RE: Your view on elk
 

Bowhunting ,a legal bull is a trophy IMO. Rifle hunter, hold out for a nice one. It is all in what gives you satisfaction. No one knows but you. BTW, you asked my view on elk; last sept I had a nice 7X7 that I kicked out of his bed at 40 yds. This is the view he gave me leaving
HCH

[/align]

RE: Your view on elk
 

Rifle or bow makes no difference. My last four bulls have all been with a rifle and all of them were less than 30 yard shots. Two 4x4s, one 5x5, and one 6x6. I've been hunting in the same area of colorado for nine years and I've never seen a trophy bull in that areayet. If he's legal I kill him. I wish I could afford to hunt a trophy on a private ranch, but I cherish my one week a year up in Meeker, Co with all of my buddies. I don't think it will be changing so we can shoot bigger bulls.

RE: Your view on elk
 

LOL - thats a good one


then why didn't you use a bow ? No differnce ........ right ?


hint - all the bulls you killed were trophy's. I'm sorry you don't get that


Well thats a little better. Your successful hunting has nothing to do with gross B&C score, its the experience.

BTW if you ever took a recurve hunting you'd know there IS a huge difference.

RE: Your view on elk
 

Big Red Porker? LOL

I don't need to explain myself to you or anyone else, but just so you'll know: I can't bow hunt anymore because of weakness and numbness in my left arm because of three bad disk in my neck, and that breaks my heart. For years I've read books, practiced calling and studied elk in the wild, I try my best to leave nothing to chance. I believe its always a learning experience everytime I'm blessed to be in Elk Country. If I kill them with a bow or a rifle it makes no difference, as long as it was fair chase, and as long as I cherish the experience!!

RE: Your view on elk
 

Big Red Porker? LOL!

I forgot to tell you how muchI appreciate you analyzing every single sentence. That was great! If you ever want to talk in person, give me a call.

Bryan

RE: Your view on elk
 

Bryan - I agree with much of your last post, however to say bowhunting is as equal to rifle hunting and that an OTC 6x6 isn't a trophy I'll disagree with to the end.

I'd rather shoot a cow with my longbow than a 350" bull with a rifle, ANYDAY.

I don't call people, and if I were you I'd edit your phone number. The world is a very, very small place and many people on these chat and message boards are absolute freaks, child molestors, crooks, thieves, murderes - you name it, you got it, right here.

RE: Your view on elk
 

Like they say, it's in the eye of the beholder. I only need an elk every other year to fulfill my meat requirements, combined with a couple deer and maybe the odd antelope. Since I don't need an elk every year to plump up my ego, I pass up lots of shots with my bow. I would rather take a cow than a raghorn bull, it's fun to bugle with the really big boys, and they don't get big if you kill them as spikes and raghorns. CO knows all about this fact, it is to elk what PA is to whitetails.

Last year, I passed a 270 class 6 pointer on the second day, and then never got an elk. I passed up five more shots at young bulls and cows trying for that elusive 350 bull. I don't regret for a minute that I passed up that early bull, even though he would probably have scored as my new personal record. Had I taken that bull, I'd never have had the heart-stopping close encounter with the 350 bull I later had. I'd never have gotten into the middle of that battle royale between two 300+ bulls, either. I didn't absolutely have to have the meat last year, although I could have used it. This season, I really need the elk meat, and I won't be quite so choosy.

For trophy standards, any 6 pointer is a trophy in virtually any over-the-counter hunt. If you draw out a premium tag, you'll want to start sweating mass, G-3 length, and things like that.

RE: Your view on elk
 

Go to Cabela's. See how big the full elk mounts are and the whitetail deer are not. COw elk run 500-600# bulls run bigger usually.

RE: Your view on elk
 

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.

RE: Your view on elk
 

Isn'tit a bitodd that any hunter presumes to have enough information to be able to judge another hunter's legal choices? But putting that aside, elk are managed different here in my neck of the woods. Some areas are spike only, so it's a yearling bull or nothing.Some areas are open bull, but because they get hunted hard you need to keep your expectations within reason. Then there are limited entry hunts and some of them take many years of applying before you draw a tag. So when you finally do draw, you wantto make the most of it as atrophy class hunt because the opportunity doesn't come around often.

Funny thing about the spike hunt is that after opening morning, it can be a real challenge to find a spike.So after days of seeing nothing but mature bulls, the spike is the trophy. Just goes to show its the hunt that makes the trophy.