Bad Hit

[Elkman]

I wanted to put this out for discussion to see if anyone wanted to talk about it. I finished cutting and wraping the bull that I killed a week ago yesterday. As I said in my earlier post, I did not make a good shot, well now after finishing the cutting and wrapping I have a much better idea of what happened. The bull was traveling down a "steep" hillside, apparently angled slightly more towards me than I thought. He was probably taking a step when I fired. As I described somewhat in my earlier post, the bullet entered high probably 12" + or - behind his near shoulder blade. (This was due to the extreme downhill angle). It then traveled through the upper 1/3 of his vitals behind the liver and into the hindquarter on the far side. There it continued along and went through the main leg bone about 10" below the ball socket. The bullet continued through that bone, through the rest of the hindquarter and then into the timber beyond. This is about 3 feet of pretty dense elk. The bull went about 20 yards out of my sight, layed down and then got up when I got too close, about an hour later. He then ran down hill about 200 + yards or so, where the internal blood loss finally overcame him and he died. The damage to the hindquarter was massive, bone fragments were everywhere and more than half of that rear quarter was lost. No parts or pieces of the bullet were found.
I felt very lucky and blessed to have found him and recovered the meat. If the leg bone had not been broken in two, he would not have been recovered. I was very comfortable with the shot and really expected to find him laying in the timber a few steps from where he was when I shot. Any other stories out there?

 

[russ808]

EM,
I would not call it a bad hit. You shot it, it died and its in your freezer. Sound all good to me.
Russ

 

[DrMike]

Bill,

We've all had (or we will have) shots that didn't turn out quite like we anticipated. It is the part of hunting that none of us enjoy, but it is part of hunting for which we must be prepared. The ethical hunter will do exactly what you did--track the animal and do all within his/her power to recover the game. That will usually result in a recovered animal and additional work for the hunter.

In your case, the animal was hit hard and was assuredly going to die. Unfortunately, death was not as quick as you might have wished, and the animal was able to make a bit of distance. Again, it is instructive to anyone reading this thread to consider the bullet they are using and use enough bullet at sufficient velocity to penetrate. Even a "bad" hit in that instance will ensure that the bullet does extensive damage, creating more potential for internal shock which will slow the animal somewhat in its flight and give a measure of assurance that you will recover the animal after tracking it for a distance. I should think that your response to the shot is more instructive to the casual or novice shooter than the fact that you hit the animal with a less than optimal shot. Animals move and bullets still take a finite time to impact. It is another caution for taking one's time on those longer shots; one step moves the animals a surprising distance in a relatively short time.

 

[.280 Remington]

I'm heading out right now to track because of a screwed up shot. Didn't sleep a wink last night. Just sick

 

[Elkman]

I would not call it a bad hit. You shot it, it died and its in your freezer. Sound all good to me.
Russ

Russ, you are of course right and I also think about it in those terms. The animal was recovered, and we ended up with a lot of excellent meat. I think my frustratrion lies in that, "what if". I have lost a couple of well hit animals in my life, both deer and its a killer for me mentally. If I had not recovered him I would have probably come home. I also fuss about the shot," what if, " I would have waited till the evening and shot when they were going "up" the hill. Then of course recovery would not have been until the next day. I never expect all of my shots to be perfect, thats one of the reason's I "do not" hunt with a light rifle. I am well schooled in the art of shooting at game. I was not excited, I had already ran the shot without the elk in the clearing several times. I guess I may expect a little to much consistency in an ever changing/evolving enviroment.

 

[Elkman]

.280 Remington

I'm heading out right now to track because of a screwed up shot. Didn't sleep a wink last night. Just sick

Good luck, hopefully it will be a short morning !!!!

 

[DrMike]

I'm heading out right now to track because of a screwed up shot. Didn't sleep a wink last night. Just sick

As I say, it has happened to all of us, Mike. I'm pulling for you.

 

[JD338]

Bill,

All is well that ends well. Sounds like you hit him well. All the more reason to use enough gun and good bullets.
Can you PM me a elk steak please. :mrgreen:

JD338

 

[JD338]

I'm heading out right now to track because of a screwed up shot. Didn't sleep a wink last night. Just sick

Good luck buddy.

