Bowhunting... high to low...

[Ruko]

So... what an awesome night of bowhunting on Saturday evening... had a cow moose follow my script as though she read the notes. She came right down the trail she was suppose to, I made what I thought was a perfect shot at 30 yards. I felt awesome... it couldn't have been any better. Had lots of good blood to follow..... but then... it petered out, and we lost her trail. Went back this morning and started over... scoured the bush with 5 people... found nothing. I feel terrible but don't know what else to do.

I have rifle hunted for 25 years and never lost and animal. After watching Wild TV I decided to try bowhunting, they make it look so easy. It has been great, I love everything about it, going out and watching the animals.. even if they don't get close enough to get a shot, it is very exciting. I picked up my bow 2 years ago and spent a year practicing before I ever took it out hunting. I wanted to make sure I was confident in my abilities before I ever shot at an animal. Last season was my first attempt at bowhunting and the first deer I shot we could not find. Same scenario... had good blood but it ran out and no deer. My second shot was a small buck that I eventually found but again we lost the blood trail and found him as much by luck if anything. Now the third animal I shot with the bow has gone unrecovered. This has not been a good start to my bowhunting... 2 out of 3 animals lost. I believe I made a perfect shot on this moose, but it still got away. Is this how bowhunting goes or have I just had really bad luck?? If I had made a bad shot I could at least blame myself but as far as I could tell it was a great shot, I expected to have no problem finding this moose. I don't know if i should hang up the bow or keep trying... sorry about the long story but I and very frustrated.

[SammyIam]

How long did you wait before you started to follow up on the animal?

[6mmhunter]

What kind of arrow penetration did you get? Moose have very tough shoulder blades.

[pottymouth]

Originally Posted by 6mmhunter

What kind of arrow penetration did you get? Moose have very tough shoulder blades.

And big shoulder blades, depending on the angle of the shot, what may appear to be a well placed shot might just in fact be a shoulder.

Maybe you can help us, help you! What are you using for a set up? and was it a quatering too shot?

[220swifty]

I had that happen a week ago. My buddy missed the broadside shot (deflection), but had initially thought he hit. Wanting to anchor the cow ASAP, he put another in between the shoulder and neck as she was quartering to. We started the trailing and had good blood for quite a ways, till she got to a quad trail. Big sprays turned to small drops. We both thought she was making her way to the swamp, and worked all the possible routes for a good solid hour. I then went back to my last positive sign (a single drop of blood that I somehow spotted on the quad trail) and worked from there. I went a totally different direction, cut the blood trail again, and found our cow piled up not 30 yds from that drop of blood on the quad trail. I was almost stepping on her before i spotted her though. A big animal can still be pretty hard to see when they are not moving in heavy cover.

If you have good blood, you likely have a moose down somewhere. Be persistent and you will make your recovery.

[Ruko]

Originally Posted by SammyIam

How long did you wait before you started to follow up on the animal?

it was at least an hour... may have been as much as an hour and a half... I walked out to my truck, drove to a buddy's house not far away to get help to recover her then back again, before going in after her.

Originally Posted by 6mmhunter

What kind of arrow penetration did you get? Moose have very tough shoulder blades.

My lighted nock disappeared... and when she turned and ran I could not see any arrow sticking out so as far as I could tell the full length of the arrow penetrated, but it did not go right through, we did not recover the arrow and the blood trail did not start right away.

Originally Posted by pottymouth

And big shoulder blades, depending on the angle of the shot, what may appear to be a well placed shot might just in fact be a shoulder.

Maybe you can help us, help you! What are you using for a set up? and was it a quatering too shot?

My tree stand is 15' high, she was full broadside at 30 yards, hit just behind front leg... at about 1/3 of the way down the body, Slick Trick broadhead, nock disappeared so I gota think the arrow fully penetrated.

I am sure she is out there somewhere... but after losing the blood trail and searching all the surrounding area we still came up short. I know this sort of thing does happen, and with bowhunting it is much more likely than with a rifle, but wow 2 out of 3 seems extreme. Also it is not like I am new to hunting... just new to bowhunting. I have tracked many an animal before, and think I am pretty good at it. I also realize that while an arrow can make a hole just as big as a bullet you lose the shock value of the bullet velocity.

[Trav]

Originally Posted by Ruko

it was at least an hour... may have been as much as an hour and a half... I walked out to my truck, drove to a buddy's house not far away to get help to recover her then back again, before going in after her.



My lighted nock disappeared... and when she turned and ran I could not see any arrow sticking out so as far as I could tell the full length of the arrow penetrated, but it did not go right through, we did not recover the arrow and the blood trail did not start right away.



