My sympathies are with the elk. Wounded, it must’ve had a bad night.

“An archery hunter has been gored to death by an enraged elk in Oregon.

Mark David, 66, shot at and wounded the elk with a bow and arrow the night before in Trask Road area, Tillamook County.

David, from Hillsboro, had been hunting on private property when he fired at the bull elk but failed to kill the animal on Saturday night.

The hunter couldn't find the injured animal before nightfall and decided to look for it the next day, according to Oregon State Police.

He set out with the property owner to find the elk and at around 9.15am on Sunday morning they found the animal alive.

David attempted to kill the elk with his bow but the enraged animal charged at the hunter and gored him in the neck with his antlers…”

The rest of the article follows.

https://mol.im/a/8680997

Wow, nice headline and sentiment People have been taking game for thousands of years. We are carnavours, it's not always pretty. To say you feel bad for the elk and not for the human who also died says a lot about you as a person. If someone dies at a meat packing plant do you cheer that too?

I believe Pipe Smoker's comment has to do with the fact that the 'hunter' should have been prepared to track the wounded elk and finish the kill the previous day (AND done so!) in order to ensure that the 'enraged elk' did not suffer overnight!

Welp, nothing gets more primal than that. You go out into the woods with just a bow and the playing field gets leveled quickly sometimes.

Either way, I'm sure his faimly is not happy. I'm perfectly fine with havesting game as long as it's done quickly and effeciently, and not just for a trophy.

It's not always possible to track them down in the dark -- not what you want as a hunter but it happens.

To his credit, he woke up early and got back on the trail. That's the way you do it under those circumstances.

Getting gored is usually the result of over confidence and a grim reminder to the rest of us that we need to be sure the animal is down before getting too close.

Elk season opens here tomorrow and I'll be sure to keep this man's story in mind.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
I believe Pipe Smoker's comment has to do with the fact that the 'hunter' should have been prepared to track the wounded elk and finish the kill the previous day (AND done so!) in order to ensure that the 'enraged elk' did not suffer overnight!

There are many factors that determine when/if to break off a track and resume in daylight. Terrain, temperature, are you simply bumping the animal by pursuing it? Having hunted in the PNW, the terrain can be impossible in daylight and deadly at night. It's not like poking around the bushes of a farm field with a flashlight. Expressing sympathy for the elk while posting a sensational headline about a human death makes it pretty clear what he was thinking

I've killed dozens of elk and even more deer/antelope. And I have probably PASSED on more bad shots than the average guy would.

I've never had a wounded animal that got away or had to leave one overnight. I know shit can happen but it seems if one uses a bit of sense theres a much lesser chance of a mess.

Feel sorry for the Hunter but also wonder "whats the rest of the story"?

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
My sympathies are with the elk. Wounded, it must’ve had a bad night.

I have no doubt that the hunter sympathized with the wounded animal too and wanted to put it down as soon as possible, but when an animal is hit and darkness falls, you're better off not trying to locate it until the morning light. It's just too easy to "push" a mortally wounded animal under those circumstances into moving from a position and even though the animal might die within minutes it's still capable of going a long ways and not leaving a blood trail that can be followed. Letting the harvest go to waste is the next worst thing to letting it die slowly.

Returning the following morning is the right thing to do ethically and I'm glad the hunter relocated the bull, but sad that he died while doing the right thing. In the wild, no elk or other animal dies peacefully in it's sleep. The old, sick, injured, or merely slower than average animal is killed by predators, usually in a particularly brutal manner, injured during the breeding season by it's own kind and dies slowly of it's wounds, dies of starvation or disease. Death by a razor sharp arrow or firearm is usually quicker and take far less time than "natural causes."

If anything, this exposes the myth of the "defenseless animal."

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
I've killed dozens of elk and even more deer/antelope. And I have probably PASSED on more bad shots than the average guy would.

I've never had a wounded animal that got away or had to leave one overnight. I know shit can happen but it seems if one uses a bit of sense theres a much lesser chance of a mess.

Feel sorry for the Hunter but also wonder "whats the rest of the story"?

