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Campfire Kahuna
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I ran across this table that should interest some as the question comes up repeatedly. In another place, they defined 'field dressed' as gutted, lower legs off, head on. They estimated head weight at 35lb (antlered) and hide weight at 30lb.

[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]


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Campfire Kahuna
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I wonder why they take a 25-30lb jump in weight at 10 years.


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I would think that is fairly close, now they need one for bear and salmon, those 2 are probably the most inflated weights of any.


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I agree those weights look pretty good




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I always gotta laugh when I hear about 1200 lb Roosevelt’s, they’re bigger for sure, but nowhere near that...


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Yeah me too. We hear about thousand pound bulls in AZ as well. Nope...




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Years ago we were hunting in Arizona unit 27. It was a late fall hunt. There was a biologist who had set up camp and was trying to get hunters to bring their elk by so he could collect statistical data (probably working on a research paper or something). Anyway we had killed two 6x6 bulls. One was considerably bigger in body than the other. Both elk had been loaded into the trucks after only being 'gutted'. Dave's bull weighed just over 900 pounds, the other bull weighed about 500 pounds. Biologist didn't seem too surprised. When queried as to the reason for this, he said ' for the same reason you are 6'4" and I am 5'3".. sounded like a good answer to me.

I have not weighed many bulls but I have weighed the quarters of few spike bulls. Typical weight was 225-240.


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Campfire Kahuna
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The biggest increase in the weight of an elk is between the point of kill and the road. I've had some grow as much as 50% in 3 miles.


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LOL Rock Chuck, Whitetail grow the same way deeper in woods the more weight they put on.
Thanks for that.

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I have that same chart on the wall down in the shop where I butcher.

I hunt mostly cows now days and when done processing I always weighed meat which is deboned. All pretty much average 160 as shown.
I have noticed that elk that come out of Alberta etc are usually bigger bodied. I have two 5 x 6's mounted here on my wall.Both were in the same age class. One came from NW Colorado and one from up near Baniff in Alberta. Both are full shoulder mounts and the one from Alberta has bigger head and and from withers to brisket it is much deeper. I'd say by about 6"

In 2018 I killed a big 6x bull north of Gunnison CO. I was 75 and it was a solo hunt. It took me about 15 minutes after first light to kill it and 5 hours to get it into bags. I'd say it was in the 500# class as the charts shows, but it weighed close to 1500 by the time I got it packed out to camp 6 miles. A younger fellow and his son lifted hinds off the sawbuck because I couldn't. I think that was the last bulI will ever shoot. In 2019. I killed a nice 18 moth old cow and it was just about right.

Last edited by saddlesore; 05/23/20.

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We've been hunting cows for a number of years, too. You can get OTC bull tags in north Idaho but here in the south, they're all by draw and hard to get. We can draw cow tags about 3 out of 4 years. In fact, we haven't missed in about 5 years now. Sometimes getting the tag is the hardest part of a hunt. I'd rather hunt a cow than not hunt at all. Besides, cows are usually more tender.


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Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
I wonder why they take a 25-30lb jump in weight at 10 years.
Because they aren’t sitting on a couch for 10 years.

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Originally Posted by Rock Chuck
We've been hunting cows for a number of years, too. You can get OTC bull tags in north Idaho but here in the south, they're all by draw and hard to get. We can draw cow tags about 3 out of 4 years. In fact, we haven't missed in about 5 years now. Sometimes getting the tag is the hardest part of a hunt. I'd rather hunt a cow than not hunt at all. Besides, cows are usually more tender.


Same here, but I have drawn every year for ML cow tag for quite a few years. Hunting OTC units have become so crowded that you are lucky to see legal l bull or any bull and it is pumpkin patch with all the orange


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Good chart. A couple of guys complained about the amount of processed meat returned from the meat plant. I thought the amount was about right as I have never been shorted by them. My answer was to stop shooting smallish cows and not shoot them 3 or 4 times in the shoulders and hams with cup and core bullets. Happy Trails


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Elk gain weight further from the road they are killed, in bad weather, solo v friends, and most significantly the older you get. The elk im packing today weight a lot more than the elk i was packing 30 years ago.

Whats the source of the chart? I would like to actually see the data in a graph. Im guessing the weight of elk is like people, there is a large variance.

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Here's one source for the chart. It appears on other websites, too. It's been around a few times. WEIGHT CHART


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Originally Posted by Centennial
Whats the source of the chart? I would like to actually see the data in a graph. Im guessing the weight of elk is like people, there is a large variance.

The chart is in this University of Wyoming publication and cites its source. https://www.wyoextension.org/publications/Search_Details.php?pubid=383&pub=B-594R

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On average I don’t think their weight varies a whole lot, per age class


Ping pong balls for the win.
Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable
I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.

Ain’t easy havin pals.
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Just looked at the chart again, guess it shows that


Ping pong balls for the win.
Once you've wrestled everything else in life is easy. Dan Gable
I keep my circle small, I’d rather have 4 quarters than 100 pennies.

Ain’t easy havin pals.
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Lightest elk I've ever seen shot was by my daughter.

She was one if a few folks picked to shoot a cow on Arapaho NWR in Jackson County, Co. a few years ago to thin the heard.

She smacked a nice fat yearling, right before dark, in a cold snowstorm,, waayyy out on the valley floor, with no vehicle access allowed. One of the coordinating federal wildlife officers was watching from a high perch via spotting scope.

The nice Federal warden lady arrived just in time to help us finish the gut job. The cow went onto the hood of her truck. She drove us out the couple miles to our truck, and we literally dumped the cow from the hood of her truck, into the back of my Tundra.

We were riding in the wardens truck and we were both laughing, telling her, "this isn't the wY elk hunting really works.." lol


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