NON RECOVERY STORIES???

elkassassin

elkassassin

Long Time Member
Messages
36,945
YUP!

I'll Admit!

It happened to me once!

Yup!

I Was SICK!

And I'm Still Sick!

Several Years Back I Shot a Buck & Knocked Him Down as Hard as I've ever Hit any Animal!

He Bounced Back up & I Couldn't get a 2nd Shot!

Major Blood & Bone Where I Knocked Him Down!

I Was Perty Sure I Was gonna Recover Him!

After 7 Days of Tracking Him I was Wrong & I Lost Him!

Still Makes Me Sick to This Day!

Yup!

I Coulda Shot other Bucks!

But My Hunt was Done!

I Guess if You Hunt Long Enough it's bound to Happen Sooner or Later!

Let's hear your Stories and Amount of Time you put in to the Failed Recovery!

It's OK to Man-Up & Post your Stories!

Stuff Happens!












I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!:D:D:D
 
The year was 2015 the last time I had a ?general season deer tag? in Utah... I had three bucks at 380 yds. there was a solid 25? in the group...
I dropped the bipod legs placed my backpack under the but of the rifle... my oldest son and my brother were spotting for me... settled the the crosshairs on a high shoulder shot... Squeezed the trigger ever so carefully and then boom... thwack, the sound I heard sounded good... my boy said he's down and my brother says he's toast... He rolled down hill for 50yds. then out of site into some pines...
The other 2 bucks just stood there watching him roll down the hill then took off over the hill away from where the buck went...
So we make our way over there, it's now been about about 30 minutes since I hit him... We get over to where I hit him and you can see good blood in the yellow grass where he rolled down hill... I follow the blood down to a large pine tree that stopped him from going further down the canyon...
Now at that pine tree that stopped him there was ok blood on the tree trunk but that's where it ended...
We searched for the rest of that day about six hours, then again the morning for another 5-6 hours, never finding any blood again after the blood on the pine tree...
We even returned the next weekend with dogs hunting chuckers and looking for him with the dogs... Never did find him..,
The only thing that I can figure is I hit higher than his spine temporarily paralyzing him, then once he got his composure off he went never to be seen again...
 
General elk I hit a 5 or 6 point bull. He stumbled and turned to go straight away from me. I gave him time and waited for my dad to get there. We got on the blood and started following it and blood ran out. We would jump him and he kept doing circles around us in the thick trees and he would start bleeding a bit again. We stayed after him for the rest of the hunt, but never could catch up to him. He never would leave the Butte he was on. Figured I hit him low in the leg and for the next couple years we would get a glimpse of a bull with a limp and he was a smart cagey bull that none of us could get a shot at again. I still picture it in my scope, the first bull I ever got a shot at.

4b1db2ac644136c4.jpg
 
Yep Bobcat it happens to the best of us...Now if they'd let us hunt with a dog 95% of that time it wouldn't happen...I knocked a big buck down a few years ago..couldn't find him...called the game warden and he said I could use my dog to find him...that afternoon the dog tracked him down,dead of course..and got a full retrival..the buck was 36 inches wide...6 x 8...
 
>Yep Bobcat it happens to the
>best of us...Now if they'd
>let us hunt with a
>dog 95% of that time
>it wouldn't happen...I knocked a
>big buck down a few
>years ago..couldn't find him...called the
>game warden and he said
>I could use my dog
>to find him...that afternoon the
>dog tracked him down,dead of
>course..and got a full retrival..the
>buck was 36 inches wide...6
>x 8...


Longun i agree dogs would increase the recovery percentage quite a bit...
This deer was recovered using my dog, without him I don't think we would have found him...

http://www.monstermuleys.info/photos/user_photos_2018/65243a65142ecb0494cbdb9d8ce4f555ce910.jpeg
 
Yep, a good dog. I shot a buck late one afternoon and I lost the trail when it got dark. I went back to the ranch house and the land owner got his dog and we went back in there and the dog worked for awhile and then gave up. The owner said it must have been a superficial wound.

