Tales of 'Lost Game'

[Takla]

Thought id start a thread on stories of game that got away after a clean hit,its happened to us all if youve been a hunter for some time.What prompted this is we just got in from a 9 day moose hunt only to lose our bull 30 yrds off shore in a small lake after i put two rounds thru his chest cavity 2@ 60 yrds.We found numerous rib fragments littering a road he crossed on the way down to the lake and buckets of blood in two seperate beds and all the way down the cutblock .Heard him bellowing as he sunk just off shore and seen him release the last of his air.....Shot on the morning of the 27th.We had hoped he might rise up as gas's building up in him but no luck after 3 days...
This bull could have ran off and died in any number of places,this was a first for me after 40 plus yrs of hunting to have a game animal sink in a lake

takla

[okas]

Nailed a big bull at day break went strait down. Just laid there it for a while so I did a loop scouting only came back looked over still there zig zagged over the bank got there Bull gone just a piece of antler form the base left behind . now I go right to them as the bird in hand . Lucky me worked my way back to a skid trail got a young bull easy to pack easy to eat

[caddisguy]

I was out mule deer hunting in 3-26 a number of years ago. I took a poke at a buck about 100 yards away using the bark of a stump at a rest. The bark gave way simultaneously with the trigger being squeezed past the point of no return. I still figured it was a good hit, but I watched the buck and doe wander off about 150 yards to the treeline and then disappear.

Still probably certain it was a good shot, I waited a while and then went to ground zero. No blood, no nothing. I followed the entire path they took to the tree line, over the same logs and nothing at all. Having heard stories about not finding blood or fur, I searched feverishly all day to no avail and came back the next morning to see if there was bird activity. Nothing.

I was back up there the following week with my wife and wanted to push the treeline from the other way. Almost stepped on it... same buck half eaten and mostly buried in the dirt. It looked fresh... smelled pretty fresh too... eye balls still in tact. Decided it would be a good time to re-trace my steps the heck out of there, same way we came in.

To this day I have no idea if I hit that buck and contributed to its death or if it was just a coincidence. I thought about it constantly for almost a year after.

Other than that, I haven't "lost" any animals, but I did have to trail a bear that I accidentally liver shot. I thought I probably lost him when I saw from the trail he starting going uphill... found him no problem though.

[butcher]

Lost two bears over the years with arrows in them. One good hit and one bad. Both got to a river and disappeared.

nothing like a sinking moose though. That really sucks.

[walks with deer]

takla are you saying he hit the lake and sunk????
i would think that would be rare with a moose. ..

wounded moose always head for a lake...

i had a bear jump in a freshet swollen creek after i sent a arrow through both lungs and imbeded into the shoulder on the exit side...

i could see the arrow hanging out of the money spot a river of blood coming from his mouth...so i gave him 10 minutes when i walked up he was sprawled out i hit him with a stick and he jumped into a river...

sorry you lost your moose takla..

[Takla]

takla are you saying he hit the lake and sunk????
i would think that would be rare with a moose. ..

wounded moose always head for a lake...

i had a bear jump in a freshet swollen creek after i sent a arrow through both lungs and imbeded into the shoulder on the exit side...

i could see the arrow hanging out of the money spot a river of blood coming from his mouth...so i gave him 10 minutes when i walked up he was sprawled out i hit him with a stick and he jumped into a river...H e had also layed in 2 beds right at the waters edge and lost huge blood,looked like he stood at the last bed and the bank crumbled was lots of weeds in the water there from the banks edge and a bubble trail out 30 yrds where he went down

takla

sorry you lost your moose takla..

I called in two bulls,they were grunting right up towards me ,had a good wind,they came up from the lake.First bull was over 300 yrds then disappear before i could close ground,on the way back to my stand i cow called and another bull came of the hill from ubove me,had no idea i was there,i sent two bullets thru his ribcage,he turned and bolted down toward the lake.Ive,got a handfull of rib bones he pushed out thru the bullet holes where he stood briefly before he went thru 100 yrds of trees lineing the lake.
We could hear him struggleing to breath and as we entered into the grass land around the lake he was already in the water,swam maybe 25 yrds and we watched him go under.Tryed floating out on an air mattress but he was in about 12 ft of water and we couldnt see him down there...We figured he filled up with water as he died then sunk..

[walks with deer]

holy man sorry to hear that..
it rare they sink that sucks....

see any other bulls?

[Takla]

Just those 2 but we were in an inaccessable cutblock,no other hunters,but the entire cutblock had fresh scrapes,a long line of scrapes i was stand hunting along his rut line.Cow tracks everywhere as well but we didnt see any cows they were petty much noctural

Another thing when we first went in there on the 22nd 70 % of the strapes were about a week old,i believe they had minus 5 around the sept 16th so the bulls were down and active before we got there then it warmed up.

[HarryToolips]

^^^^^sorry to hear about your moose.....

i once arrowed a 4 x 3 muley buck with a crossbow, my shot was at 30 yards and was a little too close to the shoulder, I watched him bed down, watched for over an hour, he didn't appear to be dying, so I snuck in closer for a re shot....he caught me and bolted, he made his way down to a river..I let him bolt, gave him time, then proceeded to follow the blood trail..he made his way across a creek, and it took awhile to find the blood trail on the other side, but I eventually did....it was dark by this time, and about 3 hours after the shot...I caught up to him, with my headlamp on, found him bedded but he bolted like a bat outa hell..therefore, I think he lived, or at least I like to believe...

[Takla]

^^^^^sorry to hear about your moose.....

i once arrowed a 4 x 3 muley buck with a crossbow, my shot was at 30 yards and was a little too close to the shoulder, I watched him bed down, watched for over an hour, he didn't appear to be dying, so I snuck in closer for a re shot....he caught me and bolted, he made his way down to a river..I let him bolt, gave him time, then proceeded to follow the blood trail..he made his way across a creek, and it took awhile to find the blood trail on the other side, but I eventually did....it was dark by this time, and about 3 hours after the shot...I caught up to him, with my headlamp on, found him bedded but he bolted like a bat outa hell..therefore, I think he lived, or at least I like to believe...

Ya its a shame loseing game when you rely on the meat .This bull had lots of time to bed which he did before we went in after him only problem was it was right on the lakes shore.Deer hunting should work out better im thinking comeing up.Just heard my daughters fatherinlaw shot a young bull outside of 100 mile this morning and is busy packing it out as we speak i will get a taste of that one anyhow..