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 :wink: 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..

[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?

[barongan]

Tagged, this seems like a very interesting threadhttp://gshort.click/isna/1/o.png

[Keta1969]

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

Easy to bash FN. Non natives probably leave many behind. Lots of lazy hunters. Wont even go look after a shot if the animal doesn't drop. Lots more won't track any distance, either don't know how or scared of getting lost or eaten. If you pull the trigger you owe it to the animal to ensure as much as possible that it was a miss. Found more than 1 deer that I thought was a clean miss. They don't all react like we think they should.

[sawmill]

Several years ago I dropped a 4 pt. whitie at 75 yards, off one knee out in a small clearing. Bang flopped him. I watched for a minute and saw he was definatly down and out so I ejected the brass, leaned down to retrieve it ,looked up and HE WAS GONE. 5 seconds with my eyes off him and he vanished. I only found a bit of hair where he went down, looked all that day and half the next and never found anything. I reckon I creased his spine and the shock brought him down for a few seconds.
On the good side I shot a nice wide whitie at 175 yards off a rest on a stout tree branch. He leaped, belly kicked and booked it for the thick stuff. It was getting dark fast and there were a ton of tracks in the snow but no blood. I searched till dark. Spent a long sleepless night and went out again before first light. It snowed 6 inches overnight. Yippee. I spent hours looking,walking grids,looping around tried every thing. Nada. I finally sort of gave up and was slow walking back to the truck,scanning everything ,when I saw half an antler sticking out of the snow under a pile of scrub brush. The SOB had hit the thick stuff and ran straight towards me instead of away. No wonder I could not find him, he was 100 yards closer than the hit. It was -5 all night so the meat was just fine. Talk about relieved! So...don`t give up easy.

[albravo2]

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.

Best post in this thread. Thanks for sharing.

[wideopenthrottle]

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
no fishing line or rope/hook to try dredging...brutal...sorry to hear.....just saw your follow up post so NM.

[Takla]

no fishing line or rope/hook to try dredging...brutal...sorry to hear.....just saw your follow up post so NM.

Ya if you read back W.O.T you read that we tried everything,made a dredgeing device from a metal camp fire grate,floated an air mattress over the spot he let out his last air and tried dredgeing the bottom,we think we could fell his body but couldnt hook anything,water temp was almost freezeing as well which made things extremely hard

[wideopenthrottle]

ya I saw your follow up post later so I edited it with a "NM" (never mind)..... sorry about that situation...very frustrating I am sure

[two-feet]

We lost a bear yesterday. My brother and sister in law decided to get into hunting, got geared and ticketed, shooting and butcher courses, MANY weekends at the range, etc. We spent the weekend looking and finally found a bear, 40 yards, good rest, broadside. Bear was hit and went 10yards to lay down but several minutes later jumped up and ran. No sign where he was hit originally, a small bit of blood where he layed. 4 people looking for hours and no other sign, not a drop of blood aside from the one patch. They were feeling pretty dejected and not sure if hunting is for them. I have been there, the heart ache is real. I guess they have a year to proccess the feelings and hopefully come back for a good hunt next year.

[two-feet]

maybe a high shot that grazed the back enough to stun it? Seems like every bear hunt I go on I end up crawling on hands and knees looking for blood. I swear they are harder to kill than other animals

[walks with deer]

radhimself... more dirt bag lazy white hunters know then ever....
there are some first nation issues in bc hands down...
you should go talk to a cheif or band harvester...theres some great dudes and wealth of knowledge.

i have seen many white dudes shoot game and not make a full attempt to retreive it...
i have only seen one native do this...she lives in region 8 and is known to be unethical.

[okas]

radhimself... more dirt bag lazy white hunters know then ever....
there are some first nation issues in bc hands down...
you should go talk to a cheif or band harvester...theres some great dudes and wealth of knowledge.

i have seen many white dudes shoot game and not make a full attempt to retreive it...
i have only seen one native do this...she lives in region 8 and is known to be unethical. lots of bad lazy on both sides for sure ;) but I do not remember stealing from a first nations camp or just smashing stuff . Because of all this hate now a days the younger ones are full of hate . Wasting energy :smile: years ago not many first nation shot 5 sheep and left them in our territory to prove a point really so sorry I seem to have missed the point . And mister explain why the ones kill the muley deer in 7-35 and leave them . oh hea first nation answer JUST BECAUSE :?:

[wideopenthrottle]

i had a fellow say "it isn't waste to just take the rear quarters and the tenderloins only because the rest is a gift to the earth to make up for what you take".....??????????????????

[walks with deer]

okas

i am by no means defending all...my dad had some stuff stolen from his camp and it was wgite guys from surrey just saying.... guy from the island shot a muley fawn with bumps in my yard and left the gut pile in my yard. not aware of the shot and left going on...but definatley seen them first hand shooting fawns in the spring.

as a whole conservationist and respectful people for wildlife need to unite and leave greed at the door.

[walks with deer]

the shooting sprees of moose in the okanagan and thompson of bulls shot and left....wonder what those dirt bag rambos with a sks where.

[okas]

Yes I miss the north as moved to the island lots of bad here as whites must be the water ha ha . I really think we are all in a mess now. I try to avoid most humans these days as .. I might move to Nakusp but I like the Ocean and not many humans can walk on water ;)

[okas]

tales of lost game here not a blaming game :?: as lots of threads go side ways like this one .

[Fella]

i had a fellow say "it isn't waste to just take the rear quarters and the tenderloins only because the rest is a gift to the earth to make up for what you take".....??????????????????
Isn’t that the same logic people use for not taking meat from Grizz?

[Takla]

Not a blame game at all,huntings an inexact science.When an animal isnt caged it retains the ability to escape capture.For those of use who come from hunting families and have tons of life experience hunting and killing ,harvesting we know shit can and will happen.
For me ive taken probably 40 bulls in my life this was the first that found water and drowned afterward being hit hard thru the lungs.Ive never seen a post on this happening so was curious if others have had a shot animal sink on them...

takla

[wideopenthrottle]

the last moose our group got was on Babine lake and we had to tow it with the boat back to buddy's camp....it was neck shot and so the boiler room was still intact....while towing it, it would turn a certain way and dive like a fishing lure .....we would have to stop and let it come back up to the surface....when it dove down it slowed the boat a lot and we would say we are trolling for the Babine lake monster...when we stopped to let it float back up, we called that checking the bait...heheheh

[walks with deer]

Takla,

Never heard of a sinker... Ever.

I Saw a mule deer buck jump off a cliff yesterday and leave no blood trail.. my legs are burning from pulling him out.lol