How Long

M

mark390

New member
Jan 8, 2013
28
  How long do you look for a arrowed elk that you know you hit and found blood before you give up and continue your hunt.
 
so the big question isn't going to be how long do you look, it's going to be "do you continue to hunt for another elk to shoot knowing you probably already killed one?


I haven't had to make this decision yet but I have always thought that I would look with the knowledge that I would not be shooting another elk that season.
 
My buddy shot an elk and we looked for it for a week. We knew after a couple days it would be spoiled, but we kept looking. We never found it but knew we gave it all we had to find it. We resumed hunting the next week.
 
Two years ago a guy I went hunting with shot a bull. It looked like a good hit.  After 2 days of looking for the bull he was ready to go look for another bull. I packed my sheet and left. He didn't see anything else to shot at for the next 3 days. Needless to say I haven't hunted with him since.
 
Losing game is always a disappointment.  I look until the trail is exhausted and I feel as though all methods have been attempted including walking grids of the area looking for anything, even scuffs in the dirt which may lend evidence of blood down the way.  Honestly, it is part of hunting at some point to lose game. The most important aspect is to honor the lost game by being accurate in future huts, slowing down and picking your spot to make more fatal shots.  I have lost one bull in my life and passed on consecutive shots that season as well as following years due to the lost animal.  Leaving wounded animals sits poorly in your conscience and will haunt your dreams.  I feel OK moving on as long as i learn from my error.
 
This is a very hard question to answer, but I would answer as long as it takes or until the trail is no longer there.  Looking for a couple of hours and calling it good doesn't work.  I killed my first bull in 2008 with my rifle.  I made a sub-par shot and jumped the bull.  I shot him at around 11 am on opener, which was on a Sun. and tracked him until Tues. morning at 9.  Had I not jumped the bull, time would have been my best bet, but luck wasn't on my side.  The bull ran onto private land and with permission from the land owner I continued the trail.  I was within a couple hundred yards of him on Mon. night, but was exhausted and out of light.  I continually found blood and towards the end of the trail found blood on hands and knees the size of a pencil eraser.  Tues. morning I headed back to the last place I found blood and heard coyotes howling over the next ridge.  I ran to the sounds and found him.  To this day it was my most rewarding day in the field, as well as disappointing.  I found him, but everything was spoiled, and the coyotes ate everything, but the front shoulders and little bit of the back strap.  It was a tough sight to see, but rewarding knowing that my hard work and relentlessness paid off in me not shooting another bull. 
 
I feel tracking is one of the most overlooked skills in hunting. The success of hunts is often determined by tracking more than most other factors. Being able to finish the job you started is critical, and way too many hunters give up far too early, whether by choice or an inability to track.
 
I wounded a bull two years ago and spent two weeks looking for him. I never did find him and I have gone back every summer since and looked for him. I dunno what happened. I also have a buddy who shot a 380 bull and didn't find him the night he shot him, so he went back the next day with horses and looked and never found him, then he hired a private helicopter to fly him around and look for it. They found the bull and it was alive, feeding, and with the rest of the herd. When they found the bull they circled around him and there was blood on both sides of the bull because the arrow was a complete pass through. 3 months later someone else ended up getting that bull with a rifle. I think you look till there is evidence he is still alive or until you can't find anything else to help you locate him.
 
Thanks for the responses that this question has generated. This last archery elk hunt in Az. I shot a bull that I knew was a lethal hit. However after the shot the bull just did a 180 and stood there for what seemed like forever. Then he walked about a 100 yrds and bedded. I could see that he was hit hard. His head kept laying down then would come back up. I watched him until dark and then backed out. I hunt with my brothers and some great buds. We had 8 tags in camp and after going to retrieve the bull that my brother shot that same night all 8 of us went out to find my bull. We had a great blood trail up to where he bedded and then after that it just died off. We started out working in circles and following track with no blood at all. I was sick. I spent the next four days knowing that he was down and the 2nd to last day of the hunt I found him 0.3 miles from the last blood sign. I was happy that I found him but disappointed at the same time that I had such a great animal go to waste.
 

