take a deep breath and THINK and compare,look around and take a few seconds, don,t get tunnel vission on the first 4 point or larger rack you see! I see far too many guys that quickly count points and sqeeze off a shot all within a second or so of spotting anything approaching a decent bull, now thats TOTALLY understandable since I normally hunt on BLM or public access land, and seeing any good bull is reasonably rare, but Ive seen several cases where guys dropped satilite bulls and only then noticed the herd bull after the shot!
ask your guide if hes there but remember most guides want you to shoot ANYTHING thats near decent, and rarely hold out for a monster, because most guys would rather have a decent bull down to brag about than go home empty handed, and they know that.
plus many guides are part time locals who either don,t know what a truely large bull looks like or would prefer you took an average bull and got back to camp early, or might want to get the largest bulls themselfs. now obviously not all guides think like that but Ive known a few that were in the guide business only to make a few extra bucks and were not exactly worried about the elks BOONE/CROCKETT scores, thier main concern was getting the tag filled and the ELK out and back to camp.
ITs your hunt and YOUR choice,but keep in mind ANY decent bull is a trophy of sorts and its rare for a guy to get a decent bull on every hunt, on an average hunt, your probably going to see only a few bulls and if your holding out for a monster your taking a chance on going home with an un-filled tag!
I know Ive gone home with an un-used tag a few times when I passed on average/legal bulls , I was seeing,having shot something similar in the past, while hopeing for something bigger would show up and it didn,t
Last edited by 340mag; 07/17/08.
