Saturday morning Russ drove us to the airport in Bayfield to catch our connector flight to Phoenix. We were empty handed, as far as the elk and deer were concerned, but we all had some great memories. Bill and Ken knew I was really “bummed out”, and did their best to cheer me up, but I kept playing my ill fated attempt over in my mind!
Years earlier I had arrowed a huge Quebec black bear that probably weighed between 500-600 pounds. I had a complete “pass through” on the bruin, and my French guide assured me we would retrieve this bear. Well we didn’t, as the bear made it into a wet swamp, and we lost his blood trail. Movies of that bear, and now the elk, were playing in my head, and they were driving me loony!
I have gotten feed back from several readers, who have been following this Colorado adventure, but no one has suggested, what I am now going to reveal. As I pondered the whole elk tracking scenario , a light bulb clicked on in my “feeble” mind, and I wanted to tell the pilot to turn the plane around, so I could go get my elk. It was like “Duh”, how stupid can a seasoned hunter be. It wasn’t just me . but Ken and Bill “missed” this one also!
That darn elk wasn’t bleeding out of both sides! He had turned around, and was back tracking on the same trail! Thats why we lost blood at the end of the ridge, and couldn’t pick up his trail after two hours of futile searching. The blood was actually heavier on the left side of the trail (I hit him on the right side) which means he was bleeding more from the original right lung, after he turned around! Now I was feeling even worse about this whole deal! All we had to do was go back to where several trails branched off our blood trail, and we were sure to pick up were he was heading. Agony upon agony!
When I got home I called Russ’s ranch manager, and told him my story. I asked him to look for my elk, and explained, as best I could, where to look! He said he would, but next time I called it had rained really hard, and there wasn’t much chance of finding a blood trail now. He assured me the coyotes and mountain lions wouldn’t let the elk go to waste, but that really didn’t cheer me up any.
As you can see from the picture below, there is no elk hanging on the walls of my den. To this day it “bugs” me when I think of what could of been, or should I say” what should of been?” The hunt “was” truly a once in a lifetime trip, but now I’m stuck with a lifetime of “could of, would of, and should of’!” I did learn some important lessons from this “dream hunt,” and I hope you readers may of learned something also.
I still want to put an elk on my wall, and in the freezer, but I’m getting to the point where, physically, there are only so many years left in this body! I hope someday to redeem myself, or at least have my dreams become a reality, and not a “nightmare!”
That is a bummer Mike. I bet you are right that he did turn around. It does stink to lose any animal. It just tears you apart inside. Sorry, I’m probably turning insult to injury here, but it’s true.
I’ve lost two deer my hunting career and I still replay the events over and over in my mind. First lesson I learned is never, ever doubt your shot. Always believe that the shot you made was a kill shot and track with that mentality. That is how I lost my first deer. I didn’t think I had even hit her because she was trotting and so I didn’t put enough effort into the track job because of that fact. We stumbled upon her the next day and it still just makes me sick to this day that I didn’t try harder. We tried to gut her and everything, but of course it was in the 70’s all day instead of the 30’s like usual so she ended up being coyote food as well.
You still have a chance of putting that Elk on your wall. Have a little faith. Regardless though, the room and the wall look very nice. A very nice “man cave”.
It is very humbling fact, but all of us who hunt with stick and string somewhere along the line are going to lose animals. It says a lot about our character that it bugs us so much when we do.