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I haven't had to face this situation yet and I hope that I never do. 

Unfortunately, I think that there may be as many elk that are wounded and lost as there are that are recovered.  During the 2012 season I spoke to 6 bow hunters who had each wounded at least one bull and not recovered it.  The longest that any of them had searched was 2 days but all of them were already hunting for another bull.  If 6 out of the 15 hunters I spoke to had lost an elk that is a lot of potentially wasted animals.

Due to the surge in bowhunting popularity there are a lot of guys trying to be bowhunters that don't have the patience to wait for ideal shots and instead take marginal opportunites.  I don't bow hunt so I can't be too critical of those guys but it is hard not to be upset when I hear them tell me about losing 2 elk in one week.   
 
I have had the opposite experience as idelkslayer in that I have talked to a ton of rifle hunters that lament not finding their elk. Usually the story is they stumbled into a herd, the herd ran, they shot, didn't find blood where they thought they shot, and didn't see the elk laying down anywhere nearby.
Exact thing happened last year, I found there elk same day they talked to me within 300 yards. Shot thru the guts.

Ok, back to the question. I generally look till all means of recovery are exhausted. I also don't have a problem with a guy continuing to hunt after he has done that. If you have exhausted all means of recovery you can with almost certainty decide you did not kill the elk therefore you still have an available tag.
 
I agree with Backpack Hunter!  I have been hunting elk in the same area for about twelve years!  That much time in the same area, you get to know the land owners, wardens, and other hunters in that area.  After hearing the many stories and seeing wounded animals, you realize how hardy these animals are! 

Two seasons ago, I personally saw two cows with their guts hanging out of them.  I'm not just talking seeing them a couple of times in one day!  I saw both of them numerous times over the week I was in camp!  I even tried to hunt both of them and it just didn't work out. 

Another example of this was a bull known by the locals as Swoop!  We are guessing he got poached!  I know of at least four shoulder blade shots in him in his last couple of years he was around!!

I guess my point is you might think you have a killing shot but an Elks will to live is stronger than any off us will ever know.  Don't get me wrong!  I have spent days looking for a wounded animal!  I'm just saying that if you have tried to turn over every stone and you still can't find them, maybe they just aren't there to be found!
 
+1, I've found a bullet lodged in the shoulder of bull we were dressing during archery season that had a cyst formed over it.  There was no wound on the outside so it had to have been from years passed.
 
I think you have to look for at least as long as the meat would be good for. Depends on the weather. In at least one state (AK), it would be illegal to try for another after a hit.
 
I am the same as Backpack Hunter.  I think you have to look until you can't look no more. 

A few years ago on one of my elk hunts I shot a bull with my muzzleloader.  I busted one shoulder and second shot I single lunged him.  He walked off and laid under some small bushes and trees about 200 yards away.  I had waited a good hour and half before going to look for him.  I ended walking pass him twice and searched that whole mountain between me and my brother.  Turns out we found him about 7 hours later after smelling him.  I know while I was searching for him I thought about just giving up once or twice but kept at it.  I learned a good lesson and have made it a priority to follow up an animal until I find it or I will punch my tag empty. 
 
It's worth noting that I have not been faced with this dilemma and am really appreciating the insight from others that have.
 
I agree, search until you feel all options have been exhausted. Each situation is going to be a little different so hard to set a hard cutoff point.
 
I experienced this just this year! I shot an elk and looked for him for over a week. I followed his blood trail all over and it looked good, until he reached a creek. After the creek, I couldn't pick up where he went. It was the worst feeling I have ever experienced. I talked to all the hunters in the area and put the word out. I am still to this day sick over it. I didn't feel right going out and shooting another elk. I wanted the one that I shot and I felt like I had used my tag when I shot him. I probably put on more miles looking for that elk than I normally do elk hunting.
 
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