Too excited I guess...

[Matthew1969]

My young Cousin (14) was awarded a 13 yard shot on his choice of numerous cow elk. A .50 cap lock in his hands, hammer back and BOOM! At the shot they just stood there. After a few moments the lead cow slowly walked away, followed by the rest of the herd. A Terrific, exciting moment! But he missed. Happiness and disappointment at the same time. The hunt goes on.....
Good luck to all
Matthew

[Matthew1969]

Did find a nice consolation prize though!
Matthew

[Hungry Horse]

Depending on the location of the hit, elk have been known to stop grazing at the shot, and then continue to graze until they fall over dead. Elk are not the smartest critter in the woods. A thourogh search of the area, and well beyond, should always be done to insure it was indeed a miss.

  Hungry Horse

[Joe S]

I agree with HH.   Elk do not necessarily react very much to being shot, and they can easily walk a mile with a hole through both lungs.  If the shot is in the upper two thirds of the chest, you probably won’t get a blood trail.  If the shot is in the lower third, and doesn’t pass through, you may not get a blood trail, but either shot would kill the elk.  I would have tracked that cow for at least a mile.

Where are you hunting?  That country looks familiar to me.

[oldtravler61]

  Not criticizing but every time you shootout at an animal. Make 100 0/0 sure you missed...!
  Helped a guy last year that shot a big 160 class whitetail. Said he New he missed because it ran off flagging it's tail.
  We found the deer dead. About a 125 yards away. Shot through both lungs..!
  It was a high lung hit. Some animals are tougher than other's...Oldtravler

[bones92]

Wow, nice antlers, though.   I'd love to have even one complete antler that size.  Could make lots of neat things out of it.

[Daryl]

Those could make up a powder measure for a 1 pounder, or anything up to it! Up here, antlers that old and white would be 1/2 eaten by mice.

[Matthew1969]

Hello to all, thanks for the replies. Been hunting in Utah(Muzzleloader Buck tag) and just back in communication service.
   Messed up on the shot distance, was 17 yards, sorry for that. At the report, no bullet smack was audible. The elk all just stood there, seemed like an eternity but was probably a few moments after the shot. Got a really good look. His fathers point of view suggests a discharge as the gun was coming down to acquire a sight picture. We did a thourough check, couple of hours, and are extremely confident of the miss. A bit disappointing but a terrific experience.
   Northern Nevada country. The set of sheds is the first double drop find for me ever. Very cool.
Best to all, Matthew

[T*O*F]

The set of sheds is the first double drop find for me ever.

I found a set while on a backpacking trip with the family in the primitive buffer zone surrounding Yellowstone.  Found em the first day and finally just tossed them cause they were a PITA to carry for a week with an 80 lb. backpack.  Wife and kids each had 1/3 of their body weight in their packs and I carried all the extra.

[GANGGREEN]

Hello to all, thanks for the replies. Been hunting in Utah(Muzzleloader Buck tag) and just back in communication service.
   Messed up on the shot distance, was 17 yards, sorry for that. At the report, no bullet smack was audible. The elk all just stood there, seemed like an eternity but was probably a few moments after the shot. Got a really good look. His fathers point of view suggests a discharge as the gun was coming down to acquire a sight picture. We did a thourough check, couple of hours, and are extremely confident of the miss. A bit disappointing but a terrific experience.
   Northern Nevada country. The set of sheds is the first double drop find for me ever. Very cool.
Best to all, Matthew

I'll take your word for it that everyone followed up and that the animal wasn't hit, but I'm curious about one part of your post.  You suggest as evidence that no bullet smack was audible and I'm just curious whether it would be humanly possible to discern a bullet wallop from the percussion of the gun at the range of 17 yards.  That's 51 feet and assuming a 1500 foot per second velocity (I suppose it may have been much faster), that means that 1/30 of a second had elapsed from the time the ball left the muzzle until it would have struck the animal.  Hard to imagine that you wouldn't still hear the ringing of the percussion.  Just saying.......

[Matthew1969]

I guess a case could surely be made for not being able to hear the hit. I am going on my past experiences with shot animals, The sound was exceptionally clear on those occasions. I've also arrowed one cow and the audible was clear too, albeit no gunfire to mask it. The audible is definitely just one piece of the puzzle as far as determining the outcome of the shot. This incident took place on a very open hillside, tracking the group after the shot was pretty easy. We even had visual of them for a bit, but they were out of range at that time.
   I really appreciate this forum. Not only is there tons of knowledge that is freely shared, but the amount of care and respect for the game hunted is well voiced. Thanks to all, it was my sincerest attempt to include you in the moment and I am sincere when I say I also share the deepest respect for the game provided to me.
Best to all,
Matthew