One Last Look

O

otcWill

New member
Aug 15, 2017
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As most know, I shot a nice 5x on the last evening of my hunt this Sept. Shot was 40yds. He was slightly quartered away and turned back to look at me so sorta bunched up. Everything felt good. He ran about 80 yds and stopped, teetered, wobbled but just didn\'t fall. I watched him for as long as I could see (maybe 20 min). He took about 3 steps in that time and was bleeding good. I could see the entrance at about the liver. I was in awe that he was still standing. I decided to back out and come get him in the AM. Long story short, I looked for the entire next day before heading home empty handed. It was hot and by the end of the day, there was no hope of recovering the meat and with a new baby at home I\'d have to keep my family commitment to leave that day.

Lots of this on the blood trail. Frozen bubbles. Sometimes things just don\'t make sense. ???
 
I had this past weekend free and had been toying with the idea of heading to my spot (not close) for one last search. The only problem was I had a lope tag that I was itching to fill :). How bout I do both?! Sat morning I was in a blind at about 6:30 and heading home by 8:00am. Doe down!
Doe with horns :D
 
I cleaned up and headed for my OTC area with high hopes. I was positive this bull was dead. I hiked in Sun morning and found my bull. He wasn\'t 200 yards from where I was looking. A little bittersweet to say the least but I\'m glad to have him and the closure. Thought he was about 30 inches bigger when I shot him but I seem to always overestimate bulls on the hoof :). Good weekend to say the least!
 
Glad your were able to find the bull. Nothing worse then knowing that the bull was dead and not being able to find it. Congrats on the Antelope.
 
Congrats on the goat and on finding the bull Will! It\'s gotta be nice to know that during all that time the bull was there, no one has come across it. Seems to me like you have a solid spot :upthumb:

Did you take the goat with a rifle or bow? Was the blind at a water hole?

Congrats again!
 
Good job Will!

Did the bull go downhill or continue the path he was on?
What did you learn from where you last had blood to where you found him?
 
Glad to here both tales Will... Fine speed goat and no elk meat for the freezer but elk recovered due to persistence... :clap: :clap:

It\'s really an unknown why some critters are tough as nails and refuse to die quickly and others just go peacefully into the night... :?: :?:
 
good call brad!!!! I am also interested to hear! congrats on the closure :upthumb:
 
Derek, shot her with my bow from further than is socially acceptable ;) . Actually bumped the blind on my first shot and made a poor hit. She ran out a bit further and I made good. I set the blind in an open field where I always see them at first light.

Brad, the bull side hilled it down from where I was looking and certainly didn\'t take the obvious route or the one that the elk usually take in this area. Also, he button-hooked me or backtracked from last blood and the majority of my time was spent looking in the wrong area. What did I learn? Not much that I didn\'t already know: Never make any assumptions on a trail. Stick to the sign. Never assume a well hit animal will just die. I actually wasted some time just looking around the general area as I had assumed he\'d just be laying right there first thing in the AM. I should have stuck with the blood trail from the start and never started grid searching until after loosing blood. Resist the urge to leave the blood trail and simply search.

It\'s painful to realize my mistakes after the fact but the truth is the truth. I\'m not sure I would have found him in time anyway but being overly confident about a good hit definitely cost me at least an hour.
 
Had the same thing happen a few years ago. Some rifle hunters found my elk and my arrow. Scavengers had pretty well cleaned the elk up. Nothing left but the head and rack and very few bones that were scattered around. The rifle guys gave me the arrow and antlers. Nice of them.
 
How far from the picture of the blood did you find the bull?

How far from last blood did you find the bull?

Looking at that blood picture it\'s hard to believe he went far at all. Really sucks you didn\'t find him but glad you were able to get closure.
 
Resist the urge to leave the blood trail and simply search.
Click to expand...

That is really good advice and something I am almost always guilty of. It seems like you\'re just going through the motions when you walk right to the dead animal, but when you don\'t find them and need to get back to the trail, there is always the possibility that you just wiped out critical sign.

Good for you Will. I\'m glad it worked out. Bittersweet for sure. It kind of makes me want to go do the same on the one I shot, but my area is an 11 hour drive and is now apparently covered with snow. Honestly, after the meat has spoiled I don\'t have much drive to find an animal. I\'m not taking a stab at you Will. It is just a personal thing. I think I would end up really pissed if I found it close to where I had looked.

Nice job on the antelope!
 
Appreciate the comments guys.

Ucs, the pic was taken about 100 yes or so into the blood trail. i found him about 1/4 mile from the hit and in nearly the opposite direction that all evidence suggested. When the trail ran thin I headed the \"obvious\" direction based on where blood was headed and where they normally bed in the area. This is where I spent all my time searching.

If anyone can take something from this that helps them avoid a similar situation than I\'ve done all I can with the encounter. Good hunting boys!
 
Bum deal Will.... Glad to hear you got some closure. Me thinks there\'s a bull in your spot that won\'t be breathing at this time next year!
 
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