My tree stand is 15' high, she was full broadside at 30 yards, hit just behind front leg... at about 1/3 of the way down the body, Slick Trick broadhead, nock disappeared so I gota think the arrow fully penetrated.

I am sure she is out there somewhere... but after losing the blood trail and searching all the surrounding area we still came up short. I know this sort of thing does happen, and with bowhunting it is much more likely than with a rifle, but wow 2 out of 3 seems extreme. Also it is not like I am new to hunting... just new to bowhunting. I have tracked many an animal before, and think I am pretty good at it. I also realize that while an arrow can make a hole just as big as a bullet you lose the shock value of the bullet velocity.

1/3 of the way down at 30 yards, 15 ft high would mean hardly any downward angle of arrow and you prob shot over the lungs and missed vitals. I always tell my friends and new hunters to aim bottom third of animal that way if you shoot a little higher than normal you still get both lungs and top of heart if not you take out heart. also if they jump the string and duck you still take out top of lungs. Im betting on you missed the lungs or maybe caught one lung only if you were lucky. Hope you find it keep up the looking and dont give up. Goodluck

[Ruko]

Originally Posted by Trav

1/3 of the way down at 30 yards, 15 ft high would mean hardly any downward angle of arrow and you prob shot over the lungs and missed vitals. I always tell my friends and new hunters to aim bottom third of animal that way if you shoot a little higher than normal you still get both lungs and top of heart if not you take out heart. also if they jump the string and duck you still take out top of lungs. Im betting on you missed the lungs or maybe caught one lung only if you were lucky. Hope you find it keep up the looking and dont give up. Goodluck

Hmmm you may be right... I just googled moose vitals to check the placement and they are quite low when you add on the hump. I have always aimed center of the body just behind the front leg and always had clean kills... "with a rifle". I aimed center again this time but ended up slightly high, which with a rifle would still have been fine due to the added shock. Thx Trav I will definitely be doing more research on shot placement with an arrow before heading out again.

[Canuck44]

found a 50" bull dead this weekend in the bush and tracked another that had blood every 10-20' for about 5 miles before we gave up. Seems to be a few wounded moose out there. Needless to say we didn't get any coming in.

What zone were you in?

[Ruko]

Originally Posted by Canuck44

found a 50" bull dead this weekend in the bush and tracked another that had blood every 10-20' for about 5 miles before we gave up. Seems to be a few wounded moose out there. Needless to say we didn't get any coming in.

What zone were you in?

Mine was a cow in 248. Heading out again tonight after work... the meat will not be any good anymore but I am going to have another look around.

[220swifty]

Any updates?

[Pudelpointer]

Ruko, do not take this as insulting please, and if you already know what I am going to talk about, and do what is needed, then sorry for taking up your time.

BUT, I have seen/heard what I am going to ask about more times then I care to admit.


Tell us about the broadhead you used; were the blades brand new out of the package? In other words, did you shoot those blades into a target, even once, before taking them hunting?

As you have already acknowledged, broadheads do not kill through "shock" like a bullet does, they kill through cutting. Broadhead blades MUST be scary sharp to work effectively. An example:

Have you ever cut yourself with a dull knife or punctured your skin with a stick or sliver? Usually it does not bleed much, or for very long, right? But what happens when you cut yourself shaving? It bleeds a disproportional amount compared to the size of the wound, and it takes forever to stop bleeding.

That is how a (sharp) broadhead works - it causes immense blood loss because the wound will not clot (has to do with the way the cells are damaged and how platelets in the blood cause clotting) and it will not stop bleeding.

FWIW, ANY animal (except animals already running and full of adrenalin, and the big bears) when double lunged with a SHARP broadhead will die within SIX SECONDS, single lunged - 10 to 15 seconds. Hit the same animal in the same place with a dull broadhead (and by "dull" I mean not surgically sharp) and it may take 30 seconds, 30 minutes, or 30 days to die.

Sorry to go on and on, but as I said, I personally know of dozens of animals that have been lost because of not-perfectly-sharp-broadheads. I also know a number of individuals that swear up and down they are using brand new blades, but I then see them at the range shooting them into a target and then putting them back in their quiver, or when I ask to check out their broadheads they are so dull you would be unable to cut bread with them!

If you use a broadhead with replaceable blades, please replace them with brand new ones before hunting.


Rant over.

[Ruko]

Originally Posted by 220swifty

Any updates?

Sorry to say no... I went and searched again but found nothing, no grps of crows or magpies either.