Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Reality of trophy elk

I've always been a meat hunter since I shot my first elk, a 5x5 bull, when I was in college in the '60s. Over the years I've certainly shot my share of elk all on DIY and most on solo hunts, and most on public land. Hunting pressure on elk and all other animals has tremendously increased in the 55 years that I've been hunting. When shot my first bull I was hunting with one of my college roommates and he wouldn't let me take those horns in his car with us back to college. I had to wait until his parents would bring them in their pickup when they came to visit him. Back then a lot of meat hunters just left the antlers in the woods.

I am continually amazed that people will pay $20-30k for an elk hunt, but that pretty much guarantees them the inches that they want. There are still 300+ inch and even B&C bulls on public land, but they are not easy to find. I have two friends that each shot a B&C bull in the last few years, but they were in a limited draw unit and may have been on private land that they have leased.

I think that I have only shot two bulls over 300", one netted 330" and the other gross scored 375". I shot both of them in Wilderness Areas back when I had horses. I eventually had both of them mounted. They were also the first bulls that I saw those years. Here's my 375" bull...