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Last week out of my property in central Colorado, my girl: ... found this in the forest just below that meadow: Is it an elk? I assume so, but I'm not entirely certain. So, I was seeking input. Someone told me he thought it was a lope, but I don't think so. For perspective, the antlers are about 2 feet long. I don't know when it died, but it was recent enough that one of the upper and lower leg bones were still connected by the tendon. My neighbor saw over 150 elk on the front meadow on my property, further below that meadow, back in January when I wasn't there, and there are literally thousands of elk rubs on Aspens in another area just next to that meadow. There are several acres of Aspens where literally every tree has an elk rub on it. I've seen a lot of elk rubs on my property before, but never that many.
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Pronghorn have a thicker darker base and stem.
Looks like a spike elk to me. Interesting that the bones aren't more scattered.
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Thanks guys. That's what I figured.
Agree about the bones. There are mountain lions out there. I assume that may be the culprit, but I'm not sure.
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Hard to tell from the picture but, looking the lower jaw bone and nose of the skull, i would rule out Lion,Lions almost always eat the nose off a elk first, can't remember seeing a lion kill that had a nose left. Rio7
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Spike elk. I'd go with a wounded animal that didn't make it through the winter. Either illegally shot/wounded in the fall hunt, wounded in rutting games, or just tripped on some steps getting into Air Force One. A mountain lion would have dragged the pieces in different places. Looks like it's been ravaged by coyotes.
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There's two nice knife handles laying there!
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Hard to tell from the picture but, looking the lower jaw bone and nose of the skull, i would rule out Lion,Lions almost always eat the nose off a elk first, can't remember seeing a lion kill that had a nose left. Rio7
Makes sense. Thanks.
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Spike elk. I'd go with a wounded animal that didn't make it through the winter. Either illegally shot/wounded in the fall hunt, wounded in rutting games, or just tripped on some steps getting into Air Force One. A mountain lion would have dragged the pieces in different places. Looks like it's been ravaged by coyotes. Thanks for the good laugh.
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There's two nice knife handles laying there! Good idea. I'll let my boys (14 & 17) decide. They said they wanted it on one of their walls, but they also are into knife making.
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“One thorn of experience is worth a whole wilderness of warning.” - James Russell Lowell
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Check the skull to see if the ivories are still there.
You get out of life what you are willing to accept. If you ain't happy, do something about it!
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Check the skull to see if the ivories are still there. They are.
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Campfire 'Bwana
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Nope - it's a rare Double Unicorn. Only found in Colorado.
“Perfection is Achieved Not When There Is Nothing More to Add, But When There Is Nothing Left to Take Away” Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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Dude, you be grillin' indoors? People do that in Chicago...in a place called the projects.
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The liquor selection and ammo collection makes up for everything. You must be a little farther west than I am. The mountains are closer to you, than at my place.
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Just sent you a PM. Are you still on Colorado?
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