Was elk hunting with one of my sons this last weekend and he managed to get an arrow into a spike. The elk started to move just at release and he was not sure of where the arrow hit. This was around 4:30 in the afternoon. We spent some time looking and finally found the arrow. We'd kicked dirt all over it so it was pretty dry. You could see dried paunch material on the arrow. We found where the bull hit the brush and then backed off for two solid hours. Went back in and did a slow tracking job. Started finding a better blood trail but due to hot breezy conditions we were following brown spots rather than red. 200 yards and an hour later we came up on the bull, STILL ON HIS FEET! Another arrow or three put him on the ground for good. If we had pushed this bull any sooner the outcome might have been different. The bull was quartering away and the arrow caught the offside lung.