Draw blood/punch your tag?

Floorguy · Sep 22, 2014

Well up here they are harvest tickets. So technically you don't punch it until it has been harvested. There are some units that require you "punch your ticket" even if you have only wounded the animal. Personally speaking if I make a good shot and can't recover the animal that is it for me. My poor accuracy or inability to track does not mean I have a right to keep throwing lead or sticks at other animals. The comparison to wolves is on the verge of rediculousness.

BTW in which Indian tribe is the word for poor hunter vegetarian?

I think that some people need to realize this isn't the pioneer days anymore and game is a much more finite resource than it was back then.

Of course these are my opinions while I may disagree as long as it is done within the laws and regs you are hunting under it really doesn't matter what I think.

nsedillo · Sep 22, 2014

Just to add on how TOUGH elk are... 15+ years ago, my pop and his friend were down in the Gila, my dad's friend killed his bull on the last day. They were cutting out the T-Loins and they discovered a fully intact arrow with a broadhead, buried about six inches from the elk's spine running parallel with it. The arrow was encased with a yellow, gelatin; more than likely what the elk's body did to fight off the infection, or keep it from spreading at least. So this arrow had been in there for a prolonged period of time, and this was a mature bull that at one point was Texas heart shot and lived for who knows how long. ELK ARE TOUGH.

Backyard · Sep 22, 2014

Geez you two, take it somewhere else. AT maybe?

Ironman8 · Sep 22, 2014

Just to add a point about wounded animals, a couple seasons ago, I was hunting TX whitetail and one evening a doe walked out in front of me around 75yds. Being that it was getting dark, I decided to take a neck shot. Lined up the shot when she stood still for a moment and squeezed the trigger of my .270. I felt perfect breaking that shot and when I saw her plop to the ground, I knew I hit exactly where I aimed. I was waiting the customary 15-30 minutes before I went to tag her, but after at least 5 full minutes laying on the ground, she sprang up and ran off into a ravine with thick brush that I knew I couldn't navigate through. I was in disbelief, never had a deer run after a neck shot! I went to the site where she layed and found no blood anywhere. Not a drop where she ran either. About 2-3 weeks later, we saw her on our game cam with an obvious gunshot wound to her neck exactly where I placed the cross hairs.

So all that to say, elk and deer are tough critters. You really never know what they can survive through. I'd have called you crazy if you told me a 90 lb whitetail would run and survive a gunshot wound to the neck.

Bar · Sep 22, 2014

I've never been a fan of neck shots. If you miss the spine it's not a dead animal. As you found out.

Yes, animals are tough, but i'm sure they still suffer.

_Nick_ · Sep 22, 2014

I'd toss in that the consideration of whether to tag out on a wounded animal isn't merely a decision that affects the person who wounded the animal, especially if they share about the experience on the web. Wounding an animal and then moving on to kill another reduces the available number of animals for other hunters. But, more importantly, wounding an animal, not recovering it, and then continuing to hunt is something that makes hunters in general look bad in the eyes of non-hunters. If we want hunting to continue as a legal activity, at least in many of the lower 48, hunters need to be perceived as ethical people who care about the well-being of the animals they hunt. Wounding or killing multiple animals on one tag is not the way to achieve that.

My opinion: if you wound an animal, especially with a mortal shot, but don't recover it, tag out.

realunlucky · Sep 22, 2014

Ethics are personal if I'm within the limits of the law and can look myself in mirror afterwards then I'm ethical. I've hit a branch and glanced an arrow off an elks back and kept hunting. I've also took a shot that I really had to talk myself into that ended with unrecovered animal where I was so disgusted with myself I considered my tag punched and stopped hunting. I really don't see the argument about how the nonhunting view is valid because ethics are what happens when no one is watching.

5MilesBack · Sep 22, 2014

_Nick_ said:
My opinion: if you wound an animal, especially with a mortal shot, but don't recover it, tag out.

What do you attach your tag to?

