RE: Is this the Era for BIG BULLS or the end?
The cost of elk hunting at least for out of staters at one time might have limited the pressure on elk. However there is no end to the hunters who can and will pay whatever price it takes to harvest a tropht elk. There will have to be a limit to the amount of tags available. There is a lot I don't know about managing elk herds so there may be some better ways to look at this problem. One thing that might help is the high fence ranch hunts. This may not be our idea of true elk hunting but it may be good enough for some of the city slickers. I think the elk is a rather fragil resource and I for one would rather see limits to the oppertunities rather than a strain on the resource. We had years where I hunt where the Mule deer were thinned out and not many big bucks remained. The state did a good job managing the number of hunters and the type of permits available until now our herd in SD is very healthy indeed. Both in Numbers and in quality.