Two weeks later I was back in there and killed the same buck. I just grazed the back ham originally and it was healing okay.

That's the only animal I've lost....but not really.:D
 
>Yep, a good dog. I shot
>a buck late one afternoon
>and I lost the trail
>when it got dark. I
>went back to the ranch
>house and the land owner
>got his dog and we
>went back in there and
>the dog worked for awhile
>and then gave up. The
>owner said it must have
>been a superficial wound.
>
>Two weeks later I was back
>in there and killed the
>same buck. I just grazed
>the back ham originally and
>it was healing okay.

I'm Sure a Small Few Number of Wounded Bucks make it/Live as Well!

Amazing How TOUGH or WEAK they can be!

>
>That's the only animal I've lost....but
>not really.:D











I know so many people in so many places
They make allot of money but they got sad faces

It Ain't Easy being Me!:D:D:D
 
LAST EDITED ON Jul-16-18 AT 00:36AM (MST)[p]Hi elk, that happen to a friend of mine. He shot a buck in a bean field dropped hi m in its tracks when he got to the spot where the deer drop NOTHING. He tracked and tracked him and never found him.

The next year he shot a deer it wasn?t where it was suppose to be, but he found this one. He had made a heart shot the heart was almost all gone and the deer still was able to make it a half mile away from where he shot the deer

That's crazy

Joe

"Sometimes you do things wrong for so long you
think their right" - 2001
"I can't argue with honesty" - 2005
-Joe E Sikora
 
YUP been their took a shot at a buck with my bow at 40 yards and he took a step pow right in the guts tracked him for a day and a half went home and cut my tag my hunt was over worst feeling in the world
 
Tikka:
"The only thing that I can figure is I hit higher than his spine temporarily paralyzing him, then once he got his composure off he went never to be seen again... "

Or under the spine.

I saw the same thing happen on a 310-320" bull elk my brother shot. Went down hard. We gathered up our gear and camera and went to start the photo session and as we approached the bull it started struggling to get up. My brother was about to put another shot in it as it stumbled to it's feet and started running away, getting stronger with each step as it went out of sight down the through the trees. Tracked blood for a couple of miles as it faded and never seen it again. It was a high shoulder shot at only 110 yards. Turned out it was in 'no mans land', just below the spine, temporarily paralyzing it.
 
I haven't lost many. Only one deer personally. I was 13 years old and hunting by myself. Walked from the house on my cousin's ranch. Buck came across a draw and up into some thick brush; stopped in an opening. I shot and he went down like a sack of something. Excited as heck, I immediately went over to where he was. And he was gone.........

I looked for days and never found him. My cousin found him much later a long way off, but he could still tell I had hit him high in the neck/shoulder area.

We've only lost one mule deer and it was the same deal. Hit high in the neck, the hunter started whooping and jumping around. I saw the buck getting up and the buck got way. Tracked him for over a mile and into the neighbor's where we couldn't go.

Moral of these stories is stay quiet and watch closely after you shoot one. Things can change quickly, so you need to be where you can see and make sure he's down for good. All that celebrating on TV is too much for me.

Hope that's the end of losing bucks. It's a huge heartache.
 
I had a doe tag in Nephi about 6 years ago, season opened August 1 and closed in October and was primitive weapon only. I took what I originally thought to be a ~225 yard offhand shot with my muzzy on a doe and she dropped in her tracks. As I lowered the muzzy to grin at my new wife along for the hunt, proud of what a marksman I was, the doe got back to her feet and stumbled into the cornfield 30 yards away. I quickly reloaded and as I paced the distance my heart sank as I crossed the 300 yard mark and still hadn't hit the blood patch. About 325 yards from my initial shot is where I paced it. Giant pool of blood, bone, and hair with a heavy trail right to the corn. This was about 15 mins before dark and as I approached the edge of the field I heard her startle and stumble further in. Since it was still around 80F outside I was getting pretty concerned about the meat, but didn't want to keep pushing her even further.

