Thursday, September 21. It dumped rain that night, Forks style. When it was still dumping the next morning, we decided we'd get some extra rest until the rain stopped, then get back up the mountain to pack out Mark's quarters. It was nice and cool at 9000 feet where we hung Mark's elk, but we were concerned about bears, wolves and coyotes getting into his quarters. But when we got to the top of the mountain, everything was as we left it. Apparently the rain also kept the predators holed up. All three of us went to the top, but with four full quarters, it was still one serious job to get everything back off the mountain. I had my bow, a 20-lb daypack, a framepack, and a hind quarter with bone-in (we wanted to keep the bones so we could hang the quarters for the remainder of the hunt) - I'm guessing total weight was over 100 pounds. Mark is a bigger guy and took both front quarters on his pack - he must have had 120 pounds plus. Needless to say, we were pretty well spent by the time we got off the mountain. Maybe due to the rain, the bulls didn't really bugle that day...probably a good thing since we didn't have the energy to chase them that evening.

Friday, September 22. Since we didn't hear much in the way of bugles the day before, we thought the bulls we hunted on Wednesday may have moved down off the mountain. So we tried a few different spots, but due to a heavy wind we didn't hear much in the way of bugles all day.

Here's a couple pics I took while we were out on the road that day. Some killer country.






I don't think we saw a single elk that day. Pretty disappointing after Wednesday, and since we basically spent all day Thursday getting Mark's elk off the mountain. Sitting around camp that afternoon, and still a bit rattled by missing those shots on Wednesday, I got out my bow and practiced every shot I could think of, without relying on my range finder. Between trees, around branches, on my knees, long shots, short shots, standing on a cooler in the back of the truck, etc. It really helped to get my confidence back. In camp that night, we really didn't know what to do on Saturday, our last day.

Saturday, September 23. Last day to hunt. We knew we wouldn't have time to get one off the top of the mountain again, so we decided we'd go back to our glassing spot and hope to catch some bulls at a lower elevation. I went out in the dark to close the distance to the base of the hill, and Mark stayed at the glassing spot with his Swaro's to see if he could lead me into a bull. As soon as the sun came up, the bulls started going nuts again just like they did on Wednesday. Here we go! I quickly moved up to a saddle about halfway up the hill, at approximately the same elevation as two bugling bulls. One sounded like a real bruiser, around the side of the hill from me. I probably had 8-10 other bulls bugling in the same bowl we were in on Wednesday, but most of them were above me. Knowing we couldn't afford a long pack out from the top of the mountain, I decided to stay put and see if that bruiser would move my way. We hadn't had any luck getting bulls to answer our calls that week, but I gave it one more shot that day. Sure enough, that big boy starting moving straight towards my call, now within probably 100 yards. Realizing I was at about the same elevation as the bull, and possibly on the same trail, I dropped my pack and moved about 10 yards uphill of the trail and about 20 yards towards the bull. I looked up and there he was, right on the trail I was just on, about 30 yards away! A great bull, a 7x7 with a tall rack and good width. Holy cow! He was still moving down the trail towards where I had called from. I got set, waited for him to move to a broadside position right below me on the trail. I drew, and let one fly. At 10 yards.

Here's a pic from where I shot. The circle in the middle is around the flagging tape I put on a tree...the bull walked in front of that tree.




My shot buried into his cavity, about 8-10 inches back from his shoulder. A good shot. The fletchings stuck out about 6 inches, so no pass through - disappointing at 10 yards with brand new broadheads and a setup that should get me about 260 feet per second. But it was right in the boiler room and should do the trick. The bull took a few quick steps away from me, and I started wailing on my cow call to get him to slow up. Just like in the videos, he slowed up with my call, looked back at about 50 yards, and looked like he was going down. I thought about slinging another arrow, but since he was already wobbling and was pointed away from me, I held off. He kept wobbling on his feet for probably a minute, then slowly moved off into the brush and out of view. HOLY COW! I couldn't believe I had just pulled this off on my last day to hunt, only 75 days after I bought my first bow!

Here's the self portrait of a hunter in disbelief, about 4 minutes after shooting the bull.




