MT District 302 lost Archery Elk found - Medicine Lodge

[Westelker - W. Colorado]

The bull my buddy killed this year in Wyoming had a broadhead in it. The bull my brother shot in Montana supposedly was shot with a mechanical broadhead that didn't open.

Mine seemed to be unscathed by a broadhead.

Bowhunters need to get their shit together.

I spoke to a couple guys at Cabelas in ABQ in September and they said they were both very proficient at 80 yards. One guy was shaking so much he couldn't even hold the stuff in his hand. I hope they don't even see an elk, they seemed so out of their element. Very disturbing conversation.

 

[338win]

20-40% of animals shot with a bow are not recovered. Bow hunting is stupid.

I was serious about bow hunting for years. Shot everyday and limited my shots to sub 45 yards. I still lost animals. Probably around 10% loss rate over 2 decades due to inexperience as a kid and I was picky about shots. I know people who are in the 50+% loss rate, probably closer to 80% and have no business carrying a bow. Look how many tubers shoot and never find and those are the ones televised. If bowhunting becomes limited I could understand why.

 

[tjones]

Out of all the elk I have killed, not one has had a broadhead in it. Plenty have had some sort of bullet.

Long range rifles are as hard on wounds as long range archery.

 

[mtmuley]

Out of all the elk I have killed, not one has had a broadhead in it. Plenty have had some sort of bullet.

Long range rifles are as hard on wounds as long range archery.

I've found both. Side note, I know guys that are absolute killers with a bow and fumble around with a rifle. mtmuley

 

[tjones]

The difference I have seen, most bowhunters know when they hit and when the lose a critter. Most long range shooters don't have a clue if they hit or can even find the exact spot a critter was standing when they shot. Just my 2 cents.

 

[atlas]

I've heard of plenty of people losing elk with a bow.

Last rifle season I heard from a few people I know that they found three different elk shot with rifles and not recovered. More people out in rifle seasons are trigger-happy, flock shooting and not doing their due diligence to look for blood on a 'miss'.

 

[rogerthat]

Bows are deadly as hell if used correctly. So are rifles. Choose your shots carefully with either weapon. What percentage of dunks do NBA players miss? 1%? That’s what you should strive for with either weapon imo. And it’s totally doable.

 

[TheTone]

Out of all the elk I have killed, not one has had a broadhead in it. Plenty have had some sort of bullet.

Long range rifles are as hard on wounds as long range archery.

I’ve had the same experience with found parts in critters. Way, way more bullets than broadheads. I’d also say the number of dead wounding loss critters I’ve found is way more that had bullets than arrows.

 

[kwyeewyk]

I know people who are in the 50+% loss rate, probably closer to 80% and have no business carrying a bow

Do you really think they need a rifle instead? Sounds like they need a swift kick to the nuts and a nerf gun.

 

[338win]

Do you really think they need a rifle instead? Sounds like they need a swift kick to the nuts and a nerf gun.

They were going to take a bow during gun a few years ago and I talked them into taking my rifle instead. The person is 100% on deer with a rifle. A rifle with low powered scope should the the weapon of choice for the majority of the population.

 

[longbow51]

It would be a welcome change in my view if you had to decide between an archery license or a firearm license. I think there are a lot of casual bow hunters. They enjoy the extra time in the mountains, and maybe will also kill an elk. Frankly bows are no longer a very primitive weapon. Range finders, bow sights, mechanical cams, mechanical releases, yada, yada are hardly the reality when game departments offered seasons when elk are most easily hunted.

Too true. I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was shooting twice a day 2 months before season back when I bowhunted. She said, oh, my husband doesn't have to practice. He's really strong, and can draw his bow real easy. Speechless. Fortunately he never got a shot.

 

[LuketheDog]

interesting turn of events.

I once pulled my muzzy fixed blade broadhead and two inches of arrow from a bull I lost 2 weeks prior when helping a rifle hunter. Bull came in rutting hard within a herd and the guy shot it with his rifle.

was not till I found piece of arrow and broadhead I realized it was “my” bull from two weeks ago. All was encased in a semifirm “capsule” of I guess scar tissue. Two of the blades were separated from broadhead body laying next to it in that pocket.

Guy I was helping was a turd and I was regretting offering to help his hunt till it closed out a tough situation for me. then I was glad to be there. wrote that archery hunt up here back in 2010.

We found one in a bull my buddy shot a couple years ago, wedged between the spinous processes above and perpendicular to the spine, fully encased in fat and scar tissue, no infection. The day before we also met a buddy of the guy who put it there the previous season.

 

[POk3s]

I was going to add the same context as above. I hunt elk with a bow and a rifle. Love the challenges of both equally. Something about getting close to bugling bulls. Also something about getting in tight to a bull’s hidey hole in post rut situations.