I backed out and waited at the truck for an hour before my wife and I headed out with flashlights to see if we could find her. We tracked her in a wide circle through the corn for just over an hour until we lost blood at a deep rut puddle. We made circles around that until we called it around midnight. Next morning first light we were back with my dad to help as well. 6 hours into the search my wife forced me to call it as my eyes had swollen all but shut and my face was rapidly swelling as well so we headed to the emergency room. I didn't ever find that doe, and learned not to spend hours covered in corn pollen. I had never had any kind of seasonal allergies prior to that, and for a good 3 years afterwards I couldn't even drive passed a cornfield after July without swelling up and still today grass in general just wreaks havoc on my sinuses/eyes/throat.

Had I just waited a good 30 mins or more I think she would have bled out in the spot 10 feet into the corn where I first bumped her. Best I could figure my shot was low in the brisket just in front of the leg based on the height of the blood on the corn, color, and the hair in the initial knock down spot.

I learned a few things from that:

1. I got a range finder and will not shoot an animal without first getting a range. First thing I do when I get to a lookout spot is take ranges of every area I think an animal might pop up.

2.I reload IMMEDIATELY and get back on target before I do anything else.

3. Even if I think it is DRT and I can see the body, I wait to approach for a minimum 15 mins now.
 
>Opening morning. 10 yards. Flipped a
>stick into a bighorn ram
>and only ever found blood.
>


Ouch... That one hurt...
 
Happy ending.
A long time ago in a land far far away when I was just a pup I dropped an odd shaped 3 point on the rifle hunt. By the time I got to where he fell he was gone. I tracked as well as I could and never found him.
Two weeks later and 3 miles to the East my buddy shot an odd 3 point on the muzzy hunt. Turned out to be the same deer. I had hit him in the ham without breaking bone. The wound was well on its way to healing.
 
LAST EDITED ON Jul-21-18 AT 03:01AM (MST)[p]Didn't lose this one, but, almost did.

I had just come back from the gulf and had a cow tag in hand. Loaded up the truck and headed to Colorado. I remember there was lotsa snow that year and tracking was awesome. Of course, since I had a cow tag, all I saw was bulls.

About 4pm, maybe a bit before, and the snow started coming down heavily. I was headed towards camp and spotted two cows coming out of the timber. I hit the first one, heard the hit and saw her fall.


I reached around to grab my knife, stood up and watched her get up and trot back into the timber. No big deal...or so I thought. I figured I would find her a couple yards down the hill. Nope. I waited about 30 minutes for her to lay down, then went looking. No luck. Light started fading and snow started falling faster. The only way I could be sure I was following the right elk was the very obvious blood trail.

I knew my partners would come looking for me. SOP was for us to make obvious drag marks if we crossed any roads. It was snowing so hard, I just laid limbs across the roads. About 1140 that night I finally caught up to her and finished her off, then gutted her and waited. It was about 0300 when we got back to camp and -14.



TWO years later, another cow tag and this one I never found. Not a lot of snow this time, it was very dry and warm. I came across a couple of cows, shot one, heard the shot hit her and then waited about 30 minutes. Nothing. I made increasing radius circles around where I found her tracks. Nothing. My buddies from one camp over heard the hit two. At one point we had 7 guys out looking for tracks or blood. Nothing. Never found her, never found a body either as we hunted that are hard.

Best guess is the Barnes X never struck bone.
 
I've been fortunate- never lost any animal I've hit with rifle, muzzy or bow.

I've had two clean bow kills in my life.

I've had one clean muzzy kill.

With my rifle, I cover the downed animal until I know they are dead. And usually, someone else makes there way over there close and covers the animal while I'm making my way towards it until I get my hands on it. Just in case :)

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24
 
The only non-recovery I was ever a part of was a rifle hunt with my dad and uncle.

We had spotted a very nice buck about 350 yards from us one morning of the rifle hunt. My uncle leveled his 30-40 and fired. I believe he missed with the first shot and then fired again. The buck dropped like a rock. We waited a short time and then he and I began hiking down our side of the canyon while my dad waited and watched. About a hundred yards down the hillside, my uncle realized he had forgotten one of his bags. I ran back to my dad and grabbed my uncle's bag. As I headed back down to him, I looked up to the spot on the opposite mountainside where the buck had gone down, and low and behold, he had his head up and was looking around. I yelled to my uncle, but the buck was jumping up and making a B-Line for the ridge.

