Bull Down 6.5 Sherman strikes again !!

I was going to stay out of this one, but........oh well.
I'm primarily a archery hunter, so the majority of my experiences have been with a bow. Two of the bulls that I have killed, happened in the same circumstances; a satellite bull focused on a herd bull, that I was able to slip up on and slip an arrow into. Neither of the bulls had any idea I was there or what happened, both jumped, looked around and walked off about 10 feet and bedded up. I was positioned where I couldn't move into a position for another shot with out spooking the animal, so I had no choice but to sit and watch them die. However I was very surprised. Both bulls continued to bugle at the herd bull from their beds and their heads lowered to the ground and they died very peacefully.........Now that Washington State has a Multi-season Elk tag, where you can hunt Elk in all seasons with any tag, Many rifle hunters are picking up a bow and going out hunting. I have lost track of how many times I have heard that one stuck a bull, and immediately walked up to shot location, heard a animal jump, and ended up following blood trail and not finding it. I'm sure this is due in a big part to adrenaline.....The following quote is what it does to a person...... Pay attention to the last couple lines.

"It increases heart rate and contractility in order to get our blood pumping and oxygen to our muscles and brain under conditions of physiologic stress, and will help to maintain blood pressure during blood loss or dehydration." Adrenaline is a survival hormone. It helps us be fast or strong under threat.

I was raised to wait 1/2 hr on a good clean hit, and 3 hours on a liver/gut hit. I believe even rifle hunters would be better served by this when a animal goes out of sight.....Give an animal a adrenaline rush, and who knows how far it can go.
Congrats on the bull! You did what many a great hunter has done for years before the coming of the internet!

Elk Fire said:

Lol, least half your handle is accurate....

Funny thing about these little internet brawls, they sure take on a life of there own. All the negativity and bickering is not between the OP and guys that questioned the circumstances/decision to leave, but by the question askers and knights on white horses riding in to save him.
Assclown, I never said nor implied any of what you added, neither did any of the other guys expressing questions about the follow up, that's all you. Saying you would or wouldn't do something the same way is not condemning the OP, or implying that he has some level of experience or not. Doesn't matter, given what was posted, I stand fully by what I said. The Op has no obligation to consider it, leave it or otherwise. You on the other hand can let your obviously over active imagination run wild and guess what I think you and your opinion can go do..

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LOL, that's pretty funny

Holy Crap!!
Story?

DAM!!! What the hell happened???

BW

BW64 said:

DAM!!! What the hell happened???

BW

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The internet. The internet happened.

TG-5150 said:

I am a very good archer with lots of ethics, have guided many a punk of all ages and wallet depths.
A well placed and proper broad head will always outdo a well placed bullet. Look up the shock- impact statistics.
I personally joined this forum because running point(getting up close and personal)has gotten a bit boring. Middle ground(200-400ish for me) is old hat(standard gun ranges for me). And F.Y.I., 1500 f.p.s. is my max range for hunting big game with ANY bullet. But that is just me.
I will gladly pick chit with the chickens in an open forum or personal.

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I'm sorry I disagree with this I have bow hunted my self. But the simple math is if you double the weight you double its energy if you double the velocity you quadruple its energy. 350 fps is no comparison to 2500. Guns and bows kill in different means

Alibiiv said:

Sorry the BS of making an ethical shot and doing the right thing. A lot of people, who are also good hunters, jumped on it. I don't like reading, "Shame on you," from anyone in a forum. And I really do not know who wrote it, I just don't feel like it belongs in a forum like this. I read the blogs because I am looking to share different people's experiences, and not to judge them. Perhaps asking, "Are you sure it was down for good," or something along those lines would have been a lot better than a criticism!! When you posted you were in the heat of the hunt. From what I have read, it appears that you did the right thing for the area where you were hunting. You also seem to be a conscientious hunter based upon your replies. NOW.....sir I do have a criticism on your choice of words!!! Be careful about calling a 66 year old, "old guy", because I don't consider 66 being old cuz I've still got a number of years on your dad, and I AIN'T old!!! Nice to see you two guys hunting together. My son and I have been hunting since he was 15 years old. We are planning our next hunt while we are on the hunt that we planned last year. I know that I won't last forever (cuz of my years), however our memories will always last forever!

