Tales of 'Lost Game'

[Ourea]

Sad part is at some point a hunter will lose an animal.

It will torture you.

I lost a significant elk in the WK.
Was in spike camp napping around 10am when I heard rocks rolling then a screaming bugle meters from my bivy.

Barefooted I rolled out and was astonished to see a dozen cows and a high 300 bull trotting by....
He quartered away as I put the x on him.
Squeezed at 50 yards.

Bull quivered, stood up on his hind legs, then rolled backwards ass over tea kettle into the alder.
I grabbed some pants, fired the boots on and went to see this bull as he was known to us.

Bull was gone.

Makes me sick to this day.

[338win mag]

Sorry to hear about your lost Moose Takla, thats too bad. Yes I have lost game before, most memorable is the cranker Mule deer I lost, he surprised me as I was walking back to my camper, shot him broadside and must of been abit low in the brisket area, I'm not really sure. I saw him laying there right away but he was in the brush and couldn't get a clear shot at him, he got up and
he ran uphill so I left him alone to lay down, thinking thats what he would do, and he did, then I jumped him and he ran around for abit but I couldn't wait him out as the 2" of snow was melting fast.
He ran about 7-800yds straight down into a valley and so I went down there looking, couldn't find him that day, all the next day, then went back the following weekend and looked for 2 more days trying to see if there were any ravens, I couldn't find anything.
Its a hopeless feeling but part of being a hunter, I think that its important to do all one can to locate any wounded game, still a bad feeling.

[Takla]

Thx 338,Yes thats a tough one to swallow to stand on the shore of the lake and knowing just a short distance is your bull...we tried to make a grapleing hook out of a campfire grate and raked the bottom of the lake with it to try to snag an antler
as well no luck,a boat may have helped .Ive lost one other bull because of not haveing a boat to cross a river in 749 but that was back in the 90's,that one didnt drowned tho..

takla

[Wild one]

Mt goat shot on the nice flat top of the mountain and with his last kicks went down a shale avalanche shoot smashed to bits after pin balling down the mountain. I waited for him to reach the nice flat top and broke both of his shoulders but enough kick in the hind legs to send him over. Worst part happened within 50yards

Felt like slow motion

[caddisguy]

Thx 338,Yes thats a tough one to swallow to stand on the shore of the lake and knowing just a short distance is your bull...we tried to make a grapleing hook out of a campfire grate and raked the bottom of the lake with it to try to snag an antler
as well no luck,a boat may have helped .Ive lost one other bull because of not haveing a boat to cross a river in 749 but that was back in the 90's,that one didnt drowned tho..

takla

How deep do you figure it was? If you were trying to rake for it I am guessing it was too deep to dive down and hook it up? Though next question would be "then what?"

That is such a bummer. I have heard of guys boning out moose deep in the muck but never heard of one sinking. I'm surprised we don't hear more of that TBH.

[Takla]

How deep do you figure it was? If you were trying to rake for it I am guessing it was too deep to dive down and hook it up? Though next question would be "then what?"

That is such a bummer. I have heard of guys boning out moose deep in the muck but never heard of one sinking. I'm surprised we don't hear more of that TBH.

The youngest guy in camp stripped down to underwear and dove in with a rope tied around his waist to see if he could dive down and get a rope around its antlers but couldnt locate it and felt like he was going to go into shock as the water temp was very cold..one try and he was pulled in,next we tried a metal fire grate opened up so it could snag the bull,tied to a 30 ft rope and lanched from an air matress and dragged in,could rack it over his back but couldnt get antler.He was in 10-12 ft of water..Was frustrateing as hell..

takla

[walks with deer]

wow that sucks...

hit a blacktail one night last light he dropped than got up...gave him half hour tracking blood with light there he was standing not a poacher just trying to finish job held light between legs and held on shoulders and fired...saw him fall couldnt find him...called in back up at 1am gave up...back up went in in the morning as i had a pour...he found buck by its hoove sticking out of a hole...close call.

[Takla]

the other guy on our trip was a mariner,worked on ships his entire life,his thought was that the gases in the bulls stumach would eventually float him near the surface but could take weeks.We had a family friend who drowned and was missing for 3 weeks till the gases were sufficient to raise his body and be found.I suppose the wolves will locate him once its iced over

takla

[blu-nsr]

After a long day hunting without as much as a squirrel sighting to show for it, I decided to bail early and get in before dark for once. Tromping along a pipeline right of way I spotted a tree which seemed out of place. Nope. Giant whitetail. GIANT. Like the Hansen buck with the Jordan bucks mass. I don’t care if you believe it. I’m not lying. Hands down biggest buck Ive ever seen (including pictures). He was broadside but down below a small creek cut. I lined up on his spine (all that was showing) and fired. Jump, kick, leap, and gone... I found a plug of hair at the hit and three drops of blood. I tracked until dark but no buck. Called in to work and let them know I wasn’t going to show in the morning. The next day I followed every set of tracks leading out of that creek bed for hundreds of yards on my hands and knees for thirteen hours. No buck. Dejected, distraught, exhausted, and totally sick I headed out toward the truck. On reaching the road I glassed the adjacent ‘private, no hunting, no trespassing’ field and literally dropped my binos. There he was. Four hundred yards. Standing with two small bucks and a doe. I could literally see the blood spot above and ahead of his shoulder. Skinned the back of his neck. What now?!

I hunted that buck relentlessly for five long seasons. On two occasions I could have shot him but on the first the scope was iced over from the freezing rain and on the second there just wasn’t enough light to safely squeeze off. I endured hypothermia from running and trying to cut him off from getting into the private land at -42C. I was almost trampled by an enraged cow moose. I burned through three pairs of boots trying to take that buck.

There was one instance which confirmed my thought about the true size of that deer. I was stalking along that same creek toward the cut line and heard rattling. I snuck close as quick as I could. The rattling turned to jingling! “Bucks don’t jingle” I thought! Coming up the cut line was an old timer with his draft horses hooked to a sleigh. He pulled up and reigned them in. We chatted for a bit and he laughed and said, “so it’s your boot tracks I’ve been seeing in here! You know not many people hunt that way anymore. Keep your eyes open hunting in these woods young man, there’s plenty of nice deer, buts there’s one...” his eyes drifted as if looking into the distance. “There’s one that’s bigger than any deer I’ve seen in my life. And that’s damn sure more years than you’ve been around!” He wished me good luck and snapped the big Percherons into action.

I spotted him one time on the ‘last’ fall. He was gray, and sway backed, and his antlers were down to almost nothing. I could have shot him that day too. He was at 75yards and didn’t even know I was there. I watched him walk away

I learned more about hunting from chasing that deer than you can possibly imagine, and every time I see that patch of woods I smile.

[RadHimself]

I wonder how many animals have been Killed by FN over the years, but were left to rot because the winch couldnt reach them?