Our son Sam has been archery hunting at the Steens Mts this past week and today he shot a five-point bull elk. He sent a picture of it lying dead with his bow on top of the elk. I showed it to Patty, and she said, “I hope they find it.” I looked at her and said, “What did you say?” She then realized that having a picture of a dead elk with a bow on it pretty much guaranteed that it was found. I started laughing and she did too. She then said, “Please don’t write about this in your blog!” I assured her that I wouldn’t! My boys and I have hunted with archery for years, and often hunted with other family members and friends. One of the things that occasionally happens with archery hunting is that the shot isn’t a good one, and the blood trail is so poor that we don’t find the animal. So Patty’s response whenever she heard that someone shot a deer or elk was, “I hope they find it.” So today, she couldn’t help herself. An arrow doesn’t kill an animal by shock like a bullet does, sometimes they don’t even know they have been shot. If the arrow goes through the lungs or the heart they will die pretty soon but they will still often run a hundred yards. If the arrow doesn’t go through the lungs or heart they can run for miles so then the hunter needs to be able to track the wounded animal from small spots of blood on the ground. We usually find them, but sometimes it takes hours of tracking. Most archery hunters have honed the skill of tracking and finding a wounded deer or elk; it is part of archery hunting. So, if you see Patty in the next few days, ask her if Sam found the elk he shot.