It has to be pointed out that there are wounds to limbs that are not easy to put a tourniquet on. A major vessel that opened up too close to the trunk, or retract into the trunk, so that there is no way to get a tourniquet on ahead of it to stop the bleeding is problematic. Medics will, as a matter of course, cut their way through skin and muscle, hopefully in such a way as to limit permanent damage, to get to the bleeding vessel and tie it off.

In some situations using pressure points can be faster and more immediately effective than trying to use a tourniquet. In such cases it is necessary to have someone maintain pressure on the blood vessel until a cut-down can be preformed. Sometimes the victim and person maintaining pressure are best transported as a unit.

If he caught a horn in the groin the tear may have been too deep to get to by any conventional means outside a trauma center and vascular surgery. Such torn vessels tend to be large and under a lot of pressure. To the point that a tear can mean the person bleeds out in a matter of a very few minutes. Sever the femoral artery and you can bleed out in less than a minute.

Everyone can't be saved.