With all that said, rifle season comes after bow season. Surely there will be elk found with arrows in them. Right, wrong or indifferent. The ones hit during rifle season will be tougher to see and they’ll succumb to winter, or be completely fine by the next year.

Hunt on!

 

[Westelker - W. Colorado]

Sure it's reality with long range rifle shots and long archery shots. Most hunters think they are a lot more accurate than they really are!! Just go to a rifle range and see how people shoot. One late season in NW Colorado a few years back, I was on top a sagebrush hill glassing a big elk herd at 1/2 mile on private. Here comes a truck on county road about 600 yards from the herd. Four nimrods jump out and start immediately shooting. My wife and I counted 18 or 20 shots into the running herd. We saw one downed elk and two others that appeared to be wounded. After a few minutes the idiots crossed the fence, spread out and walk toward where the herd were. Only that one elk was down, could have been a bull or cow. The other two wounded elk were long gone. We walked away disgusted.

 

[FREAK]

Everyone should stop bow hunting and stick to rifle hunting...

Sincerely,

Concerned bowhunter.

 

[GearJunky]

This thread has taken in interesting turn. Sadly ethics are no longer valued by many.

After handling the elk, my thoughts are this arrow was likely deflected. I can’t see the arrow stopping in the loin, if someone actually shot it straight on. But that is just my best guess.


My shot placement on this elk, is a great example of why ethical shots are so important. This was a “great” shot in my mind. The elk died quickly. After getting up to the elk, you can see I missed my mark. I did everything I could to make this a slam dunk shot, and in the end, I still had to rely on a little bit of “luck”.

 

[seeth07]

This thread has taken in interesting turn. Sadly ethics are no longer valued by many.

After handling the elk, my thoughts are this arrow was likely deflected. I can’t see the arrow stopping in the loin, if someone actually shot it straight on. But that is just my best guess.


My shot placement on this elk, is a great example of why ethical shots are so important. This was a “great” shot in my mind. The elk died quickly. After getting up to the elk, you can see I missed my mark. I did everything I could to make this a slam dunk shot, and in the end, I still had to rely on a little bit of “luck”.

I wouldn't call it luck because since you did everything you could to make it a slam dunk, your margin of error was high such that even when things happen outside of your control, the result was still a ball in the hoop. Think about how the basketball is so much smaller in diameter than the hoop itself and although the goal is to slam that thing through, sometimes you miscalculate your jump and the ball hits the rim and its ugly but it still goes through.

 

[Khunter]

This thread has taken in interesting turn. Sadly ethics are no longer valued by many.

After handling the elk, my thoughts are this arrow was likely deflected. I can’t see the arrow stopping in the loin, if someone actually shot it straight on. But that is just my best guess.


My shot placement on this elk, is a great example of why ethical shots are so important. This was a “great” shot in my mind. The elk died quickly. After getting up to the elk, you can see I missed my mark. I did everything I could to make this a slam dunk shot, and in the end, I still had to rely on a little bit of “luck”.

Was your shot through the kidneys?

 

[Stocker]

Bow, rifle, you can’t fix stupid.

I’ve seen my fair share of people who don’t practice , they can’t even hit a target and go hunting. It gripes my ass that they have that little respect for the animals and the hunt to just go out and “hunt”.

I know just as well as most of you even with putting in the effort of practice, dialing everything in for hours a hiccup can still happen. But we should be damn sure we’ve done about everything we can do, and be smart enough to know our limitations and not make poor decisions on shots.

I shoot rifles for practice out past 1,000, I shoot my bow at 100 for practice. I’d never even think about taking a shot half the distance of either in the field. It’s 400 for rifle, 40 for bow. I know exactly where the bullet or arrow is going at that distance and that’s my limit. I’d be way more upset with myself if i lobbed an arrow past my limit and crippled an elk than I would be if I let it walk and tried to hunt it again.

 

[DFS]

Bow, rifle, you can’t fix stupid.

I’ve seen my fair share of people who don’t practice , they can’t even hit a target and go hunting. It gripes my ass that they have that little respect for the animals and the hunt to just go out and “hunt”.

I know just as well as most of you even with putting in the effort of practice, dialing everything in for hours a hiccup can still happen. But we should be damn sure we’ve done about everything we can do, and be smart enough to know our limitations and not make poor decisions on shots.

I shoot rifles for practice out past 1,000, I shoot my bow at 100 for practice. I’d never even think about taking a shot half the distance of either in the field. It’s 400 for rifle, 40 for bow. I know exactly where the bullet or arrow is going at that distance and that’s my limit. I’d be way more upset with myself if i lobbed an arrow past my limit and crippled an elk than I would be if I let it walk and tried to hunt it again.

Spot on