[chewie146]

I almost did once. I had a cow elk lined up at about 300 yards. I was using a .308. I shot, aiming for the head. The rifle went off, and she just stood there. The rest of the elk looked agitated. I shot again...and again...and again...and again....and you get the picture. Luckily I shot until she was down. I thought I'd been missing. It turns out, the first shot connected about 1" right of where it should have, under the eye. I imagine she would have been able to take off after recovering being stunned. I ended up connecting 5 times on her. She eventually toppled. You would have thought it was a foam archery target, though. No reaction to the impact. That got me second guessing the .308 for elk for a couple years, but really, if I hadn't tried the stupid fancy head shot, and simply gone for the lungs as I usually do, it would have put her down faster.

I've come across more than one kill that was obviously a bad shot and was bloated and spoiled by the time we got there. Sometimes it happens. It's not pretty, and nobody likes it, but it does happen. I hate the idea of losing an animal.