JD338

 

[jmad_81]

It drives me nuts when something like this happens to me. I'm always very greatfull to recover the animal, but always very upset with myself for not doing better. I know what your talking about.

I made a shot with my 280 AI and a 160 ab on a little four point buck a few years ago that was less than perfect. He was 400 yards out, broadside, and standing still. I tried to break his shoulder, and ened up not using enough elevation. I hit him right under the chest. The bullet went through both front legs, but didn't touch a stich of bone. We saw him "go down" and headed that way. When we got close we couldn't find him and saw him hobbling off about 350 yards away at a very steep quartering away shot. I gave him a bit of a lead and propper elevation and let him have another 160 AB. He was headed for the neighbors and I wanted him down. I lost him after the shot, and my buddies said he went down again. We spent the next four hours searching a 100 acre square looking for him. Three of them were in the dark. We finally found him, dead as can be, with a 160 AB lodged under the hide in the front of his chest.

The deer was recovered, but that shot still bothers me. Keeps me striving to do better.

 

[SJB358]

Good luck Mike! Hope you find him buddy.

We all have bad shots with the best of intentions. It is hunting and as long as we put forth the effort to end it quick, that's what counts. Unfortunately nothing is fast in that hilly area of Oregon! Good end to it Bill.

 

[OU812]

EM as far as I am concerned you did all the right things and to the victor goes the spoils. Did things go as you had hoped or planned? Does not sound like it but if anyone has spend any amount of time hunting and taken enough animals at some point things are not going to go as planned.

Case in point. Last year when I shot my bull I had a good rest across a tree, bull did not seem to know I was there, quartering angle facing me, picked what looked to me a great shooting lane (shooting through timber) to the chest so to catch vitals. Touched the rifle off and saw the bull react to the shot and he took off. Snow on the ground so tracking was easy, (blood and tracks) but he went farther than I figured he should have. When taking the bull apart I found my bullet in the neck with the base of the bullet facing the opposite direction from which I fired. Once we were done I went back to the location of where the bull was standing and found what looked to be a very freshly broken (hit with bullet) branch. I got lucky and the bullet deflected up in to the neck but could have gone the other direction and into the guts.

Hind sight is 20/20 for a reason and most all of us have questioned shots or impacts even when we thought every thing was just right.


Bill

 

[Greg Nolan]

Good luck 280 Remington. I was searching this year too. Found him way farther than I would have thought.

 

[Oldtrader3]

Bill, I think that you have written a good argument for using enough gun and premium bullets on elk. The last 4-point elk that I shot went over 200 yards after taking two .30-06, 180 grain Failsafe bullets at about 140 yards. I was shooting downhill and only clipped the nearside lung (high). The offside lung was destroyed and he was still standing with his head down when I caught up and finished him with another shot through both lungs.

 

[Guy Miner]

Elkman:

"It then traveled through the upper 1/3 of his vitals behind the liver and into the hindquarter on the far side. There it continued along and went through the main leg bone about 10" below the ball socket. The bullet continued through that bone, through the rest of the hindquarter and then into the timber beyond. This is about 3 feet of pretty dense elk. The bull went about 20 yards out of my sight, layed down..."

That actually sounds like a pretty decent hit as well as good bullet performance. We'd all like perfect, but, hunting involves a LOT of real-world stuff which is far less than perfect.

Of course it did get back up and run a couple of hundred yards, but doggone elk are big, tough, strong critters and don't always give up easily. You did good, as did your rifle/bullet.

Congrats. When are you serving elk steak? :grin:

Guy

 

[Elkman]

I was thinking that some here might also share a story or two.? Hopefully we can all learn something from these experiences.

 

[Guy Miner]

I've had a couple of very lucky hits when I made a marksmanship error. Lucked out though and they turned out to be killing shots, just not where I'd intended to place them. Here's a few short stories:

After the second such unintentional head/brain shot, people started wondering if I was really targeting the ear-eye path. It works great but with such a small target I'd hardly recommend it.