I shot the bull at 10am. I gave him an hour, and went to find him at 11. I went to the spot I had last seen him, figuring he would be humped up dead under a tree. But he wasn't there. I looked around for blood, but didn't find any. Thinking back on my shot, as he walked away I remember a very thin trickle running down his side, but definitely not much. But my shot should have gotten him in the lungs, and he had already been wobbling. How far could he have gone? I looked around the immediate vicinity for him, to no avail. So I figured I better go back and do this the old fashioned way - I got on my knees and started looking for any fresh tracks or a speck of blood. By 11:30, I was starting to get worried and called in Mark and Bob to help. They hightailed it from their locations, arriving around 12:30. We scoured that hillside and the two hillsides on either side for the rest of the day.

After 7 hours of looking for my bull, it got dark. We had exactly two pin drops of blood to show for our efforts, and no bull. We had to be back in Phoenix the next day, so that was it...I had to leave my dead bull on the mountain.

I had many highs on this hunt, and overall, it was the best hunting experience I've had. But that day was one of the lowest days of my life. At some point in the afternoon, the emotions of the whole ordeal caught up to me and I literally collapsed on the mountain. All the time and hard work getting up to speed on archery and elk hunting. The time and effort getting down to New Mexico. The sweat poured out climbing up and down that mountain. The ultimate high of putting a good shot on a great bull at 10 yards. The bitter disappointment of leaving an incredible creature dead on the mountain. I can't stop thinking about that bull, and it's been a month now.

Hindsight is 20/20. Looking back on it, I was shooting downhill on that bull, and my shot was midway top to bottom in his chest cavity angled down. If the arrow doesn't poke a hole out the other side, all the blood pools in the bottom of the cavity and has no way to bleed out. In hindsight, I should have shot him again when he was wobbling at 50 yards - even if it's not a vital 2nd shot, at least it's one more wound to bleed. In hindsight, at 10 yards, I shouldn't have aimed at his lungs, but should have drilled him through the heart. In hindsight, I should have cranked up my bow from the 66 lbs. I was shooting to its full 70 lb. capacity, just that little bit extra that might have given me one extra inch of penetration to poke out the other side. All lessons learned...unfortunately, I learned them first hand.

Well, that's the story. I know it was long, took a long time to get written, and didn't end on a good note. But I hope you enjoyed it. I'm hooked on archery. Being in the middle of elk like that, especially big bulls that are screaming their heads off...there's nothing like it. Next September can't come soon enough. I need to get back on the horse.

Great story Salty. I also learned this year that it doesn't always work out. Thanks for your call today.
Time to play Tooth Fairy.
Dave
ps lets consider a late hunt together.

Salty,I dont mean to come off as the ***** here but why would you leave it for so long before you started tracking it. not quite sure why an hour. even a wounded animal can move pretty quick and cover quite a bit of ground. my hunting partner shot a spike once and hit him a little to far back. luckly he stayed with him he caught him laying down, In fact he had layed down three times before he could catch up to him. the herd was only a few hundred yards away when he made the final shot to put his animal down. like I said first dont take me wrong here all the best laid plans and practice can lead to these kind of endings and all you can do is lear from it.

No worries Loomis. With archery, I've always been told that you need to give them time to lay down, stiffen up and die, without being pushed. If you don't push them, the theory is that they'll never get up from that first spot. If you push them, the adrenaline can keep them going for miles. I actually don't know that I waited long enough - I saw a Primos video where they waited 5 hours before heading after the bull because they were concerned that the shot missed the lungs. Even with vital shots, the pro archery guys usually wait around an hour unless they see the animal go down.

I agree with salty. I made that mistake before once with a deer I shot with a muzzleloader. The deer ran 100 yards and layed down. I jumped it and it ran another half a mile before laying down again. After that I have seen deer that friends have shot and if left alone they will lay down shortly and die. If you push them the adrenaline kicks in and they can run a long way.

Even with a rifle, if you don't see the animal collapse in it's tracks, you should back out and let it expire.
Adrenaline can pump an animal up enough to run it into the next county.
Unlike humans, animals are incredibly tough.
I stayed hidden and watched my Arizona bull for what seemed like an eternity before it died even though the arrow completley penetrated his heart lung area.

Congrats Salty!
Sure is a feeling of accomplishment doin it with archery gear!
Good Job!

