FWIW hunt tale on a winter day. My grandson had a Roosevelt bull elk jump the string on a shot he made this Fall. At least that’s what we called it in my bow hunting days, when an animal dodged an arrow.
Grandson had a broadside shot ranged at 55 yards. He is deadly with his compound bow to 75 yards, but self limited his shots on game to 60 yards. With the bull standing still and in the open at 55 yards, grandson took the shot, aiming below center chest and tight behind the front leg.
He said that the bull appeared to stare at the approaching arrow and flinched away from it. The bull sucked back so that the arrow went through the brisket or lower neck, ahead of the leg bone instead of behind it. The recovered arrow was coated in blood, a pass through, and one blade edge was damaged from hitting bone.
Lots of bright blood, in pouring rain so grandson and his Dad decided to follow sooner than they would have preferred, at 50 minutes. They tracked the bull for two days. The first day they saw it twice without getting a shot. By late the first day the bull seemed to be recovering, moving normally when they saw it late in the day. The second day the blood trail ended and he was acting like a healthy elk.
Last edited by Okanagan; 12/26/21. Reason: clarity
