manboy

thats all you could come up with stumppy? i only hunted elk one time with a rifle , so 100% success isn't to bad?

stubblejumper

Not if you are willing to settle for a cow.I would have expected you to hold out for a record book bull if it is so easy to hunt elk with a gun.

Power

Here inWA you're only choice is to shoot a spike bull. Anything else you have to draw a special permit for.

I JUST got my results yesterday and one more year without being drawn (almost 10 years without being drawn- never been drawn in my life). So, don't bother hunting elk here unless you want to battle big crowds for an 8% chance of shooting a spike.

So, off to Idaho I go, where I'll have a chance to shoot any bull. I'm so pumped! Not sure what choice I'll make but elk meat is so good in any size so I might drop the hammer on the first bull I see... but then again I have 15 days to hunt so I might be selective the first week or so...

manboy

well good luck with your hunt, lets see some pics. when you get back.

Power

Will do. Group of 4 guys, odds are at least one of us will tag something. Headed over there next weekend to scout and figure out where camp will be come September.

Sorry to be so negative about hunting here. Just the odds are low to get an animal at all and the management of our game dept. isn't the greatest, mostly they just look at ways to make more money and don't really seem to care about improving hunting opportunities.

rather_be_huntin

I have always believed that thereisa"hunters ladder". What that means is that when most peoplestart hunting are just happy to harvest something, even if it's alittle spike. Once you harvest a few smaller bucks/bulls/boars/etc and start to feel a little mastery of the animal you are hunting then you climb a stepon the ladder and some personal challenge kicks in and you want to "hold out" for a personal best passing upsome animals. Once you take some "mid-rangers" then you climb another step and become a bit more conservation minded and stop thinking about harvesting the smaller animals at all. Then your personal challenge kicks up a notch and you start thinking of "throphy" animals.

The problem with elk is in some areas they can be very tough to hunt.On publicland there can be lots of pressure from other hunters, and weather and drought conditions can move herds out of some areas completely and it can take days just to figure out where the elk are. Throw in archery and you make this even tougher on yourself. This means for some, myself included, you are just lucky to getone shot opportunity on an elk in a season in some units. Meaning you never get the chance to climb the ladder to hunting "trophies".

Every year I put in for draw units here in Utah. If I ever draw I wouldn't settle for anything less than a 360 inch bull. But until I draw I'll be hunting public land general areas with every other hunter and his dog. And if I'm hunting with a stick and string then I'm taking the first bull I can because it may be my only opprtunity that season.

Long answer but that's only way I could answer your question.

rather_be_huntin

The bulls in the fenced operations are a lot more expensive than cows. Let him save some money and he'll get his rifle bull.

manboy

as i only hunt public land, so i know about those tough areas. it gives you a much greater enjoyment for what you have done. someday i hope he gets that chance also. take one step at a time, soon he will be at the top of the ladder. i have a few more steps myself to climb.
as i have never shot a truely big whitetail. a 120+ buck would tickle me to death![8D]

IfItRunsHuntIt647

Like everyone said, it depends on your area. I hunt the same area every year so i have a different mind set than most people. I hunt elk all season, so i have time to look for the big one, but that is not always best. In the rut, spikes and smaller bulls are quite a bit more vulnerable, but i would definately take a cow over a spike.Let the spikes get bigger to help the genetics in that areaI would shoot any satelite bull, not only because any bull elk is a great trophy. Not that i would pass up a huge herd bull if i had the chance, but sometimes it is better to let that larger bull breed. In my area, i have noticed a certain genetic line that shows up in a lot of the elk. Their horns start to have the same frame, and that is good. I have no problem shooting a younger bull and letting the larger bull breed, but that breeding bull is usually hard to pass up. It all depends on your ethical view. Quite a few of the guys i hunt with have passed up 320 class bulls for that reason. They have a few of them on the wall already, so why get greedy? You know you are starting to get in trouble in an area when you notice younger bulls with cows during the rut, and that might mean maybe you should shoot cows to preserve your elk hunting for the future

game4lunch

I would like to think that all hunters hunt first and foremost for the meat. Too much emphasis is put on the "trophy" aspect of hunting.
"Men hunt to pursuethe animal, not to possess it."
Having said that . . . take the first legal Elk you see! I can remember turning down spikes because it was openning morning and then never seeing an Elk again. Consider the stats: The national average shows that elk hunters are successful once every five years!
I know most of you are looking at a large expense to take an Elk, and you want your money's worth in the form of a nice rack. So put yourself in good shape, practice long range shoting, and put yourself in promising Elk country via extensive research or even an outfitter/guide.
I get to hunt Elk 6+ weeks a year, and still get skunked. So I take the first legal Wapiti the Elk Gods bring me.