_Nick_ · Sep 22, 2014

5MilesBack said:
What do you attach your tag to?

My regret.

bonecrusher1 · Sep 22, 2014

I'm in the same boat as you. I smoked a 5x5 last Thursday so far we've looked everyday. Have lost the blood trail 3 different times. I know I caught lung by the shotgun blasts of blood we've found. But it's still bothering me on whether I should still hunt or just keep looking. Going back out again tomorrow with my dog and see if he can do something for me.

Jason Snyder · Sep 22, 2014

Gauge,

For what it's worth, I have the same mindset that you do. Granted, we can never know for sure where we hit when we loose the arrow, but oftentimes we can get a good visual on it and between the visual and the arrow, our gut tells us what likely happened. Now, if I were to hit an animal high throught the withers and just cut muscle and hide, I'd keep hunting. If I put one in the boiler room and don't recover the animal, the tag gets notched and I'm done for the year.

Yes, per the letter of the law you don't have to tag the animal until it is reduced to your possession. I think it is completely unethical to just keep arrowing animals until you recover one. That's just not how my buddy and I roll.

rayporter · Sep 23, 2014

Jason
a number of local deer hunters fit your last sentence. yes, it is appalling.

now an honest question. a notched tag and a stop by a jerk of a fish and game cop. could he cite you for wanton waste?

Jason Snyder · Sep 23, 2014

rayporter said:
Jason
a number of local deer hunters fit your last sentence. yes, it is appalling.

now an honest question. a notched tag and a stop by a jerk of a fish and game cop. could he cite you for wanton waste?

Not here or any other state that I hunt.

Bar · Sep 23, 2014

I think it's best to just stop hunting. Notching a tag with no elk to show for it could be taken the wrong way by some wardens. You're only required to notch, and detach a tag at the kill.

wapitibob · Sep 23, 2014

People tend to think they hit better than they did.

Beendare · Sep 23, 2014

wapitibob said:
People tend to think they hit better than they did.

Yep. I was calling for 2 guys a week ago- sad bit on circumstances-2 lost elk...one a definite meat/brisket hit which was obvious when you heard the arrow, not sure about the other one [a 18yd shot]

One thing I know for sure- elk are big tough critters and they deserve a good solid "I can make that shot every time" type of shot with a heavier arrow than a guy uses for deer....

Coloradoboy · Sep 23, 2014

Gauge I know how you feel.... I had the same thing happen to me opening day. Put countless hours into scouting and locating a good bull. Ended up cutting him and his cows off going to bed and was present with a very makable quartering away shot. Arrow went clean threw him, bled like crazy for the first 200-250 yards and then he began clotting up and the rain came in. Spent all day grid searching for him and found nothing. Went in all of sunday and still was unable to locate him. Loaded up my camp and went home that night sick to my stomach. I have not cut my tag but all the time i've spent in the woods since then has been helping friends and family. I feel many of us whom bowhunt elk will experienced this or have experienced this at one time or another. It is never a easy pill to swallow no matter the circumstances.

Coloradoboy

robby denning · Sep 25, 2014

Personal decision for each hunter to make. Sounds like you made the right decision for yourself and the circumstances.

Bar · Sep 25, 2014

danarnold said:
I personally would continue to search/hunt! 5 more days is a lot of ground to cover
but thats me
I think that what was asked

Sometimes I wonder if my wife tuned my browser to "lifetime for women channel" with the responses from some of these bitc*es

So, you'd just keep shooting them until you finally found one dead, and anybody who doesn't do that is a b-tch?

danarnold · Sep 25, 2014

Bar said:
So, you'd just keep shooting them until you finally found one dead, and anybody who doesn't do that is a b-tch?

you sure do read a lot into a statement,"I personally would continue to search/hunt! 5 more days is a lot of ground to cover
but thats me" meant just that. just my opinion
all the bickering is what I was laughing at

sorry if I hurt your feelings

Draw blood/punch your tag?

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