We watched as he crested out over the ridge and was gone. Within minutes, we heard shots fired from the next little canyon over. My uncle tracked the buck (no blood) over the ridge while my dad and I circled. We never saw the buck, or the other hunters we heard fire.

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24
 
Dry ground. Barely inclined. Gassing.Standing still. Ate chit. Broke my arm. Had to hike off, Had to drive stick shift off the mountain to Dr, then 3 hours home. 20 yrs ago. Opener of muzzleloader.

Guys are still on me about that,every year we point out the rock that got me. Ill never recover my pride?


From the party of HUNTIN, FISHIN, PUBLIC LAND.
 
Here's one with a slightly different take. Years ago now, and a novice hunter, I took what I thought was a sure-kill shot at a small buck at a little over 100 yds. As the buck went down, he started to roll head-over-heels in a summersault, until halfway down the slope when he slammed into a tree, then body rolled to the bottom in a cloud of dust! I guess I celebrated a little early; and as I whooped and hollered and stumbled down the hill toward him, I was shocked to watch him get up, stagger a moment, then take off on a dead run as if nothing had happened! I went to where he'd gone down initially, then back down to where he'd come to rest; all kinds of tufts of hair, marks in dirt, torn up vegetation, lots of struggle marks where he'd gone down at the bottom. Not a hint of blood anywhere! I wondered later if I hit antler, grazed his scalp, or there was something else that had caused him to lose his footing. I even trailed a little ways after him with no results. No recovery on that one! :)
 
my grandpa told me of a story, where he shot a giant buck, he said it was well over 30 inches. the buck dropped right in his tracks. when he got up to the buck it was laying there, apparently dead, he layed his gun on the buck and reached for his pocket knife, the buck jumped up and took off on a dead run. there was no blood anywhere. he thinks that he must have grazed his skull and just knocked him out.
 
One story that I cant get out of my head was this seasons late bull elk hunt in Idaho.I hunted 11 out of the 14 day hunt. Saw elk about 5 of the 11 days I hunted. I was after a nice 6x6 and couldn't shake the thought of shooting a different bull. Finally on the 6th day of the hunt I was able to stay on the elk and put them to bed for the day. I stayed out hoping they would travel in the same direction they came to bed back to there feeding grounds. That evening at 4:30 I was able to sneak in at 125 yards from the big six point I was after and get a shot off. Instantly I saw him struggling. I'm watching him as the rest of the elk run away thinking he's going to fall any minute, At the same time trying to reload I finally decide I gotta get another bullet in him. So I focus on reloading more then watching the bull get my gun reloaded and look back up and hes over the little hill out of sight.(I didn't have anyone with me to watch while I reloaded my gun) I run over the hill and see the elk feeding again keep in mind there is other bulls in the herd so I'm looking through my binoculars looking for my bull but can't find him. So I start glassing the tall grass looking for a elk that had tipped over but nothing. At this point it's 4:40 ish and I really don't have much day light left so I instantly start looking for blood. Then it got dark on me trying to stay positive after not finding any blood I decided I'll pull out and come back where I left off in the morning. The next morning I had my uncle help me track we ended up finding blood and tracked it till it went dry about 12:30 I had a buddy come and my uncle leave we started where me and my uncle left off but never could move forward with the search I then started to grid the area back and forth for hours. Finally at 4:30 again walking down a ridge I look to my left and see a bull bedded we saw each other at the same time as the bull started getting up I through my binoculars up to make sure it was the same bull I had shot and sure enough it was I ranged it quickly 135 yards pulled my gun up aimed and shot. The bull ran over the ridge from where he was laying out of sight. I quickly marked my spot where I had shot and ran to where the bull was standing when I had shot. Sure enough great blood trail. By the time my buddy made it to me it was starting to get dark again and I again decided not to trail him and take the chance at bumping him.another sleepless night. Now it's Wednesday made the first shot Monday night. We got to the blood trail at first light excited to get my hands on this bull and ready to pack it out. We started following the blood for about 100 not even having to look down. Then to a empty bed!!! "What where's the bull"!! I thought for sure with all the blood he'd be at the bottom of the ravine we had followed the trail to. He had gotten up during the night. So we got back on the blood from that bed and started following it. At this time the blood had definitely slowed down compared to what we were following before. Again another bed with no elk about 75 yards from the first and again less blood. So we started following again to the blood trail going dry. I started to get nervous how could this happen? We tried following tracked but it was just to tracked up so again we started griding the area. I did that until Friday night Saturday I decided he must have made it out of the canyon so I got on some mules and unfortunately started the search for bird thinking there is no way the elk is alive but still no sigh of the bull I didn't stop searching for the bull till Sunday night because I had to go back to work. On the 14 my uncle search one more day but couldn't turn him up I found a lot of blood and bone but no elk it makes me sick but I shot this bull and wasn't going to shot another. I did everything I could. I put in Countless hours and miles with others helping me but finally had to call it an elk season. I'll be going over there looking for the bull here and there to maybe see if its alive or not I just don't like the unknown and definitely don't like the fact that I didn't recover the elk.
 
