Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Why Elk hunt?

Why do we hunt elk?

Because we are hunters.

Much like Bill Clinton, because I can.

Mostly to come with your experiences to the Campfire, then be told how you were doing it wrong, or how everyone else is better at it...

Because they are good to eat.

For the poker games.

Because its the closest I have come to Heaven while here on Earth.

Finally, someone came up with the right answer.
Paul B.

Enjoy being out hunting....don’t like to buy beef! memtb

Beats sitting watching TV - and most other things, too.

Because they taste good...

Because of where they live.

1. As mentioned above, they are good to eat. And good for you.
2. If you live in a state with elk, it can be DIY relatively cheap entertainment, or physical abuse.
3. Hunting during the rut for bull elk is about as exciting as it gets, in the big-game hunting world.
4. It provides endless anecdotal accounts on why your choice of rifle and bullets are the best, and the next guy's choices suck.

For the most part, elk are amazing animals that inhabit big, beautiful, tough country, where the terrain and the animals will challenge you physically and mentally. I don't even consider elk the smartest animals that are commonly hunted, but it can sure make you wonder at times how a person ever kills one.

Even in good elk country, you can go days without laying eyes on one. Just seeing elk can be an accomplishment at times.

While I love to eat them, that would never be the reason that makes me head to the mountains me to hunt elk. Getting some meat to bring home is just a bonus. Elk are often shared among the group because its usually a team effort to get one back to the road.

Every time I've killed an elk, I always figured if they could talk, they would have an interesting story to tell.

So I can take a long steep hike with my rifle in the mountains and get a good workout regardless if I am fortunate to find a willing participant to quarter up and haul off the mountain. It's all good no matter the outcome.

Hard to beat a good elk burger

I love elk country, love the fall hunting season, and I love seeing elk, watching them interact and learning their habits. I spend a way more time looking for them and looking at them than I do actually putting one on the ground and getting it in the freezer.

My dad fished and didn't hunt.
I grew up listening to elk camp stories from school friends and was enthralled with the tales of huge creek/river canyons and dark forest encounters with big elk.... but I had no realistic chance of getting a chance of a real quality hunt, (because of no family tradition to draw on and no clue what I was supposed to do) unless I hit the draw in my local unit.
I got a hunting dog @ 14 and focused on birds mostly and an local farm field deer I would harvest into in my teens.
After HS, I applied for a bull tag in a great elk area (at the time).
I was drawn after several years,scouted, set up a spike camp and was successful on a 6x7, great elk.
I was hooked.....but not like some.
I just enjoy watching them all year and usually being in the right place each year to harvest an animal.


Slave

P.S. I've never taken as big of elk as I did on that first elk hunt, nor close.
I don't care, though.
I still don't really commit to a serious, elk country, whatever it takes, balls out, stay out for 2 weeks, elk hunt.
I take the first bull I see and love it.
That way I can still take my dog bird hunting, steelhead fishing and deer hunting.....
but elk hunting is a nice part of it.

Mtnsnake: I Hunt - therefore I am!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

You and I think a lot alike, and I am not just referring to the fatties.

I normally take the first legal bull I can, so that I can get back to my beloved bird hunting and fishing.

I still have not taken a really big bull though...probably because I take the first bull I legally can.

Who are you? Loser.





Just kidding.

Or not.

The only reason I kill elk is cause they taste good. Pass the bucks, any species, especially blacktail muley and western\canadian whitetail....

I'm a thinking many enjoy "Elk Camp".

And they are made of tenderloins, backstraps hams, jerky, stew meat, and burger.

Because my son and I are never closer than when we chase elk together.

More to get away from the bullschit of the daily grind and to piss off the spousal unit than anything else? Maybe not, but sure seems like that. LOL!

No deep secret. I just love to elk hunt.

"Why elk hunt?"

I'm not sure why elk hunt. I've never read a paper that detailed why elk hunt. Elk are herbivores, so they would not hunt in the fashion predators like men hunt. But I suppose elk could hunt some tasty grass or succulent forbs and browse.

Now why do I hunt elk? I don't. I admit the elk won. I can't take it anymore. They laugh at me as they come right up to the fence dividing the properties and lay down and wait until legal light has ended, then they flood the field.

I could go on, but it is just plumb embarrassing. I might have to go into the witness protection plan.

Mainly it is because I love hunting antelope and deer more. If I have a need for a larger animal, I do better on moose.

Another reason is that my left leg is significantly weakened after nerve damage caused by a back injury and retrieving most elk is difficult. I have a hard enough time retrieving a deer. Shucks some days it is hard to walk well in a parking lot, let alone rough terrain.

No other animal has embarrassed me like elk.

The elk won.

Well, if you already have all the equipment, it's just the price of the tag. But, it never seems to end there, does it? There's always '1 more thing' an elk hunter can't hunt elk without. I just laid out $300 for a new backpacking quilt. There's always a better scope that your rifle just can't kill an elk without. 9 years ago I got into llama packing because I'm getting too old to pack elk quarters on my back. They haven't quit eating since I got them. There's no end to the cost of that 'free' entertainment.

