I believe the trophy is in the eye of the beholder. Some of my best trophy's didn't include rack size. My first bull elk with a bow I thought man I'm really an elk hunter now. It all boils down to how much you want to spend in time, money, and sweat in hunting trophy elk. To some people a trophy is their first elk. To some it's spending big money and choosing which bull they would like to shoot.For me and my clients its boils down to sweating for them. Like everyone else that hunts public land pick your best spot on opening day and take the candy first then for the rest of the week it's called hunting.

I also believe it really comes down to how many elk a person has killed already. Some people who have killed alot of elk will tend to be more picky than those who haven't. And for those who haven't shot alot of elk most bulls in that 270 class range are going to look mighty tasty. Any bull that reaches 300 class is a nice looking bull. Here's a reference for those who don't know what a 300 class bull looks like. 4ft tall close to 4ft wide and most points looking about 12-14inch long and the dagger(4th point)around 15-18 inches I'd say don't even think twice pull the trigger.

The bottom line is most hunters who say they won't shoot nothing but a trophy bull elk end up shooting a rag horn 4x4 on the last part of the week when they could have shot a dandy 5x5 or 5x6 bull the first part of the week.

My biggest bodied elk was a 5x6 barely with the 6th point. 900lbs plus bull I could barely reach around its neck with both arms. That was alot of meat. I'd like to seen that bull in 3 more years while i was hunting.

Situations can sometimes add alot more to the trophy.

Heresa pic of my best elk to date. This is a public land bull where I hunt and there's alot bigger out there but this one is on my wall.