My father dropped a small buck on a steep hill one time years ago. When he got to the buck he tied the head to a tree to keep it from sliding down the steep hillside. He began the process of cleaning him out and just as he was removing those first important parts, the buck jumped to his feet and tried to get away. Luckily, he was tied to the tree and my Dad finished him off.

After telling this story to a coworker once, he shared a story about a guy having a similar experience with a bull elk, except the bull was not tied down and ran over the hill. The hunter
then heard another shot and followed the bull over the hill. On the other side of the hill he found another hunter with the dead bull. A discussion ensued about whose bull it was, but when the first hunter pointed out that his elk tag was already on the bull's anter, the second guy who finished it off was willing to give it up.

One of the saddest posts I have seen on this forum was a few years back. Some kid had shot a really nice buck and posted a picture he had taken of the buck standing up just before it ran away. After shooting the buck he had grabbed his camera before checking to see if it was finished. After the photo and before he could get his gun up, the buck was gone. He never found the deer.

Sometimes I worry about sharing these types of stories on here, but it is good for us to learn from each other. Wise men learn from their experiences. VERY wise men learn from other's experiences.

Soup
 
LAST EDITED ON Nov-20-18 AT 06:27PM (MST)[p]The only one I ever lost was in Washington state in The Tucannon. I got a shot and hit a leg somehow. That buck went until the blood trail disappeared and I looked for 9 hours and no more sign.
 
The only one I ever lost was in Fish Lake area and I was using a .270 I had bought for the first time. I always used my 30.06 back then but wanted to try the .270 because of Jack Connors.
We'll I went to the top early on the second day of the general season and saw two bucks about 150 yards from me. I got a good rest and hammered the buck, when I shot he rolled down the hill and tried to get up but fell.
I walked over to where he fell and no buck lot's of blood and tracks that were wild and all over the place. I thought for sure I would find that buck but after two days no buck. He even went straight down hill like they do when they are done.
Still makes me sick to this day, he was a great buck one of the old Fish Lake bucks that you don't see anymore.
 
I have lost a couple of wounded animals in my life and like the rest of you it's one of the worst feelings on earth. Looking for days on end with the end result tearing up my tag and waiting for next year. Even though going back to the sight many times with hope of finding the animal. That is how I learned if you draw blood and don't find the animal you tear up the tag. I turned 60 this year. I have been into hardcore hunting for the last 40 years. I see today?s young hunters first of all not wanting to wait there turn for a tag they think they deserve one. I have heard and seen these guys shoot an animal look for an hour with no luck and off they go to kill another one. All to get their picture on a poster. Tear up your tag and be responsible.
 
