BeaverJack

What do you fellers think ' bout killin' cow elk or moose with a calf at its side? Some say calves are ok by the fall, they can make it through the winter alone. But why are the cows still wet then? Seems to me, they need their mamas to make ' em strong with milk, an' to show ' em how to protect ' em from wolves an' such. I shot a cow onct an' along came this calf from the timber whinnin' at the top of his lungs. I had another tag, so I shot him too. Didn' t feel too good ' bout the whole situashun.

rather_be_huntin

I know what you mean. I' ve also heard that calves are alright by fall, especially with elk becuase they are a community animal, but I try to take a cow that doesn' t look wet as you put it. I like the meat but I don' t feel right when I think I may have left a little one to starve and go to waste.

ELKampMaster

Beaver,
We shoot lots of cows. If one doesn' t draw a bull, then its easy to get the cow consolation prize. We are meat hunters and cows make for some fine eating. You are right though, there is that inevitable chance that if you shoot enough of them you will kill a wet one. I try to avoid shooting a cow with an obvious calf by its side, but in the " fog of war, er I mean elk hunting" it is not all that controllable. To maximize my odds of shooting a dry cow, if there is a group of elk to choose from, then I seek out the largest, fleshiest, " pot bellied looking" cow in the group, seems like this nets a high percentage of " dry" cows.

We did have one hunter in our group last year that did just like you did and shot the mother and once he realized what the score was he then shot the calf. I thought it was honorable. From time to time things get messy and you just have to deal with it. In our parts we have a little bit of a " consolation situation." Colorado' s elk herds are so over populated that the CDOW is going after the cows hard. I we don' t do something to bring the populations down and we get a winter like we had in 1982 then there will be mass starvation. Even so, it does rain on your parade when you kill a wet one.

Bench shooting may approach perfection,
Hunting can' t, except maybe on these forums

Never Go Undergunned,
EKM

121553

No I would not shoot a cow with a calf, weather an elk/moose, or deer in the first season. I live here in the bush and I encounter these critters on a regular basis and even at the begining of spring this year I have seen a few does that still have a couple of yearlings from last year, and a couple years ago we had a cow moose and calf around the kabin here and after the second year the cow ran the calf off to breed, and the damn calf moose came by here for about a week crying for its mama. Don' t you think I was thinkin about some veil.

handloader1

I don' t think I would. Good luck.

elknut1

Now I mostly bowhunt, I' ve taken a couple cows in the past, none with a yearling. If the opportunity would arise to harvest a cow that had a yearling, I' d surely pass it up.

Fish & Game has these cow seasons because of the amount of elk in a given area, so I can appreciate the thinning process needed. On the other hand, when do you have to many elk. elknut1

Alacrity Fitzhugh

Ordinarily, I' d pass, but I did have one November experience where I had a tag available for either sex and came upon 2 similar sized healthy white tail does. Both were feeding heartily on browse so I elected to shoot the larger of the two for the freezer. In the process of gutting the doe, I found that she was still wet and figured that the accompanying doe must have been that year' s fawn as there were no other deer in the vicinity. I do not believe that I left the younger doe at a disadvantage in this instance.

noway

I would not shoot a doe or cow with a fawn. There is a strong bond between them.
Before I had kids I didn' t really give it much thought, but now I would not.

I don' t shoot does or cows anymore. The areas where I hunt could use more animals, shooting does and cows seems like heading in the wrong direction to me for my area.

Cyrus

I' m pretty sure I would have a hard time shooting a cow or doe with a calf. If it was a moose and I needed the meat I would probably do it but wouldn' t feel real good after.
We are able to shoot bull of calf moose in some areas here and I have trouble shooting calves. It' s kind of a last resort thing for me.

txhunter58

Have done it before, and will do it again. Now if I see one with a very small calf/fawn, I won' t, but a normal baby from last spring should have no problem making it on its own. Does it bother me when the little one stands out there and watches as I gut its mom? Sure.