tangozulu

Anybody else NOT seeing elk pics?

If so.............here's a pic of my 410 bull?

skb2706

My good friend shot a 7x8 bull in GMU 10 in CO. It is the benchmark of "big" for me. I have no clue what it scores but in 50 years of big game hunting it is the biggest I have seen in person.

better pics to follow

Comparatively all elk I have killed are mid-sized.

Champlain Islander

They are all big to me because I am mainly a deer hunter. I have shot 4 elk in the last 5 years and believe me they all look big to me.

skb2706

Yep, when they're dead on the ground, its 10 degrees outside, you're by yourself, fading light, elk only come in one size....big.

Jeff Ovington

In my Region a legal bull is min 6 points on one side.
My biggest nets just over 300 inches.I'm not fussy, if it's 6x6 and I got a good clean shot, I'm pulling the trigger.I will now, only mount another elk, if I ever killed one over 380 inches. They just take up too much room. I regrett mounting the 300, my wife hates it,it's a really nice piece of art, but when a person is walking down my stairs the nose is 6 inches away from your face. Yeah, I will never mount another unless it's huge I mean huge, cause I be giving this one away, to make room for another.No I'm not gonna sell it to some rich European, my brother my dad and a good friend of ours, got it together so it will be going to one of them funny thing is nobe of them want it either unless it's necessary. Should have thought this one through.1300 bucks was not well spent on this impulse buy that's for sure.Well it wasn't even impulse (wife might disagree) I new before hand if I got a 300 plus Bull I would want to have it mounted
I just didn't inform her of my idea, cause I never really thought I'd ever kill a 300 plus elk.

fritz1

Here is one my dad got back when I was a senior in high school. I dont recall what it scored, I will have to ask him, all I know it was big!



I have never got anything close to that, although I have seen some like it, I figure my time is comming. I hope!

Blackelk

Most men in the field would call a 300 class bull 330-350, most 300 class bulls look that nice on the hoof. A 350 class bull would easily be called 375-400 class bull. It's the grander factor some call it ground skrinkage. I hear guys say I estimate a bull within a few inches that's pretty good considering a 1/2" of mass at each of the G measurements would give you a solid 5 inches. Then add 1/2" on each point that's another 5 inches. So now your + or - 10 inches. I know we all do it every year guessing the size of elk in the field it's really not so easy to do in the heat of the moment. Now if you just observing elk then sure you can take the time to really take a look at him.

Only 35 400 class bulls have been officially recorded in the books since 2005. So even if you doubled or tripled that number. How many people in the last 5 years have gotten 400 class bulls? How many total bull elk hunters vs. those that killed 400 class bulls? The odds don't look so good.

I'll take the multiple homes and shops full of elk racks and 300 class bulls vs. just one monster. I'd rather elk hunt than sit at home for decades waiting on my chance of a lifetime that could go bad.

npaden

I would say any elk that scores 340"+ is probably going to make most people say "Wow that's a big bull".

When you really get down to it, most people will not shoot a 340"+ bull in their lifetime.

My biggest is 310" gross 300" net and he was big enough for me to decide to have a shoulder mount done on him.

justhuntitall

I think elknut hit it right on an elk from New Mexico or the other states or units that are designed to grow such trophy big = something diffrent then in an over the counter tag from Co.

With that said an 320+" bull from one of these trophy managed areas is probably on the small end but 320" from an over the counter is a big bull.
I have shot my best bull this year with bow in a over the counter unit in Co. I haven't put a tape to him yet( just to drive my hunting partners crazy) but he is a true trophy to me and yes he is big in my book for where I was hunting.

You can guess his score .
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4533539_n.jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._4214686_n.jpg

Howler

I'll stick my neck out first and guess 280"...

As others have noted, a big bull in one area may not seem so big, in comparison, to a bull out of a hard to draw trophy area. When I got my first 6x6 many years ago with my rifle, I had it mounted because any 6x6 out of that OTC unit was a sight to behold and he only scores about 265". Then this year, as luck would have it I killed my best bull elk to date with my bow out of an OTC unit and he scores right at 330" and is fine bull for that area. But if I were to draw a tag in a premier unit in AZ., for instance, I may be looking for something in the 360" class because the odds are there that it can be done.
As also has been noted, 400" class elk are usually found on private property or in very hard to draw units and very few of them are killed, compared to the number of guys that would love to kill one. Heck, very few of us every even get a chance to lay eyes on such a beast, let alone have a chance to kill one.