Boom! A modest 24" 4x4 goes down hard. After watching with my 15's for a couple of minutes, we determine buck is dead. We need to hurry the half mile back to the truck and get our pack frames as the sun has gone down and we need to cross this deep ravine asap. Upon our arrival we discovered that indeed the buck is NOT dead! Did we bring a firearm? No. So as both sons hold the buck down by his antlers, I proceed to cut deeply around his neck with my knife.with a quick snap the head and upper neck is free from the rest of the body. As we move away from the headless carcass the buck jumps up and takes a couple steps before collapsing where he eventually succumbs.
Never seen that happen and hope I never experience such an ordeal again.
Thanks for the pist Bess.
 
>I have lost a couple of
>wounded animals in my life
>and like the rest of
>you it's one of the
>worst feelings on earth. Looking
>for days on end with
>the end result tearing up
>my tag and waiting for
>next year. Even though going
>back to the sight many
>times with hope of finding
>the animal. That is how
>I learned if you draw
>blood and don't find the
>animal you tear up the
>tag. I turned 60 this
>year. I have been into
>hardcore hunting for the last
>40 years. I see today?s
>young hunters first of all
>not wanting to wait there
>turn for a tag they
>think they deserve one. I
>have heard and seen these
>guys shoot an animal look
>for an hour with no
>luck and off they go
>to kill another one. All
>to get their picture on
>a poster. Tear up your
>tag and be responsible.

I couldn't have said it better!?
 
>I have lost a couple of
>wounded animals in my life
>and like the rest of
>you it's one of the
>worst feelings on earth. Looking
>for days on end with
>the end result tearing up
>my tag and waiting for
>next year. Even though going
>back to the sight many
>times with hope of finding
>the animal. That is how
>I learned if you draw
>blood and don't find the
>animal you tear up the
>tag. I turned 60 this
>year. I have been into
>hardcore hunting for the last
>40 years. I see today?s
>young hunters first of all
>not wanting to wait there
>turn for a tag they
>think they deserve one. I
>have heard and seen these
>guys shoot an animal look
>for an hour with no
>luck and off they go
>to kill another one. All
>to get their picture on
>a poster. Tear up your
>tag and be responsible.

I couldn't have said it better!
 
>I have lost a couple of
>wounded animals in my life
>and like the rest of
>you it's one of the
>worst feelings on earth. Looking
>for days on end with
>the end result tearing up
>my tag and waiting for
>next year. Even though going
>back to the sight many
>times with hope of finding
>the animal. That is how
>I learned if you draw
>blood and don't find the
>animal you tear up the
>tag. I turned 60 this
>year. I have been into
>hardcore hunting for the last
>40 years. I see today?s
>young hunters first of all
>not wanting to wait there
>turn for a tag they
>think they deserve one. I
>have heard and seen these
>guys shoot an animal look
>for an hour with no
>luck and off they go
>to kill another one. All
>to get their picture on
>a poster. Tear up your
>tag and be responsible.

Bingo!
I know a guy who stuck and lost two big bulls on Dutton during the archery season this year, kept hunting and recovered his third bull.
Proud as punch, posted pics all over social media.
 
You'd be surprised how many animals (elk in particular) that had been shot before and did not die come into our processing plant every year.

Not every wounded animal dies...
 
My utah Buick in 2016 got hit low in the front shoulder/ brisket with a muzzleloader. I killed him opening day of rifle and he was in really bad shape, fevered up. We debated even packing out the meat, but did in the end. My tag was cut and I took home my biggest buck at the time. All of the meat was bad, took it to a butcher to get his opinion.

My buck this year im not positive what happened for sure? I hit him a bit forward with my bow right at dusk, decided to back out and leave him over night. He only went about 100 yards but was still alive when we found him. Another arrow and he was done. He was fevered up more than my utah buck. I field dressed him and took him home to skin. He smelled really bad skinning off the back quarters and when I got to the rib cage the skin fell off to his shoulder and the smell made me puke...

Not every animal hit dies, but not every one that is hit is salvageable meat after.

4b1db2ac644136c4.jpg
 

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