Elk Coughed, Not Much Blood

[IK-NWhunter]

I put an arrow into my first archery elk today. He was broadside, slightly below me at 30 yards. It sounded like I hit plywood when the arrow hit him but he only ran about 10 yards. He coughed 3 times then bolted when I went to shoot him a second time. I waited 90 minutes then started tracking. The only blood I found was where he was standing when he coughed. It was dark red dime sized drops without bubbles.

I’m thinking I hit the shoulder blade and punched high or nicked the near lung. What do you guys think? How long could he survive that? Will blood eventually pour out?

I bumped a bull off a bed in the direction he ran, roughly 300 yards from where I shot him. I never saw that elk but the bed had a bull track leaving it. Not a drop of blood in the bed, but it could have been a satellite bull...

He’s been living in a canyon with his herd for weeks. There are thousands of elk tracks, so following his proved impossible. My plan is to go back in the morning and resume the search, hopefully birds will have found him and be making some noise. We’re having frost every night so I might be able to save some of the meat.

I feel sick to my stomach about this situation. I’m hunting solo near La Grande, the opposite side of the state from all my hunting buddies.

 

[buckbull]

Good luck on your morning search.

 

[MO Betta]

Decent chance the bull you bumped is the bull you arrowed. You seem a little unsure of where the hit was exactly, you've got the right idea in waiting until first light.

 

[LopeHunter]

Dark blood could be a liver hit. If liver, likely dead by sunrise.

 

[wapiti11]

What broadhead do you shot? What poundage bow? Did you recover the arrow?
How far from the hit did you see blood, after the standing blood? What's the temp tonight in your area?

 

[homers]

Best of luck with your search.

 

[Nick87]

Good luck in the morning. Gut wrenching feeling, been there.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Good luck on your search ! Hope you find your bull

 

[F250]

Keep us posted. Best of luck to you. Many of us have endured all the emotions and thoughts you are going through. Be persistent.

 

[Pucky Freak]

My guess is shoulder hit and the blood is from the shoulder, not what he coughed up. Coughing might not be blood in the lungs. I think that animal lives and is long gone. Search anyways, as you never know for sure.

 

[rtraverdavis]

Good luck this morning!

 

[bmt99]

Unfortunately, I have had almost the same exact situation. The bull I shot was 35-40 yards and was looking at me. Spun towards me after the shot and I saw it towards the shoulder and saw the arrow hit. Sounded like plywood. Found the arrow on the ground. dark blood half way up. No blood on ground. I shoot 70lbs 480 gr arrows. Not as many tracks for us so we were able to track for a while. Eventually, he rejoined his cows. Never got another shot at him that trip. I was sick for a long time. I believe I hit shoulder and he lived but I know the feeling.

However, if you were just a tad farther back from the shoulder, maybe you were able to get vitals. I agree with previous post and probably the bull you bumped was him. Also hopeful your tracking leads you to him. GOOD LUCK!

 

[bts09]

Good luck, man. We're all pulling for you, for sure!

 

[kcd]

Possible punctured a lung if he coughed, the cough is a sign of a pneumothorax. Good luck

 

[Westxhunter]

any updates? Any luck finding the bull?

 

[Northwoods]

I’d guess liver hit by the blood and him bedding down after 300 yards. Did you find him?

 

[IK-NWhunter]

Hey guys thanks for the advice and support, I really appreciate it. This has been a tough thing for me to deal with and I’m going to be upset at myself for the mistakes I made as long am in the game. I went back before sunrise this morning and researched the draw. I never found him or blood other than where he stood and coughed. I could make out his tracks running to the bottom of the draw, but then his gate slowed and his tracks looked just like all the other bull tracks in the drainage, to my eyes anyway. I did bump into his herd of cows again today. When they ran off, I followed their tracks a while but never saw a bull track running in the mix. It only got down to 44 last night and was up to 70 by 9am. He also ran onto a south facing slope from where I shot him.

I’ve had all day to reanalyze what happened on the drive home. The plywood sound definitely indicates that I made contact with the scapula; and I couldn’t even see the back of his rib cage through the shooting lane I had so I don’t think I hit the liver. I can’t imagine how he coughed up blood without me punching into the near side lung.

I’m pulling 70lbs and went with 300 spine 5mm FMJ’s, a 50gr insert, and 125gr QAD fixed blade heads (the blade over shaft version). Total arrow weight is a shade under 550gr. It’s not a long range setup and I didn’t need it to be; but after researching how common it is to hit the shoulder blade I wanted the kenteic energy to have a chance at getting through the thinner parts of the scapula on a broadside elk if I missed my mark. I think that’s exactly what happened, but I failed to anticipate the arrow getting stuck in the shoulder and clogging external blood loss. I might have to rethink this approach.

