Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Why Elk hunt?

because i cant get a bighorn sheep tag every year

So I can have memories like these:









Have some elk chili in the crock pot right now, it sure beats buying burger at the butcher shop!

I cant get one any year......bob

I go elk hunting one week every year and its the best week of the year.

The country, the disconnection from the e-devices and the pain and misery that comes with it are also what I seek.

The meat ain't anything shabby either!

And some of us live where there are elk and still pay outrageous non-resident fees so we can go hang with our buddies, chase elk together, drink whiskey, smoke cigars and eat lots of smoked meat!

Because elk hunting is the best date a guy can take his wife on....



.... and it makes fridges look like this.....

I give up. Why do Elk hunt?

Because I can't not.

Have to say I'm starting to wonder why I personally do. The last few have been kind of disappointing, none of the old rush of excitement. Anyone else noticing that as we get a little slower & grayer?

Because elk are majestic. Because the country where I hunt them is rugged and steep and beautiful and unforgiving. Because I find it to be one of the finest of personal challenges. Because I am addicted to it. Because I am a hunter, and the smaller stuff doesn't give me the same "high".

I'd love to hunt grizz up close with a lever rifle. And I'd love to hunt hippo by finding a big male on land and getting between him and the water. Until then, I risk my ass trying to get to the elk, then trying to get it on the ground, then trying to get it out. That's been really damn hair-raising at times.

As wary as elk are, they can sure do some crazy things. 5 or 6 years ago, I shot a cow out of a large herd way up high . I needed to roll her down off the steepest stuff to dress her. While I was doing that, a half dozen other cows stood in plain sight on a little knoll about 200 yds away watching me and barking the whole time. They were there for 5 min or more.

Why hunt elk? I blame it on Granddad and his stack of Outdoor Life, Sports Afield and Field and Stream magazines. As a kid growing up in the cornfields of Iowa in the '50's and '60's, seeing deer was a rare thing, Use to spend hours looking through Granddad's magazines, dreaming about elk and deer hunting. When I got offered a job in Colorado back in November of 1980, I jumped at it. Went on my first elk hunt in 1982 and have only missed one year since.

For me hunting is about much more than trying to find and kill animals. Hunting is a chance to spend time with good friends and family members away from the daily grind. Just as I enjoyed learning to shoot and hunt small game with Granddad, I've enjoyed teaching my daughters and helping SILs and hope to have enough time left on this rock to help teach my grandkids. The oldest will turn 5 this summer.

While we enjoy all kinds of hunting, Daughter #1 compared antelope hunting to a college-level Hunt 101 class while comparing elk hunting to a Masters degree.

Why hunt elk? Simple, its for the best grass feed animal on earth, they are majestic top tier. It has no pesticides, growth hormones, inoculations of any kind! They are a challenge to hunt. They are so tasty.

any taste difference between bulls and cows ?

"Ask a stupid question"





~~~~~the morning crew at Stewarts

This



And This

For the “oh [bleep]” feeling when you walk up to them.

Ok, maybe not that, but definitely the country, the majestic animal, the challenge, etc.

Be sure to look around to figure how you'll get one to the road BEFORE you shoot it. I've known too many guys who've gone into almost impossible places without even considering how to get one out. When you walk up to a very dead 600 to 800 lb lump of flesh on the ground is not the time to consider how to pack it out.

I often get asked the question "Why I hunt (insert species or location here." My first thought is, "Why wouldn't you hunt elk, anytime you have a chance?"

After stowing away my first comment, I usually answer something similar to.......Because every morning when I wake up I am one day closer to the end of my hunting days. I would rather go hunting now, and worry about the consequences of my indulgence later. Too many hunters end up with "viewers remorse" for having stayed home Sep-Nov watching football when elk seasons were open.

I know a lot of folks older than me who wished they had hunted more. They saved a piss pot full of money that could have been spent on elk or other hunting, yet they are miserable cusses. They fake golf and travel as equal substitutes, yet the look in their eyes tells me they are faking it; the have regrets to not having hunted more.

I'll probably die destitute, selling my last possessions to fund my last elk hunt. But, I will not be found alive wishing I had hunted when the health and opportunity was present.

Darned well said Randy. My sentiments exactly!