Single Lung Hit

[Elkhuntinfool]

We had a guy in our hunting party that hit a big bull in one lung only. He was tracked with good blood for 3/4 of a mile, then it seemed to peter out. Have any of you had any experience on how far a bull can travel when hit in one lung? And some tips on how he can maybe find this bull. It was hit last tuesday morning.

 

[oldoregon]

How does he know for a fact if he hit it in one lung?



Later Yall!!!!

I SOFA KING WE TALL DID!!!!

 

[Azhunter22]

My brother shot a cow elk and hit a single lung and it died pretty fast, we found it about 100yards away give or take a few yards. Im not an expert in any means but i think at the end of the blood trail I would start making circle's kinda griding them so they kinda coincide with eachother and maybe that might help you find it. Did you guys pressure the Bull after it was hit. >>>>Justin

 

[Elkhuntinfool]

We know because the elk was like at a 45 when the shot was made. It appeared to glance off of a rib and slide slightly to the right. When the arrow was recoverd it had good blood with lots of bubbles halfway up the shaft.

 

[Elkhuntinfool]

The bull was not pressured. We left the area and came back 3 hours after the shot was made. We followed good blood down to a canyon area and started losing the blood.

 

[jagaines]

I would say id you did indeed get a lung and did have good blood then there is a dead elk really close. Having a good blood trail would tell me that the animal also probably had severe internal bleeding especially if a vital like a lung was hit. What did the broadhead look like? Was it damaged from hitting bone? I would guess that a lung was probably not damaged if the blood stopped and you coudn't locate him.
Jason

 

[Elkhuntinfool]

The broadhead was bent from hitting a bone. We are sure it hit one lung. When the elk turned and ran off the arrow was sticking in his side at a 90 about 14 inches. I am going to go back tomorrow and see if I can find any crows or anything.

 

[NMhuntnutt]

Every situation is differrent , but I've heard of elk to really go along way after being hit . This year my dad shot his bull at 10 yards , high behind the shoulder , with 100 gr. wasp sst.s', his arrow blew through , and we never found any blood for about 110 yards , and then found his bull within 20 yards ....As long as your bull wasn't bumped , he could be right around the area the blood let up . Good luck , hope you guys find him ....NMhuntnutt

 

[Texas_Hunter]

I hit a bull this year 5x5 at 30 yards and hit a little high and hit the shoulder bone. I only got one lung on the hit (we figure since about 18" - 20" of the arrow was inside the bull) and we found NO blood for over 700 yards of tracking. I knew where I hit because I could see the arrow sticking out when he ran and I saw the arrow hit him.

After 700 yards, the tracks gave out and we had no choice but to make small circles and then progressively bigger circles. After about 30 minutes to an hour and light fading fast, we decided to let the bull lie down and come back the next day. Never found him and we decided to let the area rest for a day or two.

Three days after we left - one of the guys in my group who was staying went back to the area and got to where our sign had given out and a bunch of black scavenger birds got up down the canyon. He slowly went down and there was the bull piled up inside a bunch of brush. It had rained continuously for 3 days so there was no sign anywhere which is why we probably never found him and there was a little blood still in the area around the bull. This was the first clear, sunny day since I had hit the bull.

The bull had backtracked /sidehilled the canyon and was about 400 to 500 yards from where I hit him. He had made a huge circle - I have the antlers and the arrow shaft - I shoot 28" arrows and I have about a 9" piece which is why we figure I hit the top of the left lung. Crazy thing is that there was no blood on the trail nor did the bull blow any blood out his nose during our track. I had misjudged the distance because he was behind a blow-down and thought he was 40 instead of 30 which is why I hit him higher than I wanted too.

 

[IdahoBugler]

The bull I shot this year was a one lung hit. I shot him at 40 yards, the shot looked perfect 1" behind the shoulder half-way up and the arrow sunk in to the fletchings. He ran off about 60 yards and stood there. After about 15 seconds be started to wable and fell head-over-heals down the mountain. We gathered our things and started down the hill after him. When we crested the edge of the hill my bull was standing up. We waited there and watched him bed down about 10 yards from where he fell. So we backed out to let him die.

2 hours later I snuck in thinking for sure he was dead but when I got there he was standing up in his bed. Not wanting to push the animal I decide to back out and wait a couple hours longer. When I got back the second time the bull was gone. I found about a 6 inch circle of blood in his bed but after he got up he left no blood. I ended up doing circles until I finally glassed the bull 150 yards away in some nasty thick trees, STILL ALIVE. He was pretty much done because he watched me walk up to him and put an arrow 3" under my first shot. The bull died 10 minutes later.

After dressing the bull I found that I had split a rib in half, which caused my arrow to deflect towards his liver. It went through one lung and ended up in his liver. I know this would of killed him but as you can see it would of taken a long time. All I can say is that elk are amazingly tough animals.

If you did hit one lung and are positive you didn't push him, then he should be very close. My bull traveled about 200 yards from where I first hit him.

I hope you find the bull and Good luck for the rest of the season.
IB

 

[OSOK]

The worst shot anyone can ever put on a elk w/ a bow, is a quartering head on. You will loose them more often than not w/ a one lung hit. I've seen them left for 3-4 hours, come back, and still have to put a finishing arrow, into a very lively elk.

Never, never-never-never-never, shoot an elk quartering towards. Big no-no!

 

[Elkhuntinfool]

The elk was quartering away not quartering towards me. Thanks for your info on the shot.

 

[Cleanshot]

My brother shot a nice 6X6 at 20 yards this year. The bull came around a bush on a trail following a cow and to stop the bull my brother cow called. The bull turned with a shot slightly quartering to him and he let it fly. The arrow hit one lung then stopped at the skin after passing through the gut. The bull ran another 20 yards then got real sick. He layed down at 40 yards and tried to get up about 6 times. We left him alone for about 30 minutes and when we came back he had expired.

The blood trail was almost non-existent. Only a couple of drops. I'm glad he wasn't able to get up or we may have lost this bull. Without a clean pass-through, it's hard to get a good blood trail. But I agree with the other posts, if you did get at least one lung, he shouldn't go too far.

 

[pymulies]

Last weekend i shot a six point and thought it was a great hit. We gave him two hours-thats how long it took me to find my hunting partner. We tracked him for over a mile with good blood all the way and three puddless of blood the size of a 55-gallon drum around. We finally lost the trail after seven hours of tracking. I'm going back this weekend to try and find him.