Once in the mid 1990's I was setting up for a quick offhand shoulder shot at a moving buck and the sunlight on his antlers distracted me. Suddenly the rifle boomed - and he dropped - bullet through the brain. Lucked out, almost missed him!

Another time I lead a running buck too much and put a bullet into the ear of the buck, and out his eye. Again, instant drop, but I was hoping for a neck or shoulder shot.

Last month the crosshairs wandered a little far back when I shot my buck at 260 yards and either a bullet fragment or a chunk of bone zipped through the diaphragm and opened up his stomach a bit. Instant drop/kill with the damage to the lungs, but a little ucky cleaning him out.

Otherwise - nope - the shots have landed where intended. Have made a couple of complete misses though...

Pronghorn last month. Tired, at the end of a long day. Getting dark. Pronghorn at 260 yards. Broadside. I'm on the shooting sticks, kneeling. Crosshairs are a little wobbly. Looks "okay" not great. Press the trigger as the wobble seems to steady out. Nope. Bullet went right over him into the bank beyond. Antelope run all over the place and no chance to shoot at him again.

A few years ago I saw a decent mulie disappear over a ridge. He was walking, not alarmed, with a doe. I ran up to the top of the ridge, and saw him atop the next ridge. Good backdrop though, yet another ridge. Quickly the laser revealed 400 yards... Gulp. Can do. Am sighted-in at 300 yards. Breathing hard from running up the ridge. Try sitting. Too wobbly. Drop to prone, still breathing a little ragged but think I can steady down enough. Looks pretty good. That's not good enough at 400 I find out. Boom. Miss. Buck and doe run, and run and get away.

I'd rather miss than hit badly. But I'd rather make the good shot. Every time I've missed or made a "lucky" hit I've been glad I didn't end up with wounded game to track. It happens.

Each miss or lucky hit has been a lesson learned. I'd much rather send each bullet into the heart/lungs or through the shoulder of a perfectly still buck, broadside at some exactly known range, under 200 yards. If I counted on that perfect shot every time though, I wouldn't have tagged much game.

FWIW, Guy

 

[atmoshpere]

My worst big game hunting experience involved shooting a young forked horn mulie at about 40 yds. This was the first or second year that I had hunted in the mountains (was maybe 14 at the time). I was using a 25-06 and I had stepped up on a log in some pretty dense stuff and there is a buck standing right in front of me staring right at me. I can't see the bottom half of him and figure that I'm close enough to go for an off hand neck shot. Place the crosshair, boom, buck drops and I take the rifle from my shoulder. I have about 3 seconds of elation before the buck jumps up and takes off running and I realize that I hadn't chambered another round yet. Well it takes him all of 4 seconds to completely disappear in the thick brush and timber. I was able to follow his trail about 200 yds through the brush before I lost it. No blood after about 70 yds. Never could find him, dead or otherwise. I know this is probably irrational but I've never taken a neck shot on game since.

Another time in the same mountains I was hunting some steep side-hill draws and was coming to a small gap in the brush in the bottom of one of them when, with a snort and the clatter of rocks, a small 4 point mule deer trots out of the brush and over the next small ridge. I followed quickly and spot him standing about 120 yds away on a rise in the next ridge looking back over his shoulder. I brace on a tree trunk and put the crosshair behind his shoulder while I try to steady my breathing. At the shot I could hear the sound of the bullet striking him and see him shudder before rounding the ridge. His track was easy to pick up as the ridges were open, with only the draws holding much cover. There was plenty of blood and I figured I'd find him dead in no time. Well several hundred yards later I realized that might not be the case. Finally find him coming up out of some brush and anchor him with a second shot. Turns out the first shot hit approximately where I was aiming, just behind the shoulder, but I hadn't accounted for him quartering pretty sharply away and the bullet exited the front of the shoulder just off center of the chest. Ruined most of that shoulder, but I recovered the animal.

Bad hits happen. Learn what lessons you can from them and apply that knowledge to your future endeavors.

Of course learning from others mistakes can be invaluable too, which is why I'm glad to see this discussion come up every once in a while.