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The discussion of ethics is a banned topic here at LRH. Please respect our host, his house, his rules.

Alibiiv said:

Yes would you please answer this question as I am about to do a build myself. I was leaning toward the .270 Sherman, only for nostalgic reasons. The reason for this question is that I have also been looking at the 6.5 Sherman as well. I am looking at using this primarily for white tail deer hunting, (and a mule deer/antelope hunt if I win the lottery) and I am recoil conscious.

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With the far better selection of bullets in 6.5, 7mm, 30 cal and on why limit yourself by building a .270?

You'd be far better off with one of the 6.5's for your application.

dsculley said:

Is this site a bunch of Dems or what? Bashing a guy who posted in the heat of the hunt for being an "unethical hunter" simply because he did not do what you think should have been done? This thread would give a person pause the next time they were going to post about a hunt! I don't care who you are, how much hunting experience you have or don't have, why not congratulate him then just sit tight and wait for the "rest of the story"? As was said earlier, you shoot an animal at 600+ yds and even if you can see them where they fall, they may appear dead but that does not mean they are. If they get up you can see that, but if they are lying there bleeding out you may not know that they are not dead yet. Depending on the terrain, it could take a lot longer than 30 minutes to reach the animal.

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At 600yds you'd better take a nice long break to be sure it's good and dead before you start moving in on a kill or it'll likely be long gone before you get there, especially if you're in rough country.

I'm still awfully excitable when I get an animal down but I learned the hard way long ago to just put another shell in, sit, and wait.

eagleclaw said:

I have no problem with waiting 30 minutes before walking up on an animal. But leaving the area before a kill is confirmed is a poor practice. If circumstances were such that you had to leave the area and could not wait long enough to confirm the kill before leaving you should not have taken the shot, even in the snow.

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So you've never taken a shot at such range that you could not keep your eyes on the downed animal from the time you pulled the trigger until you arrived to recover it?

C'mon, some of you folks are being utterly ridiculous.

Elk Fire said:

...In MY book that calls for immediate action up to and including jumping him up and pounding him again in any part you can hit....

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This might be the stupidest thing I've heard yet for multiple reasons. So, just put one in him anywhere you can hit? Top of the spine, mid-way back, taking out both backstraps and tenderloins sound good? Guts? How about a hind quarter or two? Pretty relieved you weren't guiding this one...

eagleclaw said:

I have no problem with waiting 30 minutes before walking up on an animal. But leaving the area before a kill is confirmed is a poor practice. If circumstances were such that you had to leave the area and could not wait long enough to confirm the kill before leaving you should not have taken the shot, even in the snow.

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This is just another ethics appeal with a "put you in your place" shaming statement at the end, not simply an opinion. He watched the animal lie down after shooting it not once, but twice. Now take the shooting of the animal out of the equation: How many elk have you watched lie down directly after they were alerted to your presence? Is that in an an elk's nature to do? Any big game species? He was down. The OP didn't "have to leave"; he made a decision to leave the area and not push the animal by any means, whether that be by sight, sound or smell, based on many things racing thru his mind, by himself, at that moment.

"Even in the snow"? He had the advantage of snow. Even IF the animal had decided to move a bit after he had left, the OP would have likely returned to a blood "beacon" to track.

Yours, and other's stated arguments are based on their own ethical ideals of leaving the area and the OP's time gone. What's the fundamental difference between shooting an animal and it leaving the area to die, vs. you leaving the area for it to die, vs. sitting in your spot waiting for it to die?

I'll tell you the fundamental difference and the real hang up: the method used by hunters (ambiguous) to make the kill and the ideals associated with it, therefore, nothing to do with an opinion. If this was an archery or muzzleloader forum, this BS would've never got off the ground because the killers (unambiguous) over there would've never gone there.

Can we just let this thread die already ?