Please pass this along.
Good luck, Robb
Several years back I found a 300" bull that had been lost. I found the owner of that rack & it so happened it was his first elk with a bow, to say he was elated would be an understatement! (grin) Funny thing is he said in tracking it he was within 100 yards of it & still never found him. I found him with my nose! (grin)
ElkNut1
Cool that you would post this....looking forward to hearing the report from your hunt....
I know of 3 bulls 300+ that were killed and lost where i live. I found one and my neighbor found the other one is still lost to my knowledge.
As an educational part my Neighbor did not go up and start cutting on the bull he saw right away and as a result the meat was lost. He called the division officer and left a message, he's newish to hunting. He did not want a confrontation and did not want to mess with the dead elk. The officer told him he should have kept trying to get a hold of her or the other officer on duty. Once the officer gave him the go ahead gone up and started cutting up the meat. If no one claimed it he could have it and the rack.
It was shot in the hind quarter, no arrow and in the chest/ arm pit. Two very slow kill shots. It was on top at 12,500.
The "hunter" doesn't deserve to recover the rack. These stories piss me off...take/make a poor shot that wounds an animal or the hunter being too lazy or unskilled to recover the animal to harvest the meat, shouldn't be rewarded by recovering antlers.
There is a big responsibility in loosing an arrow or a bullet and I'm sick of the neglect people have for these animals that sustain us.
Some people don't mind shooting elk (or any big game) in the face or ass with their bow or even feel bad if they wound something - I dont get it? That is horrible in my opinion.
If I had not recovered that bull to harvest the meat, I would feel unworthy of the rack. IMHO
I agree with your comment. None of us are perfect, but to be happy to find an animal that you killed, and not reap the rewards of the meat is not right, IMO. However, what the OP is offering is a fine gesture.
Sometimes things happen, even the most skilled and ethical bow hunters have lost an animal. Being human, we're subject to mistakes, sometimes they don't translate into the hunter being neglectful.
Thank goodness most of the bow hunters on Bowsite are skilled and ethical enough so that the number of lost animals is very low, but it does happen.
Mistakes get made, I've made a few. We don't know how long the hunter searched, if it rained, where the hunter hit the elk, etc. I would appreciate DonVathome's post if I were in this unfortunate situation.
Take a deep breath and wait out the story before you crucify someone from the shadows Colorado Native.
Slopehunter, So it is okay for you to make mistakes and learn but it isn't for others? Kind of hypocritical don't you think!
I've just heard too many stories lately of disrespectful hunters that only care about big antlers.
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As far as waste... nothing in nature is wasted. The hunter just didn't get to it first and make his use of it.
Thanks for the effort Don. Hope you find the hunter and he can at least claim his rack for the effort. And some closure.
We all have made a mistake, a bad shot, even a "good" shot that may have resulted in a lost animal for one reason or another. Having some closure helps. May also help the hunter learn something based on where the carcass is vs. where the shot/last blood occurred.
We were fortunate that we were able to call him on a cell phone and he packed out that bull the same night.
I don't think very many archers who are dedicated enough to spend time on an archery hunting forum are going to purposely wound an animal and hope someone else finds it. Finding a lost bowkill will be educational for all involved.
Don Way to reach out. Hope you find the hunter.
Regardless of all the valid and legitimate reasons that he may have failed to recover that animal as intended the fact is he failed to recover the animal as intended it was not a successful hunt and then less he is some type of masochist I don't know why he would wish to be reminded of that fact
I would like to have the rack as a reminder of the hunt and a reminder to do my part. I wouldn't look at it as a trophy I took. I would consider it an elk I lost. How big of a failure it was on my part would depend on the circumstances. Most likely it would be 100% due to a mistake on my part.
If we are hunting and hit an elk in the ham for whatever reason but clip the femoral and we recover it 40 yards from the shot, should we leave those horns in the woods as well since we failed and missed our spot by 40"?
If I miss by half as much or 20", make paunch hit and never recover it, is that a bigger or smaller fail on my part?
I had a bear vertebrae with my broadhead buried in it that I kept for years. I shot that arrow on a Tuesday and shot the arrow that killed him on Friday (no idea it was the same bear). It was a good reminder to me and a good conversation piece when discussing shooting from treestands. My lab ate it one day. Not a scratch on her, bone gone, broad head laying in the middle of the living room floor.
Well said.
I might reward a guy for making a poor unethical shot (unlikely I think) but I will take that chance. This elk was in a steep thick area. Literally from 3 directions you would need to be within 10 feet to see it. 4th direction 15-20 feet. Well hidden.
I called G&F and two wardens no luck. I will also post on MM when I get home.
I have never wounded an elk - but I have missed - which might be a bigger miss then on this elk.
Very good thing you are doing. I know if this happened to me I would want to know.
This is my take, but just for myself. Nice gesture Don. Might help the guy close the book on a bad deal, so to speak.
no need to get into a pissin' match over it though.................
What is the timeframe for finding an animal that one should consider themselves "successful" on the hunt?
What if you find it the following morning and there is some spoilage?
What if there is already some bad meat on the animal that you recovered immediately? Unsuccessful?
How much meat do you take from every animal that you kill? Do you carve every sliver off of every bone on the animal? Eat every organ?
It's all relative folks. You know what they say, opinions are like a$$holes and everyone has one. It just so happens that some haven't wiped in a while.
If it was my elk and I found out about it I would go get it, so I'd be thankful.
Not even going to get into reasoning as to why. Why not? Most of us will walk days just to collect a shed or a dead head in the spring. Now you had history with why it ended up that way and you don't want to pick it up? Doubt it.
