Shoot or No Shot 2019 - Episode #5

[WapitiTalk1]

Location: Somewhere in the W Oregon elk woods
Hunt Pressure Status: Minimal as far as you know
Hunt: Solo hunt
Tag: Archery; 3 PT or better bull

The night before, you watched a small herd of elk (6 cows and 1 decent looking bull) feed out into a clear cut, several miles back in a gated road right at dark. It was too late in the day to put a move on him so you mountain bike to your camp ½ mile back down the gated road. You were back on it early the next morning before daylight (today) and stash your bike a good ¼ mile from the clear cut and proceed on foot. Once you get close enough to glass (and it’s light enough to see) you observe the tail end of a couple of cows moving into the timber from the clear cut. Off the road you go, heading through the lush OR landscape, able to move pretty quickly on some elk trails on what you think may be a good intercept course. You stop a few times to look and listen for moving (or vocal) elk….. and the third time you stop, where you sit now, 25 yards from the small opening, you hear what sounds like an elk moving from your right to left. Arrow nocked, thermals in your favour, you see a bull come into view… His head is low, bobbing slowly up and down, he seems to struggling to walk, and appears to be limping a bit in his hind quarters……He moves slowly into the open and you draw….. “and” in the same few seconds you see that he has an arrow hanging out his lower, rear, left side………….

Shoot or no shot here?

roosey1 mark up.jpg (133.18 KiB) Viewed 5862 times

If you're shooting, save the picture to your desktop and open in MS Paint, then place a spot, X, or whatever on the critter before you save it back to a jpg or png and add the marked up pic with your post.

[Swede]

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Sure I am shooting. I will also return Rossiebull's arrow if he send me a pm. Obviously he needs more practice with that new traditional bow.

[>>>---WW---->]

You bet I'd shoot. That poor fella is in pain and a mercy shooting is in order. I'd put him down and wait for quite awhile to see if the original shooter showed up. If not, I'd go ahead and tag him for myself.

Swede's shot placement looks plenty good to me. But if you want to get knit-picky, maybe 2-3 inches lower.

[Elkhntr08]

Swede’s Spot looks go to me also. I feel we have an obligation to take the animal out of it’s suffering.

[Elkduds]

Agree w those who said end this bull's suffering. Gut shots kill slowly, not mercifully.

[Indian Summer]

I’m shooting. Same height as Swede but a hair to the left. Let’s mot forget skeletal structure. That leg bone is forward.

[muzzyelk]

I agree with everyone else, put it out of pain.

[WapitiTalk1]

I’m shooting. Same height as Swede but a hair to the left. Let’s mot forget skeletal structure. That leg bone is forward.

Yep..... tight into the "<" is ticket for a quick, clean kill!

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[Swede]

The reason I always hold a little farther back is that there is a lot more room for error if you are off a little. I know the bull is only 25 yards away, but there are mishaps. I will take a pie plate sized target any day over one the size of the bottom of a coffee cup.

[WapitiTalk1]

The reason I always hold a little farther back is that there is a lot more room for error if you are off a little. I know the bull is only 25 yards away, but there are mishaps. I will take a pie plate sized target any day over one the size of the bottom of a coffee cup.

I don't disagree with you at all on this Swede; your arrow placement is a solid double lung kill shot, and, doesn't flirt with any of those big leg bones. If possible (all factors considered such as animal's mood, distance, etc.) that tight into the ">" placement is a heart slicing shot which is a good thing.

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[Elkduds]

I’m shooting. Same height as Swede but a hair to the left. Let’s mot forget skeletal structure. That leg bone is forward.

Yep..... tight into the "<" is ticket for a quick, clean kill!

elkribsorgans.jpg

This also shows how easy it is for the humerus to block the heart if the front leg is back a little.

[Elkhunttoo]

The reason I always hold a little farther back is that there is a lot more room for error if you are off a little. I know the bull is only 25 yards away, but there are mishaps. I will take a pie plate sized target any day over one the size of the bottom of a coffee cup.

