a challenge to tell your lost animal story...

[adubs]

Ok, this is another spin on Grizz's thread. We've all heard the saying "if ya hunt long enough you're going to lose an animal". I posted my story on his thread and on the NM forum. I've had pm's and posts supporting our decisions and down right nasty messages and posts criticizing our decisions/actions. My challenge in hopes to pass on experiences for others to learn from is to have everyone who reads this, post their story of the worst experience while hunting, losing an animal you hit. It's not so everyone can get blasted for making bad decisions but maybe someone will read your story and it will prevent them from making the same mistake. We've all seen how many people responded to the wasatch lost bull thread and the critics immediately piled on. I'm curious to see how many of you are batting 1000% and have never lost an animal and just how many of you will be honest and share your story?? If you truly have never lost an animal feel free to say you're batting 1000%. If however you have lost an animal elk, deer, or otherwise?

I bet the woods would be pretty empty if the only people allowed to hunt were the ones who had never lost and animal, they'd all probably be pretty young too. So lets hear your story!

 

[Tristate]

I don't think people here had a problem with you losing an animal.

I will go ahead and tell you I have lost game after I shot it. It has happened to me more than once. I would never ever shoot a different animal while doing search/recovery for another animal.

 

[mntman]

Sitting here, I remember losing three. One was a whitetail I shot with a rifle when I was 12, a muley a couple years ago, the last was an elk a few years ago archery hunting. Might be another but can't remember right now. Also, I am now 36 years old.

Whitetail was likely a brisket or leg shot (flesh), never recovered and shot a spike 2 weeks later to fill my tag with my first deer. Didn't truly understand angles yet, plus I was rushing the shot.

Muley was a buck that I shot off hand while peaking over a ridge at about 175 yards. Had I just ducked down and crouched closer I would have had a steadier shot (dead buck). Never could figure out where I hit this guy.

Elk was a broadside shot at 40 yards down a very steep angle. Got excited and steep angle only had me hitting 1 lung, should have accounted for it. Then to compound the issue, I started tracking too early (45 minutes) and jumped the bull in the dark, rained late in the night and never seen him again.

yes I attempted to fill my tag with a different animal after searching for first animal in each instance and will again. The elk I searched for 2 days. I even went back the next week and again during rifle season.
If a person puts in a reasonable amount of effort to find the animal then I don't have a problem with shooting another animal.
I don't feel its ok to shoot an animal, look for a few minutes then head off for another. Big difference between the two, I know many don't agree with that and that is ok with me, you have your beliefs and I have mine.

Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"


>wah wah wah......
a certain individuals response on 8/12/2014 to anyone that commits suicide.
http://www.monstermuleys.info/dcforum/DCForumID11/19864.html
There are many things that would be nice to wish for or say but then I would be just like him.

 

[Founder]

I've lost a few. Some were poor shot decisions with archery tackle. Years ago in my first days of archery hunting, I hit some bucks too high.....above the spine from a treestand. I like to think the shots were high enough that the bucks survived, but.....?????
I definitely appreciate the much faster shooting bow and rangefinder I have today.

Two years ago I shared my hunt in Colorado that showed me hitting a buck too high with my rifle. The bullet went through the bucks face and hit high above shoulder. I was, still am, sick about that one for sure. I feel like crap, but I made the best shot I could. I was within a comfort range, had a solid rest, just shot a few inches high.

Back in 2003 I took a shot at a whopper buck in Wyoming. He was over 200". I had scouted him, was right there opening morning, but in an effort to catch it on video I talked myself into taking a shot that was too far. Just out of my comfort range. I think it was a 400 yard shot when I knew I only felt really comfortable to 300. That was stupid!! Still to this day I'm not absolutely certain that I even hit him, but I think I did.

I lost another in Wyoming another year. On that one, I felt good. It was a fairly easy shot. He dropped like a rock. But then jumped up and ran straight down off the mountain. There was fresh snow so the tracking was actually easy, but slow going. He went about 3/4 mile before I lost the blood. I lost it because it was so warm after the storm that he bled on top of the snow and down lower it had melted in the few hours before I got down there. I searched and searched, but no good. Bleeding on top of the snow and the snow melting away never crossed my mind that day until I got down low. The whole tracking job I thought for sure I'd get him.

So I'm guilty of wounding a few. Feel crappy about them all and they're all a learning experience. I'm definitely not perfect.

Brian Latturner
MonsterMuleys.com
Will you LIKE MonsterMuleys.com on Facebook! I need a friend....

 

[2_Point]

Wounding occurs. How a hunter reacts to the situation is the important part. Hunt only for the one that was wounded or shoot another and then even possibly shoot another.

I have wounded a couple deer over the years which we never recovered. I did not shoot another. Learned that lesson from my Pop who wounded a small buck and we spent the next days looking for that one deer while passing many trophy quality bucks. Antlers are more important than ethics for too many hunters.

