Was elk hunting in Colo many years ago with my buddies from PA. They set me up in a tree stand. This is the first and only time I have ever hunted form a tree stand and it was up a lodgepole right on a game trail.
I hear something on my left behind me and here comes 2 bulls. Since they are up slope from me I am right at their level and totally exposed. I started hyperventilating and my heart was pounding so loud I couldn't believe they couldn't hear it. As the bigger one passes behind a tree I tried to turn and raise the rifle but they saw me and start hauling down the mountain. I swung and shot at the bigger bull but he didn't flinch or slow down. Climbed down and tracked him several hundred yards in the fresh snow but found no blood and he didn't show any signs of slowing down.
A couple of days later one of my friends is hunting towards the bottom of the canyon and tells me he found a dead bull tangled up in a fence at the bottom of the canyon. Next day I go down there and here is the bull I shot at. Looked him over real good and could not find a bullet hole in him.
About 50 yards down from where I gave up looking for him he came to a fence and when he tried to jump it, he caught his front feet between the top and next wire and it flipped him over and he broke his neck.
If I would have tracked him just a little farther I would have found him. Also, if I had just relaxed, he would have probably walked down the trail right under me and I could have shot right between his shoulders from about 10 ft above him.
