Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Body Measurement?

Here is one that might have made or slightly broke 30" withers ~ brisket. He was a huge elk, just not over-antlered. The problim with measuring one dead on the ground is two fold.
Allowing for the curvature of the rib cage and eye-balling is just a step up from guess-your-best.

Second problem I see, is just a thought?
How much deflection of the rib cage is there when the elk is dead weight on the ground?
Live bone deflects, flatten an oval from the width and it adds to the hight.




First Bud at this kill site was the owner of Alpine Taxadermy. We did measure him before the front got moved. But he did say that the foam shoulders from the Taxidermy supply store are exaggerate.

Field ranging is as much an instinctive feel as it is a science. Taking 30" for the breadbasket of a huge bull or 18" for a nice northern buck is fairly quick/easy math.

Spending some time afield with unsuspecting examples, then pacing is off might surprise you. Having some idea in your head at to what to expect might pay off?



A little practicing trick I like, is when hiking and I pass a tree that is a near perfect 12" accross, put the scope on it at distance. Same trick works on my elk brisket sized tires on my truck at destance.