IME, for RM elk, average cow will run 350-550, average bull run 500-750.
a really big cow will be 550-600, a really big bull will go 800-900.
What Lefty said........
Out of 40+ elk I've killed, I had one bull that would've broke 800 lbs. I've seen a few more killed while guiding that would've been in the 800+ lb range. In the late 60's, there was a bull killed near Lake City that the DOW guesstimated ate 900-1000 lbs. I also watched a bull during one winter in the Gunnsion Basin that I'm pretty sure would be pushing a 1000 lbs--and would have probably net scored ~400+ B & C points.
My dad killed a cow 30 years ago that was HUGE--probably over 600 lbs.
But most are what Lefty said--cows over 500 lbs are rare, and bulls over 700 lbs rarer still.
In the 1960's, Alaska transplanted some Roosevelt elk (which run about 10% heavier than RM's ) onto an island of off the coast. The island had not had grazing ungulates on it for thousands of years. With an initial excess of feed, many of the first generation of bulls born on the island grew to 1000+ lbs. Several of the bigger bulls were killed and weighed by Alaska, and one come in around 1500 lbs. But once the feed was grazed on for a generation, the later generations of Roosies return to "normal" weights.
Casey