Boy that is for sure and mules eat a lot more than llamas. Then you figure tack, trailer truck to pull it with. However, if I didn't have them, I would have a tough time elk hunting

To get a bull 2 come in blowing snot all over, dry humping around screaming with eyes wide shut!


It changes you man, it changes you!

My sons, DIL, best buddy, and myself, have taken 5 elk, all cows, in the past few years, off of a RFW property here in CO. All have been 'meat hunts', and all have been enjoyable outings with friend and family. Cost of these hunts have been just the resident tag, maybe a motel for a night or two, occasional ammo or gear, and gas to and from. Hunt area is only about 80 miles from where any of us live.
I will apply again this season, for the same tag, as I have enough pref points built up to again draw. One, or both, of my sons will join me on the hunt, to help with getting the elk loaded up once, or if, I pull the trigger.
I look forward to this hunt as much as any guided hunt for a big bull I have ever been on.

My elk hunting partner says it "separates the men from the boys"... I say I hunt elk, because they are tasty...

To me, elk are nothing more than groceries. I typically apply for a cow tag close to home here in the desert where one can be procured easily and loaded into the truck in big pieces, if not whole. Once that’s done I get back to what I really enjoy, hunting big mule deer and antelope.

Our rifle elk and deer season overlap for 2 weeks. Our deer season, in most units, ends Oct 31 and the rut starts after that so the big boys take some serious hunting to find them. This fall I saw a real dandy mulie buck with 10 does a week after the season closed. He would have looked good on anyone's wall. Standing broadside at 200 yds. Piece of cake except for that cussed closed season.
Antelope tags in Idaho are very hard to get. The odds are usually 1 in 25 or worse. I've only drawn twice in my life.

I hunt solely for the meat. Have done so since I was a child. Horns are secondary. Think about it... God absolutely organic meat.

People like Dave (and many others on this forum) that are willing and eager to commit the time and Herculean effort it takes to be consistently successful at harvesting nice bulls on public land, have my total admiration.

I am not willing to put in that effort.....and I suffer the consequences....by choice.

Sometimes the hardest part of the hunt is getting the tag. Where we hunt, bull tags are about a 1 in 6 or 7 chance. With cow tags, we've only missed once in 5 years. I'd rather hunt as often as possible rather than hold out for that bull tag. Besides, antlers taste terrible.

I agree. Having said that, I’ve only drawn one tag in 30 year of hunting Idaho. The bull in the photo above was OTC tag fwtw.

Wageslave pegged it correctly with me. I’m just willing to go to lengths most guys aren’t to kill a bull. That’s been the “secret” to my success for my entire life. If I was a better hunter and could tag them more easily, I damn sure would. Thankfully for me, my boy seems up to the task as well so we’ve shared some sucess as a result.

I know it sounds crazy, but the shared misery of packing a bull like that 5 miles on your back is a bonding experience unlike very few occurrences in a man’s life. My time at boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood comes to mind in terms of a similar experience honestly.

Elk do have ways of wining more often than not. But it sure is fun.

Because the only thing that gets me more excited while hunting is a heavily furred coyote coming into a call. And I doubt the wife would appreciate me filling the freezer with coyote meat (I do end up with a lot of coyote hides in the freezer though). Besides antelope they are the best tasting animal I have had but an antelope doesn’t fill the freezer

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!

I share the frustration but ... I'm addicted to elk country, to high mountains in October. I don't particularly care if i ever kill another elk. ML season is mid November and often pretty nasty. Regular rifle is mid October and with climate change in my area, it's gone from being miserable with mixed rain and snow to more "Indian Summer" ... great time to be out. Little frost in the morning, vine maple at its peak, trout will still hit a fly. I am thinking about switching to a flintlock even for centerfire season just .. be out there. The tags are OTC so I'm not taking someone else's chance to hunt by buying one.

Tom

I'm pretty much like Big Fin( Randy) although not as successful at killing big bulls, but I still have about a 95% success ratio in elk hunting.

I will be turning 76 this year.The last five years have been tough to keep it it.I have not missed an elk season in over 40 years,and don't plan to in the near future.However, I have had to make compromises. Big camp pack ins turned into camping in a camper at trailheads and riding in every day.Taller mules were sold and shorter ones bought so I throw a saddle on. The .06 got a muzzle break due to a bad shoulder..I am usually done hunting for the day at noon. Elk quarters had to be cut in smaller pieces so I could load them. With all that, in 2018 though, I killed a darn nice 6 x 6 on a solo hunt. Only me and two mules. Processed it in the field myself at just shy of 11,000 feet and got it back to camp in two loads.Only concession was I had to ask two guys to help me unload it.

Why would someone choose to smack a little white ball around and then chase it or sit in a stadium with 10,000 other people watch guys chase foot ball around when they could be out in God's country?

When I die , I want to slide into home base thinking it was a hell of a ride.

Saddlesore, well said.

Is that a Metallica reference?

no , he seems to be french.