I agree with the wait theory. Several years back we pushed a group of deer out into a meadow. Apparently now of us were good shots as we gut hit one of the two fork-n-horns. It fell down into the meadow, then got up and basically dragged itself out of the meadow. I suggested waiting but one of the guys insisted it couldn't have gone far. I agreed to sneak up to the edge of the meadow and see if he was down, otherwise we would wait. Sure enough he was down. I pulled up at 10 feet for a shot and hadn't rechambered a bullet. He pulled up and slid further into the trees. I backed out and went to talk to the rest of the party. We searched for hours and never saw a sign of that deer. There is no doubt in my mind that had I not agreed to walk up there he never would of got up. I have a freind that also waited less than a hour, jumped his elk. He said the ground was soaked in blood. HE also was convinced if he had waited longer the animal would never have gotten up. I am confident you did the right thing by waiting.

I've always felt you need to wait with rifle hunting as well, although I think the wait periods are even longer with archery. Obviously I'm going more on what I've heard than what I've seen in person. But my sense is it can take a long time for the broadhead to work its way around the cavity and cause enough damage for the animal to bleed out and die - it's not like there's a big hole blown out the exit like you'd see with a rifle. My cousin's elk (pictured in my story) was a good example. He shot it quartering away behind the shoulder and his broadhead buried in the lungs. But it took that animal a good hour to die. Every time he'd move his leg, breath, lie down, etc., that broadhead moved around and sliced up the inside of his cavity just that little bit more. By the time we found him, the broadhead had actually worked its way back out to the skin on the entry side (as you can tell from the pic), and there was a whole lot of damage on the inside. But it still took him a long time to die.

as far as i'm concerned, you did the right thing. the last thing you want to do is bump an animal. that adrenaline will keep him going a long ways, especially a big bull. good job, unfortunately it happens once in a while. it could happen to anyone and i think you did everything right that was in your power

Not to really stir the pot here guys but waitng gives these animals to much time to cover alot of area. an awful lot of animals are never found because they have been let go for to long. my two cents. every body has there own opoinion.

Salty, I say you did the right thing by waiting. Hindsight makes a guy second guess his decision but at the time you don't now what the animal is going to do so you play it safe and wait. I feel your pain and now exactly how you feel as I had the same thing happen on my N Mexico archery hunt this year .A hunt of a lifetime and a beautiful bull I will forever think about that I felt like I had a good hit on got away too. I didn't wait long enough maybe as it was getting dark and my hindsight second guessing of what went wrong is I didn't wait long enough. Every situation is different and everybody will have there own ideas of what you should have done different believe me I have heard it from all sides but bottom line is we were there and did what we feel was the right thing at the time and we will learn from it and never forget the experience. We can talk more over email salty. Chin up bud Scott

Arrows kill by creating blood loss.
There just isn't the shock and bone smashing power that a high velocity firearm has.
You HAVE TO WAIT with agrchey gear.
There are exceptions to every rule however...

I have also heard of many bulls recovering from bad archery hits.
A friend of mine shot a gigantic bull in Arizona this year that had a broken arrow shaft healed over on the outside of his ribcage, pretty incredible how tough those animals are.

Wow. Dizzying story. I don't think I'd be able to talk about this soon after. The other thing you must remember when bow-hunting is that if you jump a wounded animal even at 30 yards, you'll have a hell of a time putting another good shot in it. To me, this is one of the main reasons why archers have to wait so much longer than the gun guys.

Just re read your story.
I can relate.
16 years ago I drew a late migration rifle elk tag in Wyoming.
Long story short, I crippled and lost a GIANT bull.
A wicked snowstorm set in that night and completley covered up all tracks and sign.
It haunts me to this day.
I went back the following spring with a bear tag to look for any sign of that bull.
Never found him.
You may consider going back and spending a week in the spring looking for his remains, just to set your mind at ease.

Archery elk hunting is one incredible experience.
I'm dying to do it again.

David - seriously, I thought twice about posting my story, figuring I might get ripped a new one on a public forum. But even though it didn't end the right way, it was still an incredible experience that I figured you guys would be interested in reading about.

Sealice - let's catch up on email so I can hear your story. My buddy that had the cow tag in your NM unit shot his cow this morning. Apparently they showed up yesterday at the gate and there was somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 elk on the opposite side of the fence.

Coming from a rifle background, losing an animal like that is not something I'm used to. But I know it's a part of hunting, particularly archery hunting - it may not be a good part, but it's reality that we lose animals now and then. Just need to take what you learn and try to minimize how often it happens. I appreciate that you guys have been there and understand. I've seen Salmonella aka HunterHarry's stories and pics of his hunts and game room - makes me feel better that you can relate.

salty aka WAcoueshunter

Nice pics