just looking for a little input to hopefully make me feel better. I have been archery hunting for over 30 years now and every animal taken has dropped within 60 seconds of being shot till now. I shoot a 6 point bull yesterday and this thing bleed like crazy for 25 feet ( pics of blood trail) the big puddle of blood looks like lung shot, after he moved from this spot he only lost 3 drops of blood for the next 1/2 mile where I bumped him after 1 1/2 hour wait, he got up, bugled with me and walked around for about 5 minutes completely normal then left and after 12 miles and 10 hours of grid searching no elk and not another drop of blood to be found. Has anybody else ever had an elk quit bleeding like this? Opinions ?
blood trail advice
- Thread starter turbo1967
- Start date
Jeremiah Johnson
New member
- Dec 29, 2012
- 245
Elk are amazingly tough...if not a vital hit they can go forever and can recover.....do you know for sure where your arrow hit? Experience says from the distance traveled non vital hit
Unfortunately I can relate. Painful to even bring up, it was on my OIL moose hunt. 53 yards broadside complete pass through. Little back and low but still in the lungs. He stood coughing blood everywhere. I shot a second arrow that hit a branch and not sure if or where it hit him. He turned and ran straight up hill at that point. He bedded after about 1 mile. We never found another drop after that. I am still in shock years later and can't tell you how many nights of sleep that moose has cost me.
Did learn about a great product that the hunting world has yet to hear about that could give you another tool to try while I was searching like you are. It's called Blue Star and it lights up blood in the dark. Law Enforcement uses the same stuff at crime scenes. Could give you another clue if you know your last blood spot/direction and are still wanting to turn over every stone. I know I did, I just didn't find this stuff till a year after. It will work better if it's completely dark, little to no moon or cloud cover. It won't glow if there's no blood, but we has used it on a deer trail and have seen particulates so small that we couldn't see them when we knew they were there with a high power flash light. You just mix a with water in a spray bottle and cover last area and direction he headed. It works even better in the rain or if it has rained since as the hemoglobin will spread more on the trail.
Did learn about a great product that the hunting world has yet to hear about that could give you another tool to try while I was searching like you are. It's called Blue Star and it lights up blood in the dark. Law Enforcement uses the same stuff at crime scenes. Could give you another clue if you know your last blood spot/direction and are still wanting to turn over every stone. I know I did, I just didn't find this stuff till a year after. It will work better if it's completely dark, little to no moon or cloud cover. It won't glow if there's no blood, but we has used it on a deer trail and have seen particulates so small that we couldn't see them when we knew they were there with a high power flash light. You just mix a with water in a spray bottle and cover last area and direction he headed. It works even better in the rain or if it has rained since as the hemoglobin will spread more on the trail.
latest up date, still no elk but randomly the next day an out of state hunter got lost in this same spot there was about 40 people and 2 helicopters cover this area for a full day and no one reported seeing any dead elk or blood trail that I'm aware of , for 2 days no sign of birds in numbers , I'm thinking its still alive. 
Montana_BackCountry
New member
- Jan 9, 2013
- 320
I had that happen a few years back. Hit the bull quartered toward me and he ran about 50 yards and bedded down. Dad and I were watching him and giving fist bumps. After about twenty minutes he got to his feet and we scrambled down to try and get another arrow in him, but he got into the timber. We gave him time, as he wasn't running and looked woozy. When we resumed our tracking, we discovered where he had laid down was a sizeable pool of pink frothy blood, which means a lung shot. As we continued to track, his blood trial became darker and darker until it became strings of clotting blood... then to nothing.
We figured I got a single lung as his shoulder blade had been guarding the rest of his vitals. That tough old bull got away breathing on one lung. As has been stated above, elk are ridiculously tough animals. I know the feeling, and it's the worst.
We figured I got a single lung as his shoulder blade had been guarding the rest of his vitals. That tough old bull got away breathing on one lung. As has been stated above, elk are ridiculously tough animals. I know the feeling, and it's the worst.
