First legal elk that is ABOVE the road. After you shoot one no matter where it is you will know what I mean. They are big & heavy.

Wolf Killer brings up an execellent point. Make sure that you can recover your elk. They are big and they are HEAVY!!. Back in my guiding days, I had a client drop a nice bull that took us 5 tank fulls of gas in the chain saw to get him out of the nastiest northside thicket I have ever seen. We refer to that bull as the " frying pan" bull. We should have just started the fire and eaten him right there! It is amazing how these huge critters can go into places that you can hardly fit yourself!

The first one that presents a clean kill shot and fits your tag (not someones elses in your party) It' s real hard to fill a freezer with ambition. ( not very filling and often hard to swallow) There are a lot of elk in Colorado, and a lot of country. Like some of these other guys have pointed out: Take your first, best, opportunity. You' ll feel like a genius when you sit down to that first piece of loin.

Wow[], you veteran elk hunters have really given me something to think about. I am going on a 5 day hunt, Oct 11 through 15 for either sex elk in Colo areas 77, 75, 78,751 and 771. I was planning on hunting for a legal bull the first 3 days and if not suscessful then try for the first legal elk I might find the last two days. Now I don' t know what I will do. I plan on getting there a couple days early to scout. Guess I' ll make up my mind then, but you can bet I will be thinking about what you have said. Anyway, good hunting to you folks and may God bless you and yours.

a year and a half on up , but nothing to old because , the meat is tougher on those , plus i think a younger one would be a little more juicy . i won' t shoot anything younger than that in any species if i can help it , it just goes against me