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I know that as bowhunters we want our aim to be true. We want a one shot kill and for our quarry to pass onto the next life as quickly as possible and to launch as few arrows towards the animal as possible. Its what we all aim for. But we live in the real world of the situation we are dealt and things like altitude, fatigue, Adrenalin filled, excitement, human imperfection and animal movement between the release and arrow impact and while we aim overcome those things to execute the shot we spend so much time practicing, things don't always work out perfectly.

When the time was right, I stepped from behind my cover tree, I drew my bow and took aim between the 40 and 50 yard pin as the bull stood broadside. I released the arrow and on impact heard a loud crack of a hard bone impact. I had put the large Snuffer squarely through the middle of one of the bulls massive ribs at the back of the lungs and through the diaphragm and likely the liver. The energy it took to pass that three blade snuffer through that kind of bone robbed the arrow of penetrating through and the bull ran off with about 10 of the 30+ inch arrow protruding his side. The bull lunged forward and then turned sharply to it's right and then down the ravine below.

The bull ran less than 50 yards before stopping at the bottom of the hill and while I'm sure the guide was not happy about it, I ran after the bull if only because Id lost sight of him and hoped to see where it was headed. I was shocked to see he had stopped so quickly below us. The bull was standing but very much quartering away. While I think the first arrow would have brought him down if given the time to wait him we discussed getting another arrow into him or if need be a rifle shot into him to bring him down as fast as possible to prevent a charge or him running off or down into one of the deep gorges but it appeared that he did not have the wind for running. Clearly he was hurt bad.

I was able to get to within 60 yards but the other bull with him was getting nervous and had the 2nd bull run off, the wounded bull may well have run off with him. They were getting further and further from the truck and deeper and lower into the property. There was a lot of tree growth between the bull and myself and I had to factor in the large arch of such a heavy and slow arrow at 61 yards but I was able to position myself with what I hoped was enough of an opening to thread the needle to deliver the arrow. I drew, released and again the arrow met with a loud crack. The bull bucked both back legs and tried to run off but only ran ten yards and then slowed to a walk up the next grade with his companion along side. My hit was high with about 15 inches of penetration.

I loaded another arrow because the bull was not running off and I wanted to get him down before his companion grew tired of us or they left the area. The bull walked the steep grade and stopped slightly above me with his front legs higher than the rear as he climbed. Again he was hard quartering away. As I stood there watching him I noticed his left rear leg was injured. Directly above the hoof was ball shaped mass about the size of a gallon milk jug. The bull may have bedded there and expired if given the time but so long as he was on his feet and I had a shot, I would take it but I had my fill of hard bone hits and at this angle the ribs would be overlapping. I ranged him at 65 yards and aimed in front of the near side hind quarter hoping to slide an arrow up through the flank and forward into the lower chest hoping to avoid all bones.

I held the bottom of the sight ring on his back and watched as the entire arrow disappeared, into the bull. His legs buckled and he slipped and tripped as he tried too run. It was clear the first hit had taken its toll and he was not long for this world. It was at that point his companion left him and headed over the next ridge. I made my way down the slope and lost sight of the bull who had made it over the top of the next. Not knowing where the bull would be as I climbed the rise, I made my way slowly while looking for the top of his back. When I was nearly to the top, I spotted the bull, bedded and facing away from me but with his head. I looked back to find Kevin and Dave and when I spotted them they had their hands raised in the air, celebrating that the bull was finally down.

Even though the bull was down, he was still very much alive and didn’t want to prolong his end any longer than possible. Because he could not see me, I positioned myself broadside at 20 yards and delivered an arrow to the white feathers into both lungs and after a minute, he was still. This took far more arrows that I had planned for but plans are only plans and in the real world you do what it takes to put and end to the animal to the best of our ability. If someone would have asked me to estimate how long it took from the first arrow until the bull was on the ground, my estimate would have been way off. It seemed to take an eternity. It wasn't until I reviewed the time stamp data on the camera that I discovered the entire event spanned just 9 minutes.

When Kevin and Dave arrived, they congratulated me and we discussed the events then Kevin told Dave to drag the bull to a better location to take pictures, then laughed since there was no way all three of us would be able to do anything but move the head. We took pictures of the bull as plans were made for the long work of skinning and packing the meat back to the truck which was many ridges and valleys away and at a higher elevation then we were so it was literally going to be an uphill battle that would include many trips.