Shot bull. Having a hard time finding him.

[KenLee]

Birds meaning crows and robber jays. You should be able to see and hear crows from a mile away.

No turkey buzzards that far north?

 

[ShortMountain91]

I read the whole thing, now I got see how this turns out. Pulling for you OP. I shot my first bull slightly quartering to me and barely clipped both lungs. That bull went a little over 400 yards, didn't bleed much and took me a while to find. Hoping you find yours.

 

[Ucsdryder]

No turkey buzzards that far north?

I’ve never seen one on an animal in Colorado. The robber jays were on an archery elk within 45 minutes this year. The crows were squawking within a couple of hours. I’m not sure if they found it so quickly because I was there though. I was shocked. Side note, robber jays love the fat on elk quarters.

 

[KenLee]

I’ve never seen one on an animal in Colorado. The robber jays were on an archery elk within 45 minutes this year. The crows were squawking within a couple of hours. I’m not sure if they found it so quickly because I was there though. I was shocked. Side note, robber jays love the fat on elk quarters.

Circling buzzards were the tell tell sign in the south...till there got to be so many coyotes that clean a carcass before buzzards can find them.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Had camp robbers on about 3, I’d say 5-10 min after I had my bull down. It’s amazing how fast those little fellas get on carrion and they are pretty bold

 

[wytx]

Ravens will be on it, not crows or buzzrds. Listen for them, they make lots of noise when feeding or calling in other birds to the carcass.
Jays also will be on it but the ravens make the most noise.
Get higher up or just walk drainages and listen or watch for many birds flying to one area.
If blood trail was going downhill, good chance it's dead somewhere, uphill he may still be walking.

I applaud you for wanting to find that bull and not hunting another one.

 

[Happy Antelope]

We found a cow elk this way years ago.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

It's probably all semantics, but I agree. I think more than likely when it is a high lung hit you get so little of the lung elk either don't die or go really far and die much later. There is definitely a spot high in the chest cavity though that doesn't result in a dead elk. I have seen that hit many times with a rifle and watched elk run forever.

Ravens will be on it, not crows or buzzrds. Listen for them, they make lots of noise when feeding or calling in other birds to the carcass.
Jays also will be on it but the ravens make the most noise.
Get higher up or just walk drainages and listen or watch for many birds flying to one area.
If blood trail was going downhill, good chance it's dead somewhere, uphill he may still be walking.

I applaud you for wanting to find that bull and not hunting another one.

I hit a bull pretty high a few years back. Only found blood where he had passed by brush that would rub on the side of his body, I assume he mostly bled internally. I searched for 2 days, and couldn’t find him. When I did a week later, a tree full of ravens told me where he died, exactly 1 mile from where I shot him. You can see the entry/exit wound in the photo below.

Keep at it OP, I know the conundrum you’re going through and I felt better that I punched my tag and kept looking for my bull, even though my freezer was still empty after I found him.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Ravens will be on it, not crows or buzzrds. Listen for them, they make lots of noise when feeding or calling in other birds to the carcass.
Jays also will be on it but the ravens make the most noise.
Get higher up or just walk drainages and listen or watch for many birds flying to one area.
If blood trail was going downhill, good chance it's dead somewhere, uphill he may still be walking.

I applaud you for wanting to find that bull and not hunting another one.

Raven, crow. What’s the difference. They’re both giant black birds that squawk!

 

[Ucsdryder]

I hit a bull pretty high a few years back. Only found blood where he had passed by brush that would rub on the side of his body, I assume he mostly bled internally. I searched for 2 days, and couldn’t find him. When I did a week later, a tree full of ravens told me where he died, exactly 1 mile from where I shot him. You can see the entry/exit wound in the photo below.

Keep at it OP, I know the conundrum you’re going through and I felt better that I punched my tag and kept looking for my bull, even though my freezer was still empty after I found him.

View attachment 602860

Those 2 holes look like they’re through the back straps.

Let see the rack on that thing. Looks cool

 

[mercerbear]

I love it man - I respect this!

100%

Good on you, OP.

Good luck man. I’ve never had this experience with an elk but it’s happened to me with a whitetail buck.

 

[Guer42]

2.5 " hi over the perfect double lung is a dead bull very quickly. im guessing the shot angle or placement isnt ideal. the higher the hit the longer the bull will be able to run , and the less it'll bleed till it fills up . most hi hits ive seen the bulls went 1/2 mile to 3/4 mile as the crow flies. up an down no problem. best advice is to follow tracks and rocks of a running elk. good luck.

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Those 2 holes look like they’re through the back straps.

Let see the rack on that thing. Looks cool

Yep, and he still died.

 

[Ucsdryder]

Yep, and he still died.

Badass bull. Crazy he died from that. I wonder if it hit an artery? Infection?

 

[Sam Colt]

Raven, crow. What’s the difference. They’re both giant black birds that squawk!

Did you know that a raven has 17 rigid tail feathers called pinions, while a crow only has 16? The difference between a raven and a crow is just a matter of a pinion.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Yep, and he still died.

Super awesome character bull! Sucks that you didn’t get the meat, but glad you found him

 

[Rusty Shackelford]

Badass bull. Crazy he died from that. I wonder if it hit an artery? Infection?

Must have hit an artery. He had to have died that night, because we were all over that area searching the next two days. I was back in the area 5 days after I shot him, he was one finger ridge over from where I had stopped the search. Stunk like holy hell. When we got within 100 yards of his body we could smell him.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Final update as the sun sets on me on this hillside I will not physically knock this tag yet, I plan on coming out here to look for this bull alive or dead a few more times before the season ends. I WILL not take another bull except this one assuming he’s walking, I find him dead the tag is notched obviously. While the tag isn’t physically notched it is to me for this bull. until I run out of season or find him I will continue to look. Morally I owe it to this bull to continue to hunt him. I will refuse to take another bull had one on me this evening at 25 yards and didn’t even think about it


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Good for you. If I was closer, I would come help you look and buy you a beer.

Randy

 

[sickles107]

Stay after it, I feel your pain. Two years ago I hit a bull bad from a "too close" shot mess up, first 100yds awesome blood then nothing. found him next day 1000 yds uphill from last blood, by bumping a coyote off him at sunrise. Good luck.

 

[Nickofthewoods]

I hit a bull pretty high a few years back. Only found blood where he had passed by brush that would rub on the side of his body, I assume he mostly bled internally. I searched for 2 days, and couldn’t find him. When I did a week later, a tree full of ravens told me where he died, exactly 1 mile from where I shot him. You can see the entry/exit wound in the photo below.

Keep at it OP, I know the conundrum you’re going through and I felt better that I punched my tag and kept looking for my bull, even though my freezer was still empty after I found him.

View attachment 602860

Impressive! Not the bull (awesome bull btw) but your attitude and commitment to finding it. So many people would have given up after an hour or two and kept hunting. Such a bummer that you didn't get any meat -the real trophy of any elk hunt- but at least you found it.