I have watch several outdoor programs that show a late afternoon bow hunter with a marginal hit and they leave the elk over night so not to spook them. Every time I write a letter letting them know those of us who have elk hunted all our lives know there is no elk that will not spoil over night and I do not care how cold it is. I have tried to save elk that have been shot late at night and not recovered until first light and if you can eat them you are a lot tougher than I am.
Maturity makes us better hunters and like Slopehunter flying off the handle about bad shots, I am totally behind him. Ethical people do not shoot, they don't try to make bad opportunities into a shot. It does take maturity and with that lessons from bad decisions. I personally thru my bow to the ground twenty years ago and said I would never hunt with it again after back to back bad hits on Elk, my hunting partner helped me track the bull for five miles and we finally got him on the ground. I swore on that day I would never push my abilities again in the name of success, I killed a great bull in New Mexico this year at fifteen yards on the second to the last day of the season and the bull died in less than twenty yards. It takes maturity but when people constantly talk about hitting elk or shooting the Teak Nathan butt shot I just want to cramp a shaft half way up there butt and ask them how it feels. I tell every young hunter I can you do not have to shoot and I encourage them not to unless everything is right. I know things happen but we are usually our own worst enemy on make bad decisions
Unfortunately I've had no luck finding the hunter. YET
Probably most!
I have helped track, recover, break down, and pack out 3 bulls and 1 cow that were shot in the evening and not recovered until morning. All in late August and early September. Never lost an appreciable amount of meat on any of them.
BTW, the one bull I shot was hit through both lungs from 19 yards. After watching him for two hours and unable to get close enough for another shot, I backed out and found him the next morning within ten yards of where I had last seen him. When I butchered him I found that the shoulder muscle sealed the entrance wound and the exit wound was sealed by stomach matter when the arrow exited out the diagphram. The lungs did not collapse, nor did I sever major blood vessels in the lungs. I'm convinced that he died from peritonitous after his stomach was punctured. I'm sure some won't believe me, I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't been the one to butcher it.
A lot can go wrong on a perfect seeming shot.
I hit a cow elk on my second ever hunt, behind the front shoulder (perfectly broadside) and basically a ten ring. She ran off and after 45 minutes or so we got on the very limited blood trail. After losing blood after 100 yds or so and lack of daylight, we came back the next morning and found her 100 yds from where we left off. Again, entry was perfect. Exit looked like a gut shot. Did rib bone deflect my arrow or was she actually that quartered away? I think my arrow was re-directed. But, I've been wrong before.
Hit about 2 pm, not real well, hunter decided to back out come back in the morning. He didn't go far and must have died shortly after the hit. Found him around 7 am or so. Lost maybe 15-20 lbs near the hip socket on the side he was laying on. The rest was fine.
That near the socket is thick and hard to cool down to the core. The ground he was laying on had to be much warmer than the night air. But a good deal of the meat was still pretty warm. Those hides can hold in a great deal of heat.
MikeC Hope the OP finds his man and he can get the rack to him without much hassle, I think that would be awesome for both partys Good luck Mr Don
Once again I am curious as to why you respond to almost all of my threads but yet continue to bash me whenever possible and send private messages and emails to lots of different people about me? I have not responded to At most a couple of your threads in over a decade and a half.
Please stop stalking me.
So sorry to challenge your fragile ego but I respond to thread titles not the person starting the thread.
I respond on many, many threads period and will continue to do so for ever.
Good luck, Robb
Robb Pat L. himself PM's me and told me you were banned because of numerous complaints.
Responding to a thread is one thing, stalking is another. From webster, stalking is:
"to follow, watch, and bother (someone) constantly"
Robb you have followed and bothered me for 15 years. You have a lengthy file on me (your words not mine). You know where, when and what I am hunting and if I am successful. You know about my divorce, where I live, when my divorce was final, etc. You follow my relationships, employment etc. You even have nicknames for me. You know what my rental vehicle looks like and claim to see my driving past you.
15 years ago we both attacked each other. Since then I ignored you for almost a decade.I sent you a book with a note as a peace offering and said sorry several times and took all responsibility for our past disagreements.
You have ever NEVER admitted ANY wrong doing or accepted any responsibility for any of your actions. I have given up trying to reason with you and I am now going to simply state the facts and not let you continue to stalk me.
You have made very odd statements elsewhere about my IP address and posts etc. To go to the extent of trying to research my IP address and link it with posts/threads (incorrectly) is not what a normal person would do.
Do you deny any of the above statements?
You are clearly stalking me.
I am just thankful to you for not sending me this kinda Poor You Victim crap in PM's like you always do.
Now the whole world wide web can read this crap----apparently from your Diary.
Thank you for sharing----
Good luck, Robb
Others who've tried to follow up too quickly in the evening after a marginal shot lose all of the elk. I hear the stories on a regular basis and learned my lesson decades ago.
My CO unit 2 bull was shot in the evening in very warm weather. Big, mature bull. I thought I'd made a good shot but because he spun so fast I wasn't sure. I made the decision to leave him. The temps never got below 50 that night, and by the time we recovered him the next morning it was t-shirt weather, probably 70.
Turns out my shot was much better than I'd originally thought and he'd died very quickly. We put up a tarp for shade and skinned him, expecting the worst, but the meat smelled fine. We separated and bagged the quarters, packed him out, and drove 90 miles to the nearest meat cooler. By the time we got him hung there it was 20 hours after I'd shot him, and the afternoon temp was high 80's. The best we could do on the drive was keep the windows down and the air moving over the meat in the back of my 4Runner.
After aging for 9 days, he was (is) one of the best-eating elk we've ever had. The meat is delicious, tender, great on the plate.
