Where did the bull go?

[MTHunter1321]

I’m hoping someone may have more elk experience than I do and can help explain what may have happened...

I was hunting a group of elk who I watched feed for 2 hours and then go into a Creek bottom and ended up working up a timbered draw. I worked over and thought I had them pinned, but they had gotten above me. Turns out I’m pretty sure there were a couple other hunters above them on a ridge and the elk must have winded them or something because all of a sudden they came crashing down and into the draw they were originally in. There were about 10 cows and the bull, all of which I saw go into the draw. I watched all of the cows cross the bottom and head up and over another ridge. I kept waiting for the bull to follow and never did see him. After a few minutes I worked down to where the cows crossed and slowly worked my way back up the draw. I thought it was possible he could have gotten an arrow and not made it out of there, but I didn’t turn him up or run into the other hunters. I was back in the area the following day and didn’t see birds or anything, and the hunters were still in the area 2 days later with no meat packed to the truck.

Which leads me to wonder, has anyone else ever experienced a spooked herd where the bull doesn’t continue to follow his cows? I had eyes on the escapes routes above but I suppose he could have stayed in the bottom and snuck out? Just seems odd he’d follow his cows all morning and then not follow when they were on the run.

 

[kwyeewyk]

Hard to say for sure but I've seen them split up and regroup later on, they're pretty good about keeping track of each other through the woods.

 

[IEATELK]

This is elk hunting... along with a few F words.

 

[Hunting Wife]

I’ve seen it before. Have also seen it with bachelor groups. They disappear into cover, the cows or little guys come out the other side, the big boys vanish into thin air. I guess they don’t get big by being dumb.

 

[MTHunter1321]

This is elk hunting... along with a few F words.

There were definitely some of those thrown out, especially considering that he was the biggest bull I’ve ever seen on the hoof.

 

[IEATELK]

There were definitely some of those thrown out, especially considering that he was the biggest bull I’ve ever seen on the hoof.

Haha people are like, hunting is relaxing.... and im like, arrow knocked...FUUUUUUU!!!!!!! i sometimes feel like a conspiracy theorist by the time im done hunting... “are those bugles real?”... “Was that an actual elk or am i just really hungry?”

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

Growing up my dad and grandpa hammered into me that the buck or bull would almost always slip out the back and leave their ladies if spooked. I'm not at all surprised the bull went a different direction in your situation.

 

[Dsnow9]

I’ve had big bucks do it before. They slip out the back or I have even see them lay down in a hole below a bush. Like others have said, they don’t get big by being dumb.

 

[JT88]

Years ago, my dad and uncles and I were doing a deer drive through a huge brush filled coulee. We stopped after a bit, and my dad pointed out a huge whitetail buck (behind us, where we'd just walked) literally belly crawling on the ground towards the top of the coulee & fence line (private land sanctuary). I'll never forget watching that in my binoculars as a kid. One of us had to have walked within 20 or so yards of him and never saw or heard him. You could just barely see him, rack sticking up. They are survivors.