I have been hunting 15 elk on 10k acres for a couple of weeks now and last night being in the right place at the right time paid off. I have seen a few where I could have taken them with a rifle but really wanted to do it with my bow. Last weekend I put a great stalk on an elk who's tracks I cut earlier in the morning when I finally caught up to it it was a beautiful 5x5. Sounds great right? We aren't killing the bulls so I was out of luck, fun none the less.
This beauty came out into a field at last light and I put a Easton FMJ tipped with a Montec right through her heart. She never knew what hit her. She went about 50 yards and just stood there then colapsed. I thought she was dead but when I slipped up on her she had her head up and was looking around. It took her 15 minutes to expire! When I cleaned her my broadhead went straight through the center of her heart and exited the other side. I have a whole new respect for how tough these animals can be.
What a great blessing. An excellent couple of weeks trying to out smart these beasts finally paying off with a great kill and pounds of delicious meat.

Question??? Are they normally this tough? I thought a broadhead through the pumper would have killed her in seconds not minutes.

Perry

I shot a cow last week 300win, the heart was cut in half...DRT.

Hey Perry, Congratulations on a fine Bow kill. Anytime you get that close to Game and they don't know you are there, you have done well.

quote:

Originally posted by Perry:
Question??? Are they normally this tough?

Beats me. There was a recent thread where people were all upset when folks challenged their Cartridge selection. It seems some folks believe a 243Win is w-a-y more than enough rifle for ethically and cleanly killing Elk.

Just talked to a buddy last night that had to put 3 - 338WinMag Partitions into a Bull's shoulder. It never crossed my mind to mention he was w-a-y over gunned.

Thanks for the input.
I'm thinking this is one of those one in a million situations. What are the odds of anything living that long with a 3 edged hole through their heart. I posted this question over in the bow section hoping to get some field knowledge.
When I took her I had almost, uncontrolable "buck" fever.

Perry

Perry
Believe it or not Elk are not just an overgrown deer when it comes to their tenacity for living!
I have seen many Elk killed and some have been dropped in their tracks so to speak and others who should have been just as dead needed more "killing". I've seen them take three shots right through the heart/lungs and never flinch or change pace then fall down dead, also seen them take 2 arrows through the ribs 10 minutes apart and not understand why it could be alive for the second shot. But I've also seen them drop at the shot even one with a bow that was head shot. With Elk you just never know. My brother has guided many people to Elk and his words of wisdom are " keep shooting until his feet are in the air".
By the way nice job on the cow, very exciting and great eating.

Good job Perry!

One of the first elk I helped with had scar tissue on it's heart from a pass through of some kind. It was about the size of a dime. There was clearly nothing "wrong" with this animal yet it had survived a heart shot. I guess it's the main reason I believe in expanding bullets driven at enough speed to do some real damage. If the shot's get long some bullets don't expand enough, and act like FMJ's. I got myself a .338 WM and love it but I guess everyone's got to decide for themselves at somepoint what's going to satisfy them.

I tried an early Barnes X in the .338WM and shot a young bull through the neck at close range. It made about the same size exit hole as the Hornady's do. The Barnes was lighter but I didn't feel like they were an advantage, (didn't work worse I suppose), and they didn't shoot quite as well.

I watched a cow elk take two from a .270W at less than 40 yards and she never acted hit. A third broke her neck.

There are plenty of stories of how they keep going. There seems to be a lot less about them dropping at the shot. Nate

On the Bull I took a few weeks ago I blew a nice hole through his lungs w/ a 160 Accubond and it took him a couple minutes to quit breathing. During that time I shot him two more times but, the first shot was pretty much the one that got him. I've seen some other bulls be taken as well, they are pretty tough. I'd compare them to big Russian boars and I'm not so sure the Boars aren't tougher to bring down.

OTOH I know of one 5x5 that only went 20 yards after a heart shot w/ a 25-06 and a cheap Rem CL. I don't think I'd personally try that by any means but it did work well. Some animals just seem to have more fight in them. Heck, I've seen little ole' whitetails that lived so long w/ vital hits it would make your stomach upset while trying to kill them.

Good Luck and Congrats on your kill.

Reloader

First, congratulations on a huge cow elk. I killed a 6x6 bull elk a few years ago with a bow. I used a 100 grain Muzzy 3 blade. The shot was roughly 19 yards, he was quartering away.

I cut both lungs and cut through the upper portion of the heart. The bull, to my surprise, didn't run off after the hit. He just stood there and put his head down to the ground. (maybe because he had just ran a couple of smaller bulls away from a cow)

His legs finally weakened after about a minute, he started to fall over sideways, then began walking sideways, then fell. Kept his head up another 8-10 minutes then died.

Surprised the heck out of me but there was no tracking involved. I think this bull was more concerned about standing his ground than anything.

I do not have an answer as to why these animals are so tenacious.

Thanks guys for all the back pats and info. This was a huge learning experience for me. I never would have guessed a "big deer" would be so tenacious. I'll file it away for next year and give any shot animal 20-30 minutes to expire before pursuit. Thanks again for the info.

Perry

Congradulations on a fine elk.
I took my first elk with a 75# Howard Hill long bow. Used a two blade home made broad head. Lung shot at about 10 yards. Ran about 50 feet, then dropped. Waited about 30 minutes to find a "stone dead" cow elk. Just have to be patient after even a presumed death shot. Rifle or bow, it's all the same. Take the best shot and wait. If you can penetrate a vital organ, the game WILL die.

I have been hunting elk for over 30 years and have taken 20+ elk and have seen 100+ killed and have a very healthy respect for how tough they are. I have seen a few bang/flop kills of elk and a few that absolutly refused to die, however, by far the most common is for the elk to run 50-200 yards after the shot and then die. I killed a bull a few years ago that I hit four times in the chest with a 338 using 250 grain bullets and still stood there for about 2 minutes before falling over. The very next year I shot an elk with a 270 in the chest and it was a bang/flop.

I think sometimes you just get the right aminal that refuses to die easy. I have to add that I have seen the same thing on other animals like deer.