 

[PJGunner]

Many years ago when I was "existing" in California I was der hunting up in Lake County with a friend. We jumped a small herd, maybe it was 5 animals one forked horn and the rest does. All I had was a quick shot at the buck but lost him iin the scope from the recoil of my 30-06. My friend said I missed. I sked him are you sure? he crosshairs looked good to me. He said he was positive so went moved on. Sill, the thought nagged the hell out of me. I was sure of my shot s I'd called it. I went back out to the same area the next morning with my friend insisting I'd missed. We got to the spot where I'd last seen the deer and there he lay, head up and alert. I shot him in the head putting him out of his misery When we looked to see where the deer had been hit, it turned out my shot went low and I'd broken both legs on the same side which caused him to drop out of sight very quickly. I tagged him even though I felt the meat wasn't probably be very good but I figured that it was my fault for not looking farther out that I'd done the day before. Turned out the meat was just fine.
I've only lost two deer in over 50 years of hunting them, something that still leaves me saddened. Both were shot with rifles chambered to the 7x57. One I consider bullet/ammo failure and the other just plain bad luck. The ammo in the first deer was shooting about 400 FPS slower than advetised and the bullet had a thick jacket that I believe made it act like a full metal jacket even thogh it had an open point lead showing at the nose. That deer was shot at about 8 in the morning and my wife and I looked for it until it was too dark to look anymore. I found what was left by the birds. All I can say is the coyotes had a fine meal that night.
The bad luck deer was due to terrain more than anything else. The deer dropped down into a gully after being hit and in my haste to get up on the ridge to try and pick up his trail into the gully my foot twisted one way on the loose rock while the rest of me went the other way. I couldn't walk due to the pain. My hunting partners refused to go look for the deer insisting they get me off the hill and to a hospital. :x I haven't hunted with them since. End result of that little adventure is I have no cartilige left in my right knee and will limp till the day I die. About the only good to come out of that is it's made me a damn good predicter of rain. :roll:
Paul B.

 

[Oldtrader3]

I had one mule deer buck that I shot while he was standing in oak brush at about 7800 feet elevation across a canyon in southwestern Utah where I had taken several deer over the years usually by shooting across the canyon. This time, I was shooting down the canyon further then my normal shots of 200 to 300 yards. This deer was at about 425 yards and this was before the days of laser finders. I mentally ranged him short at 350 yards and held for a high lung shot, waiting until he turned broadside.

Because of sage brush and grass, I shoot sitting with my elbows inside my knees. I can shoot this way nearly as well as benchrest after 60 years of practice. Anyhow, I took the shot and hit the deer once with a 130 grain, .270 Win Nosler Partition. The deer rolled into the brush downhill and disappeared. I had to climb down one bench about 200 feet to the bottom of the canyon and climb up again at the other end 300+ yards away to get up where the deer was. This took about 20 minutes walking through the sagebrush and oak brush on the canyon bottom.

When I got to the place were the deer had been, there was nothing but a fair amount of blood on the ground and some small bone chips. The bone chips did not look like rib pieces and were flat and not curved. This was my first clue that not all was right. The deer had rolled down into the canyon, had run, fallen down and then stopped to rest in the canyon bottom as they usually do run downhill when wounded. I then went and got my hunting buddy who had heard me shoot and was heading down the canyon to start helping me track this deer.

We stagger tracked the few drops of blood that we could find for about 400 yards for over an hour. The blood trail went through really thick oak brush and rocks in bottom of the canyon ravine. We could tell that the deer had a broken leg by the tracks and blood pattern. Finally the deer had tried to run up the canyon walls which were really steep by then and had fallen down in some brush about 30 feet up the side. I saw the antlers moving as we tracked down the ravine and got within about 50 yards of the deer. Another lung shot from the .270 Win ended the hunt at that point.

I had originally hit the deer in the sternum which is the bone which holds the ribs in place at the bottom of the deer's chest. The bullet had gone into the side of the chest and took out a large chunk of the sternum, bruised the lungs badly then exited and then hit the deer in the left rear knee which broke the hind leg and created the intermittant bleeding from the knee which had left the blood trail. Apparently, the rear end of the deer was turned forward and the leg was hit because it was placed towards the front of the deer. Lucky for me, because the sternum hit by itself, would not have given me a good blood trail except in places where the deer fell down.