I have been bowhunting for 25 years. I lost a whitetail doe archery hunting. Inside 20 yards, perfectly broadside and calm. Watched the arrow hit right where I was aiming and she bolted into the Texas brush. Waited about 45 minutes, found my arrow from a clean pass through and trailed the blood in the direction she ran. Blood trail dried up. Searched for several hours, it's as though aliens beamed the damn thing up. Its an imperfect science and since then I will never assume someone took a risky shot in these scenarios. As you indicated, we don't know "the rest of the story so why assume the hunter did something wrong?

My take, why were you tracking a wounded animal and not armed with a rifle?

quote:

Originally posted by downtownv:
My take, why were you tracking a wounded animal and not armed with a rifle?

Assuming he had one, I believe that that may be prohibited at certain times by hunting regulations.

Comments by the knowledgeable—?

No modern firearms when archery or BP hunting in Oregon.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:

quote:

Originally posted by FN in MT:
I've killed dozens of elk and even more deer/antelope. And I have probably PASSED on more bad shots than the average guy would.

I've never had a wounded animal that got away or had to leave one overnight. I know shit can happen but it seems if one uses a bit of sense theres a much lesser chance of a mess.

Feel sorry for the Hunter but also wonder "whats the rest of the story"?

I have been bowhunting for 25 years. I lost a whitetail doe archery hunting. Inside 20 yards, perfectly broadside and calm. Watched the arrow hit right where I was aiming and she bolted into the Texas brush. Waited about 45 minutes, found my arrow from a clean pass through and trailed the blood in the direction she ran. Blood trail dried up. Searched for several hours, it's as though aliens beamed the damn thing up. Its an imperfect science and since then I will never assume someone took a risky shot in these scenarios. As you indicated, we don't know "the rest of the story so why assume the hunter did something wrong?

I'm NOT saying the hunter screwed up. Just saying I wonder whats the rest of the story?

Was it a poorly placed shot? Possibly equipment not as good as it could be? Lots of variables.

quote:

Originally posted by powermad:
No modern firearms when archery or BP hunting in Oregon.

Not even a sidearm for self defense? I haven't hunted, so this is merely a curiosity question.

We will never know. I still don't know what happened with that doe. Bow was tuned, broadheads sharp, shot looked and felt clean. Never seen one run more than 50 yards and pile up under those same conditions. Grid searched for several hours with 2 buddies after reworking the blood trail on hands and knees.....weird.

The animal you are hunting has to be taken with what is in season at that time.
If you have a sidearm the animal can not be harvested with it. Even to dispatch it.

But yes, you can have a sidearm on you while archery hunting in Or.

I hunted most of my life in Nevada (archery) and no firearms are allowed of any kind during Archery season, I now live in Idaho and a sidearm is fine during Archery season.

quote:

Originally posted by Aeteocles:

quote:

Originally posted by powermad:
No modern firearms when archery or BP hunting in Oregon.

Not even a sidearm for self defense? I haven't hunted, so this is merely a curiosity question.

It's dumb. I fought the Washington Fish and Game Department for several years over the right to carry while bowhunting. I wrote emails, attended forums and spoke, etc... Their logic was that otherwise law abiding citizens might be tempted to poach game if armed with a handgun during archery season They finally changed the law allowing for CHL holders to carry while bowhunting.

quote:

Originally posted by TXJIM:
We will never know. I still don't know what happened with that doe. Bow was tuned, broadheads sharp, shot looked and felt clean. Never seen one run more than 50 yards and pile up under those same conditions. Grid searched for several hours with 2 buddies after reworking the blood trail on hands and knees.....weird.

If you hunt long enough, you're going to lose an animal. About 15 years ago, I shot a large black bear with a .348 Winchester and thought I'd hit it well. We had a good blood trail initially, but lost it and spent two days trying to recover that bear without success. A terrible feeling, but it does happen.

A few years later, I was rifle hunting for mule deer on Santa Catalina Island and saw a buck that had a leg injury. The guide told me the buck had been hit poorly the week before by another hunter and we couldn't tell whether or not it would recover. I decided to use my tag and harvest the buck, just on the possibility it was suffering and although it wasn't "The Buck" I'd hoped for, I was glad I took it. You can't eat horns anyway, I guess.

Rules for carrying a side arm vary by state. In NC you can carry a .22 and dispatch a wounded animal.

From the regulations
During established archery season only a .22-caliber rimfire pistol may be used to dispatch deer (see “Retrieval”). Link