Congrats!! I just wish I had the oppurtunity to elk hunt.

I never said ammo for the anti-hunters. I'm saying that I read the stories, both of them, and after taking a long shot and missing he did it again, and missed what he was wanting to hit. 7 years he's elk hunted ...... he doesn't know distance yet ?

I'm saying he should re-evaluate his equipment, and maybe the way he hunts. Damn the anti's, just trying to say that the guy took shots he didn't make and doesn't seem to realize why

While I don't think I could ever bring myself to shoot a calf that wasn't blatently sick or injured, I will not condemn you for doing it. You may have been going for veal like meat.

Congrats.

Now that I have said I am not going to condemn you for it, it doesn't mean that I won't give you a good ribbing over it. Like I said to my buddy last time he shot a really small doe, did you just check the 'bucket of nuggets' option when you took the meat to the processor?

Bet you weren't expecting all the publicity and some of the critisism. Congrats on your first elk. I can't waite till I get to go on my first elk hunt!!

read his story in the big game forums ........ more to it that he posted here

I just dont feel it right to harvest a baby elk, no matter what. there's a good chance that he could have moved on and got a mature cow or bull. personally, if it came down to shooting a calf or not getting one this year, i'd just wait till next year.

I think you made the right choice. It's better meat, lighter to get out of the woods and you got him.

Congratulations, I would have shot it in a heart beat before a big old cow. When I use to meat hunt I would drop the little ones first.

[:-]

The reason I shot a calf is that I have been hunting elk for 7 years and never taken one home. I don't personally know anyone who has taken an elk home from a do it yourself public land hunt. I guess you can say I am very inexperienced in elk hunting. Our hunt was about 10 days this season. We had an excellent areascouted that was an 8 mile backpack trip in. After the 4th day, we ditched that area because there wasn't any fresh sign. We went to a roadside hunting area that gets high pressure. Supposedly no one that week had taken anything off the mountain or even seen much, but we knew the land. I was down to one full day left before I had to go home for the season. I had been stalking since sunup and when I jumped that calf it looked like a P&Y bull to me. I did see it had a small limp before I shot, but that didn't bother me. I have shot deer with broken legs before. While practicing with broadheads, I can hit a 50 cent piece up to 40 yards and a softball up to 60. I had a rangefinder and knew the exact distance. It appeared that she ducked the string. I have never heard of an elk doing that, but deer do it all the time. The second shot, she was quartering towards me and I ranged the tree in front of her at 30 yards. The blood trail started about 10 yards past that tree, so I assume she was at 40. I don't know if my sights were bumped or if I was just that excited and pulled the shot. Both shots were perfect left and right. The shot entered at the corner of the shoulder and was a complete pass through. I have taken this shot on many whitetail and it has always made for a quick recovery as it did this time. When I was coming out of the woods with my first elk, I felt like a champ. Everyone I saw was so excited. I even ran into a guide who was excited. Those are the real hunters. The guys who work their butt off for one chance in 7 years. Not a single one of them had anything negative to say. They all wished they were in my shoes.

Boy named sue: I have two posts about my elk because I was requesting help from the Big Game post and I wanted to brag about my first elk to the bowhunters.

Also, this calf was twice the size of a normal adult Texas whitetail.

Dude it's your hunt shoot what you want don't let the holy then thous on this board intimidate you. CONGRATS!!!!