Public Land Colorado - Highest of Highs & Lowest of Lows

[MallardSX2]

I posted this on a couple forums hoping someone may find my bull.

I want to start by saying that I am very proud of my wife for getting her first elk with a bow. It was text book execution/shot and it happened on the first night we were in camp.

Located the bull, stepped on him, pissed him off, worked the wind, all the cards hit the table exactly correctly. 5 yards broadside. Bull ran 100 yards and was dead in 5 minutes. Very proud of her.

Then onto the bad part and this is not to take away from my wife's terrific trophy. More to let people know what the real world is like out there in the world of OTC archery hunting in Colorado.

On the last morning of my hunt I was able to sneak in on a really big herd bull and his cows up in a rock slide.

Unfortunately, things fell apart and the herd busted and the bull circled underneath me and came right up the side of the rock-slide I was in. I settled the pin behind his shoulder and touched the release at 25 yards and I somehow made a bad gut shot (1/3 way up the elk 1/2 way between the hams and the back of the front shoulder) at close range on a very nice bull (6X6 or a 7X7) I have no idea in the world how I hit where I did. I dont know if I caught a strap on my pack or what happened. It all happened so quick and I was in shock where the arrow hit. Literally I have replayed it 6000 times in my head and I dont understand how it happened.

He was mine...finally at 25 yards after all the miles traveled..and trips taken.....I was calm, settled the pin and had a smooth release....and zing...right in the damn guts...The bull started trotting up the mountain in the wide open.

Realizing what had happened I quickly ran up the slide and I followed up with a poor shoulder shot at 60 yards in the blowing winds.

6" to the left and he would be mine. In hindsight I should have held mid-body and tried to just get another arrow into the center mass of the elk for the sake of just getting another arrow into something that would kill him. But I held lungs and the arrow just got taken the the right by the brutal gusting winds right into the shoulder.

I then sat there and watched the bull walk across a rock slide with guts hanging out the hole in his one side and go into a patch of timber where I felt he would bed down.

Upon leaving the slide I felt confident that if I was able to leave him overnight I would be able to recover him in the morning. I wasn't happy about the shots but with time he would definitely die.

When I left the slide I ran into a Resident hunter and spoke to him for about 15 minuted about the situation. We even exchanged cell phone numbers.

I asked him what his plans where for the day and he said that he had intended to go up into the area where my bull had just laid down. I told him the story about what had just happened and I repeatedly requested that he not go up into the area because I didn't want to bump the bull from the slide area because I knew we would be getting some rain that afternoon. Sneaking up on the bull in the position he was in would be almost impossible and I didn't want to chance it so I decided against that.

The guy agreed that he would circle low and go WAY out around to avoid bumping the bull. So I thanked him many times and we parted company. I then left the slide and so did he.

Sure enough, we got an inch of rain that afternoon/evening.

I went back in the next morning and saw fresh man tracts had been up the trail heading to where the bull had bedded. We walked up to where the bull had entered the timber and there was no blood just a bed where he had laid down and some bile in the bed. I recovered both my arrows and they were clean. I then spent the day on a 45 degree slope and many miles covering that timber patch and a huge surrounding radius of the area. I tracked my every track with my GPS and I looked everywhere. Later that day I found two little pieces of meat where the bull had entered the trees (And I mean little) . I personally put at least 10 miles on looking for the bull and my friend out the same amount of effort in before throwing in the towel. We just could not figure out what had happened. Where could he have possibly gone? He was so freaking sick and just wanted to bed down....

We headed back to camp.

Later that evening, the same guy strolled into my camp and asked me how things were going. I told him not good that I was not able to find my bull and that I could believe that he had went out of that timber patch and that I had looked everywhere for him.

Then the guy tells me that " Oh we were up there yesterday after you left and we found blood in the rock slide above where you said he went into that timber patch"

I didn't even know what to say...

He then went on to tell me how "he had shot at a bull up there after he had left us and had missed it with his bow"

I said "I though I asked you to stay clear of that slide because I had gutted that bull up there and I didn't want to push him?!"

He said that they had "gone around well below the bull but his other buddy was up there anyways"

I just looked at him, still not even knowing what to say....

Trying to get any form of closure, I then asked him if he had followed the blood and shot at an elk or if he had called in a different bull and he hesitated and then he had told me that they had "just seen a bull walking through the timber and he shot over it"

I was floored. Not really knowing what to think of the situation.

One of the nicest bulls I have ever seen on public land. And he got bumped by another hunter who couldn't respect my wishes and now he is gone forever.

Makes me freaking sick.

