What would you have done?

muzzy100 · Oct 18, 2011

Got call yesterday afternoon from cousin who's dad is the one hunting in Unit 15. They were coming back from Alpine where he had gone to purchase a spare tire since he had a blow-out on one of his trailer tires on the way up friday. They decide to take a side road on their way back to camp when they see a bull. He says his dad hit a big 6x6 and he went crashing down the little hill and fell. His dad could not shoot again cause he only took the muzzleloader with them to Alpine and forgot to take pouch with reloading stuff. Bull got up and took a few steps and then fell again. They stayed watching expecting him to die and after a while he got up again and walked off. They went down to where the bull fell second time to check blood sign and foud a good blood trail. As they do this a polaris ranger with 3 guys goes by and shortly after they hear two shots. They start heading back to truck and see polaris pass by in other direction with only one guy. The go down road and do not see anyone. Couple hours later cousin calls again when he had service and says they met up with the guys and they had gotten the bull and it winds up being a 7x7. I ask if the guys gave it to my cousin's dad since it was eventually goin to die from his shot. Cousin says they didnt raise the issue. What would you have done?

SweetBull · Oct 18, 2011

Chalk that one up to being unprepared and let it go. When hunting elk, every little bit counts. Always have your reloading pouch when hunting with a 'loader, even when driving to the store and back. Just like you said, you decided to 'hunt' a different road on the way back. Since you were technically hunting, you need to doublecheck that you are not missing any important items - such as ammunition .... next time you wont make that mistake again!

WapitiBob · Oct 18, 2011

Lots of those elk that are "going to die" never get found.
The other guys killed it, congratulate them and move on.

NMPaul · Oct 18, 2011

Ask to take a picture. Makes for an interesting story and go kill a big bull.

scottr · Oct 18, 2011

I agree with the rest...if you were more prepared (had extra ammo) you would have been able to close the deal. I really hope you get another chance at a big bull...so it doesn't leave too bad of a taste for the hunt.

Good luck.

Gator · Oct 18, 2011

Hope you find a bigger one. But that bull is gone and nothing will change it.
Here the deal they said they heard 2 shots, Maybe one guy of those guy missed. BUT the bull has 2 holes in him so they claim they both hit him, They might not know your Cuz dad had already hit him once.
Or there could be 3 holes and they are thinking a sabot split up and make more holes. It a no win deal for sure.

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Iowan · Oct 18, 2011

I would stop road hunting then the chances of this happening are gratly reduced.

mozey · Oct 18, 2011

Agree with what others have said here--chalk that one up to a lesson learned. The other hunters had no way of knowing whether that bull was going to die from the first shot. All they knew was there was a big bull still alive (and a wounded one at that), and they had a tag and the means to put it down for good. Sucks big time that your friends lost out on nice bull (I've been there myself), but based on what you've described, I don't think there was any injustice to them. That's just a part of hunting.

Ask yourself this: if you were a friend of the guy that ended up tagging the bull, and he told you that he saw a wounded bull and had no way of knowing who had shot it or whether they were still after it, and then after he puts it down somebody shows up and says, "thanks for finishing off my bull for me, I was out of bullets", would you feel that the new guy was entitled to the bull that your buddy put down?