A coworker of mine who I would describe as a bow hunting fanatic said this exact thing happened to him on a bull and he watched it take 6 hours to die. He didn’t want to risk bumping it to try to get another arrow in him because the blood trail was so faint. I think the bull I bumped yesterday was probably the herd bull I shot, and 90 minutes just wasn’t long enough for him to expire. He must have been bleeding internally for no blood to have been in the bed.

I can’t tell you what my bubble level looked like, or if I thought about my anchor point. I usually run a side-stabilizer to offset the quiver weight but lost it running around the wilderness for 8 days before this encounter. I practiced 3 days/week at the range but shooting stationary foam blocks at known ranges just didn’t prepare me to deal with the adrenaline rush of a bull finally coming in on my calls. He’s a moving target in heavy cover, I have a reed in my mouth, a bugle tube squeezed between my knees, a backpack and bino-harness on, and I had to crouch down to get his vitals in my narrow lane when he finally stops to take a look at me. It’s quite a challenging thing for someone who grew up hunting whitetails from heated tree stands in MN.

Anyway, I think it’s more likely then not he was mortally wounded so I punched my tag. It just felt like the right thing for me to do. I’ll be back out there a little smarter and more prepared next year.

 

[FlatlanderAZ]

Hey guys thanks for the advice and support, I really appreciate it. This has been a tough thing for me to deal with and I’m going to be upset at myself for the mistakes I made as long am in the game. I went back before sunrise this morning and researched the draw. I never found him or blood other than where he stood and coughed. I could make out his tracks running to the bottom of the draw, but then his gate slowed and his tracks looked just like all the other bull tracks in the drainage, to my eyes anyway. I did bump into his herd of cows again today. When they ran off, I followed their tracks a while but never saw a bull track running in the mix. It only got down to 44 last night and was up to 70 by 9am. He also ran onto a south facing slope from where I shot him.

I’ve had all day to reanalyze what happened on the drive home. The plywood sound definitely indicates that I made contact with the scapula; and I couldn’t even see the back of his rib cage through the shooting lane I had so I don’t think I hit the liver. I can’t imagine how he coughed up blood without me punching into the near side lung.

I’m pulling 70lbs and went with 300 spine 5mm FMJ’s, a 50gr insert, and 125gr QAD fixed blade heads (the blade over shaft version). Total arrow weight is a shade under 550gr. It’s not a long range setup and I didn’t need it to be; but after researching how common it is to hit the shoulder blade I wanted the kenteic energy to have a chance at getting through the thinner parts of the scapula on a broadside elk if I missed my mark. I think that’s exactly what happened, but I failed to anticipate the arrow getting stuck in the shoulder and clogging external blood loss. I might have to rethink this approach.

A coworker of mine who I would describe as a bow hunting fanatic said this exact thing happened to him on a bull and he watched it take 6 hours to die. He didn’t want to risk bumping it to try to get another arrow in him because the blood trail was so faint. I think the bull I bumped yesterday was probably the herd bull I shot, and 90 minutes just wasn’t long enough for him to expire. He must have been bleeding internally for no blood to have been in the bed.

I can’t tell you what my bubble level looked like, or if I thought about my anchor point. I usually run a side-stabilizer to offset the quiver weight but lost it running around the wilderness for 8 days before this encounter. I practiced 3 days/week at the range but shooting stationary foam blocks at known ranges just didn’t prepare me to deal with the adrenaline rush of a bull finally coming in on my calls. He’s a moving target in heavy cover, I have a reed in my mouth, a bugle tube squeezed between my knees, a backpack and bino-harness on, and I had to crouch down to get his vitals in my narrow lane when he finally stops to take a look at me. It’s quite a challenging thing for someone who grew up hunting whitetails from heated tree stands in MN.

Anyway, I think it’s more likely then not he was mortally wounded so I punched my tag. It just felt like the right thing for me to do. I’ll be back out there a little smarter and more prepared next year.

That took some integrity. Live and learn.

 

[Ben Sellers]

That’s a tough deal. Thanks for the update and thanks for punching your tag. That’s the way it should be but is a decision that costs you to make all the same. Stick and move is for boxing, not hunting.

 

[WyoDoug]

Tough thing to do. Others might of just went and shot another but you did the right thing.

I once helped a friend, well thought he was a friend anyways, track a cow that he had shot the foot off. Found it by tracking blood spots less than the size of a dime. That guy never even offered any elk meat for all that effort. Last time I tracked an animal for him that he shot too. But anyways, tracking an animal is hard work. Doing the right thing though is even harder.