Things I have accepted form this hunt:

# 1 - I made a poor shot and this is on ME not the other hunter.
#2 - I made a poor followup shot and this is on ME not the other hunter.
#3 - No matter where you are at there are people and you will NOT be able to control or persuade them to not be knuckleheads.
#4 - Public land is public land. People are going to do whatever they want whenever they want.

If anyone hears of anyone finding a 300+" 6X6 or 7X7 in the Colorado Flattops this season please let me know.

If anyone wonders, Yes, I punched my tag and did not go after another bull.

In 23 years of bow hunting this is the first animal I have mortally wounded and never recovered. It truly makes me want to throw up.

Sad ending but thats my elk story for 2019 and thats a wrap folks.

 

[Riplip]

That sucks man, sorry to hear! Yes there are some idiots out there, but there are also some good people still who would have done the right thing. 23 years and first time losing an animal is a pretty good run so don't be too hard on yourself. Obviously if you bow hunt long enough it happens and yes it is the worst feeling in the world at the time. Sounds like you have a pretty good outlook on the situation which is all you can control at this time.

Congrats to your wife on her bull! That is awesome.

 

[Ratbeetle]

Rough situation. It's a shame there are so many dirtbags out there. I know it's public land, but just because you can, it doesn't mean you should. Unfortuantely, many (dare I say most) people have no courtesy or respect for anyone else.

If I was a betting man, I'd say the other guy went in there intentionally trying to shoot the bull you wounded, knowing that you wouldn't be back until morning.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I agree it sounds like a move of opportunism from the other hunters. I'm all for putting down a wounded animal quickly if that's what their frame of mind was but as soon as a gut shot elk is pressured it could go 5-10 miles until it dies and then only scavengers will get that meat.

 

[willicd]

I would have gone around above the bull knowing DAMN well the other guy would go in there looking for an easy opportunity and waited for him to push the bull to me!

 

[rob86jeep]

Sounds like a shitty situation, but I also can't blame the other hunter. How many times do you think a hunter told another hunter a lie to get him to avoid a certain area? I've heard people on Rokslide within the last month say they'll tell some hunters about "good areas" just to get them to bypass an area they want to hunt. I can't really blame the guy for not trusting the advice of another hunter he just met. However, if he did believe you and purposely went into that area in hopes of getting your bull, that's messed up for sure.

With all the stories of shitty hunters out there, how can you trust anyone you just met to give up on all your plans and head to a different area?

 

[Ratbeetle]

Sounds like a shitty situation, but I also can't blame the other hunter. How many times do you think a hunter told another hunter a lie to get him to avoid a certain area? I've heard people on Rokslide within the last month say they'll tell some hunters about "good areas" just to get them to bypass an area they want to hunt. I can't really blame the guy for not trusting the advice of another hunter he just met. However, if he did believe you and purposely went into that area in hopes of getting your bull, that's messed up for sure.

With all the stories of shitty hunters out there, how can you trust anyone you just met to give up on all your plans and head to a different area?

Valid point.

 

[sndmn11]

I don't know that I would leave watching that timber if it was still daylight, which it sounds like it was. I think the closest thing to a fact is that it is unknown what actually happened after you left because you weren't around to observe it. I think if I was headed to hunt and someone came up to me and told me to go elsewhere because they had shot an animal and were headed to camp for the rest of the day, I wouldn't take them seriously one bit. My perspective is that if a person genuinely had shot an animal twice and had intentions of recovering it, camp would be the second to last place they would be. There's no reason one couldn't sit and observe the area and react accordingly and the quickest if anything changed.

 

[Rich M]

Sorry you had that experience. Tough break. Happens more often than folks will admit.

Your anger and exasperation should be pointed at yourself - the other guy was just hunting. Not his fault you made bad shots and the decisions you did. There are 1,000 things could have done diff.

Now you have to let it go. Hopefully you can.

 

[Huntindog45]

Try
If anyone wonders, Yes, I punched my tag and did not go after another bull.

of course you did... it was the last day of your hunt... "punching the tag" is a meaningless gesture. not sure if that satisfied your emotional dilemma or what it accomplished. will never understand why people physically notch a tag for an animal that is not in possession. that act literally serves no purpose.

 

[targetpanic]

I don't know that I would leave watching that timber if it was still daylight, which it sounds like it was. I think the closest thing to a fact is that it is unknown what actually happened after you left because you weren't around to observe it. I think if I was headed to hunt and someone came up to me and told me to go elsewhere because they had shot an animal and were headed to camp for the rest of the day, I wouldn't take them seriously one bit. My perspective is that if a person genuinely had shot an animal twice and had intentions of recovering it, camp would be the second to last place they would be. There's no reason one couldn't sit and observe the area and react accordingly and the quickest if anything changed.

I was thinking the same thing