As for not shooting the first one I see, I can’t make any promises If it’s legal.
The theme of be sure you can recover them has came up several times. That’s something that I wouldn’t have considered. Experience like that are why I started this thread.
When hunting Colorado and on public land,you had best shoot the first legal bull you see as it may be the only one. Colorado manages the elk herd (if you can call it that ) for quantity, not quality. Unless you are in the realm of 20-24 preference points to draw a very limited trophy unit, or even 7-8 preference points, you chance of killing a 300+ bull is slim to none and in most cases slim has already saddled up and left. A lot of good bulls are killed in archery season when the rut is one. There are always a few bigger bulls killed in rifle seasons ,but most are raghorn 4x's and maybe small 5x's 3 or 4 years old. In 46 years of hunting Colorado,I have taken 4 bulls in excess of 300, biggest was 340+ in unit that took 22 points to draw. However I have killed a lot of the raghorns and cows too. I only hunt cows now. I want to hunt elk every year I have left and that isn't but 3-4. I have enough horns laying around.
