I've never hunted elk.
However, while hunting deer my buddy's dad shot a buck that had come running across a clear cut. The buck cartwheeled at the shot. I worked my way over to help him get it out of the mess it died in. The deer had a busted front leg, just below what a good shot would be, and we noticed a blood trail from the direction the deer was coming from.
We gutted the deer and were having a sammich when another hunter was working his way across the cut. He walked right up to us. He said he's shot the deer first thing in the morning and had been after it since just after light. Jim told him the buck was his to take. He drew first blood. The guy couldn't believe it. We helped him drag it out to a logging road so he could get it with a wheeler or a truck. He asked where our camp was and after some small talk, he shook our hands and we parted ways.
Later that evening a truck pulled in and someone knocked on the camper door. It was the guy we saw earlier in the day. He brought us both back straps from that buck.
