don't beat yourself up to bad. God Bless

Lots of Elk and other critters have had much worse injuries and survived just fine. He will live until someone put a killing shot on him or old age takes him.

hunt and do the best you can - at least you had a good setup, maybe a bit farther than bowhunters should shoot IMO but you took the shot and that's that

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