Same here... I'm absolutely shooting, same spot as Swede...if original shooter comes along it is his and I saved him a bunch of trouble.... good topic

[ishy]

I like Swede's spot.
Anyone else feel every diagram, and the overlay pics that get used all the time really show the scapula and humerus farther forward than they really are? And with a steeper angle? In their attempt to educate I feel they have done hunters especially newbies a disservice.

[Lefty]

You bet I'd shoot. That poor fella is in pain and a mercy shooting is in order. I'd put him down and wait for quite awhile to see if the original shooter showed up. If not, I'd go ahead and tag him for myself.

Swede's shot placement looks plenty good to me. But if you want to get knit-picky, maybe 2-3 inches lower.

I’m with WW on this one

I would start processing the elk right away
Do I dare say this
I would not hurry to cut my tag if the shooter shows up I’d let him tag it

I’m not sure how crazy this could get but a shot like that will likely kill the bull and few hunters have the ability to track it down


As a young hunter my dads best friend literally shot the nuts off a big buck at sunrise starting at noon my brother
And I tracked the buck. At 4 o’clock the shooter gave up. A short time later we jumped the buck from its bed about three miles from f the shot. My dad made a great shot
I’m still amazed his friend wanted to claim the buck
May be a different type of mercy Shooting.

If the hunter shows up after the elk is butchered and packed I may expect the tenderloin or back straps

[lamrith]

Absolutely positively shooting him. My #1 goal at that point is to end his suffering. Shot presented I am aiming same as Swede. That said, ANY shot I can get in the boiler room is getting sent, even if not an optimal shot or one I might not typically take on a unhurt animal. If I have a few seconds to get a shot in him I am doing it. I honestly would even put any shot in him that I can at this point, I am going to put another arrow in him in best shot available before he moves behind cover or gets to far away.

One thing I would be considering is does the wound look fresh from this morning or was it from yesterday after you saw him last. Not that it would matter as I am putting him down anyway, but just to prepare myself for another hunter coming along claiming him.

[WapitiTalk1]

Stranger, stranger! Where the heck have you been lamrith?

[Elkduds]

Curious about the discussion of whether the wounder has claim to the dead elk. The law in CO is crystal clear on this. The hunter who kills the animal gets possession, who shot 1st does not matter. The ethics question comes when the 1st shot would have been quickly lethal, then the animal got shot again before it died. This example is not that situation IMO.

[WapitiTalk1]

Curious about the discussion of whether the wounder has claim to the dead elk. The law in CO is crystal clear on this. The hunter who kills the animal gets possession, who shot 1st does not matter. The ethics question comes when the 1st shot would have been quickly lethal, then the animal got shot again before it died. This example is not that situation IMO.

I think laws are similar in other elk states as well. Of course it may end in an ethical decision by the second arrow launcher. If somebody came up tracking a bull that they had recently shot (good or bad shot), that I put down with my shot. I would probably let him/her have the bull.

[Swede]

I was reading some material in a law library one day when I came upon a case like we are discussing. To make a long story short the decision in the case I read was, the animal belongs to the first hunter to make a lethal shot on the animal if they would have recovered it.
It is my opinion that the first arrow in the animal was lethal. If the first shooter tracked it to where you are gutting away I would just congratulate him on his animal.

[lamrith]

Good to see my second comment has people thinking. I feel it is important I should note that the end result of freezer filling is the absolute last concern on my mind in that situation imho. I am taking a shot or as many as I can get on the bull regardless of what I think the final outcome may be. But it is better to think about how things may unfold post shot now in our comfy chairs than out deep in the woods in a confrontation with a possibly upset hunter. At least then we are not blinded by adrenalin and emotion clouding judgement.

Stranger, stranger! Where the heck have you been lamrith?

Yeah been a while, the whole RL and side business thing been kickin my butt.