 

[stillhunterman]

I've never lost an animal, but have come close a few times. Hurried shots, unsteady rest, uncontrolled adrenalin all contributed to bad shots and the resultant tracking. Things happen on the hunt, some under our control, some not. As has been said, it's what happens after a mishap that is the measure of the hunter. I agree with mntman's point of view.




There's a reason momma made you eat your vegetables! It works for mule deer too, just ask me how!

 

[CPAjeff]

Luckily I have never lost a big game animal, but I do realize that there is a high possibility that I will lose one it two over the course of the next decades of hunting. A while back, a started a thread called "wounded bulls" on the elk forum that dealt with an individual who lost three different bulls prior to shooting and tagging the fourth. The type of attitude this individual had that shot four bulls, hurts everyone who hopes to draw a great tag in the future. My personal belief is that it's one tag for one animal, independent if the animal is found or not. Just my $.02.

 

[wildfin]

In africa a drop of blood is a filled tag. It will be another trophy fee to shoot at another.

 

[wildfin]

In africa a drop of blood is a filled tag. to shoot another is a new trophy fee

 

[DW]

Yep I lost 2 whitetails growin up (in my teens) in minnesota. It's a shotgun only area back b4 rifled barrels and scopes. Wanna try somethin interesting sometime take yer bird gun out with a pocket full of the old foster type slugs and let em fly at 50yds with nothin more than that front bead! That's been nearly 30yrs and over 100 animals ago. Sageadvice has a signature to his posts that should b read and followed by all! Now that's not to say I haven't missed a few clean along the way also. That's better than wounding but no less disappointing and inexcusable! The 1 simple fact is if u put 1 right behind the shoulder on a broadside animal thru both lungs they won't go much over 100yds! Good luck men,shoot straight!

 

[Stonefly]

My lost animal story is on another thread, I believe it wa grizz's thread. I dont want to retype it again here. I will say that I shot the Elk within my comfort range, Was not excited until after the shot, Followed the blood trail to its end, And spent probably 15 -20 hours looking for it even after realizing it would be spoiled. to this day I cannot understand what went wrong. Myself and every member of my family have taken Elk, Some were easy to recover some difficult. There has not been a hunt since that one that I don't talk about it at the fire.

 

[trophymuley]

I've hit 3 big game animals I haven't recovered out of 25 (6 rifle, 19 archery) in 13 years of hunting. I have tagged one rotten deer. The three that I didn't recover, one hit the shoulder blade of a spike elk, one was high on a deer. (Below the spine and above the lungs). And the other can only be explained as a pure perfect pass through on a cow elk which entered high in the lungs behind the front shoulder and exited low, right behind the joint on the front leg. The elk had to be possessed to live after that shot but it somehow did! I continued hunting for those specific animals for the rest of the hunts. I even passed up other opportunities to shoot. Two of them healed up perfectly and lived on. The spike I hit in the shoulder blade I never saw for the rest of the hunt but did get a trail camera picture of him three days after the hunt and he seemed ok. Like I stated in the other thread, if you draw blood from an animal on any hunting ranch, that is your animal. Bought and paid for. Even if you don't recover it. It should be the same in the wild. Life is a precious thing and it should never be taken lightly. If you wound an animal it should be your responsibility to finish the job or eat tag soup trying.

 

[DW]

Trophy are u tellin me u double lunged a cow and she lived?

 

[trophymuley]

Yeah. It kinda freaked me out a little bit. I Tracked her a mile to her bed. She stood up and let me see both sides of her. You could see both 1 1/2 inch 3 bladed broadhead holes on both sides. She wasn't bleeding at that point. I watched her all that day and the next and she began feeding and walking around like normal. To this day it boggles my mind as to how in the crap she lived. My only guess is that the arrow somehow passed right over the top lung and under the second. Other than that, I'm still confused about that one.

 

[Cornhusker]

I shot my first deer with and inaccurate slug gun 43 years ago in Iowa at the age of 12. I had never lost a deer until 3 years ago archery it was my fault broadside shot buck laying in his bed 53 yards about 10 yards out of my range. ( I know most people are better than 40 yards I'm not) I made a fairly good shot although limited penetration and a little low I watched him walk over the hill 20 minutes later I walked over the hill and flushed him from his death bed. I looked for him for 3 days and finally found him less than a half mile away the meat was ruined and I didn't have the stomach to cut off the rack. I still regret it.

I've taken over 100 deer rifle 12 archery, 19 antelope, 3 elk and 23 different african species and been lucky enough to generally get clean kills which I think are usually possible if you use judgement. I'm not judging anybody on whether they are taking at risk shots which have a limited chance of a clean kill. I do believe some hunters don't understand or don't follow their range and ability levels, and just concentrate on getting one into the animal rather in a vital kill area. I also understand things happen.