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Nice bull!

It sure is. Killed with a bow and obviously recovered. This famous quote seems apropos:

“O beware, my lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on."

Wow........look at all that frothy, bright red lung blood!

There are internet experts out there that may say that blood looks relatively old, like it laid overnight.

Other internet experts may suspect we are seeing the 'good' side, when it comes to the wound channel.

If you incessantly crave the internet atta-boy's..........perhaps cropping out the hideous shot placement would be prudent, in the future.

It is a great bull.

I have the video footage of killing that bull taken by my brother. Wasn't even going to hunt that day, but had time to get out the day before pronghorn opened for my dad and brother. Have video footage of my bull and a 350 class 6 point fighting a week prior to when I killed him.

After the shot the bull went maybe 80 yards and I gave it an hour...he died way sooner than that.

Tell that dead bull it was a bad shot...

Hang a photo of your best WY bull...I promise not to laugh if you don't crop yourself out the photo.

Show us all your area 7 elk Mikey, we'd love to see them.
Just like seeing nice bulls and successful cow hunts, post up your area 7 success on public lands since you have so many.

Ok. Now that we have determined who is the worlds greatest elk slayer and who is the best dog butt licker, we can move on.

Happy New year!

Wait........who can kill elk in zone 7 with virtually no public access?

Isn't that what you posted?

You posted you took one there, post it up. Oh yeah it was a cow you said.
Early elk hunting is ok, archery season. Once rifle opens they head to private lands for the most part. Later in season they tend to wander across the wintering area but also hold up on private lands. Yes elk can be had but you better have time and ways to get around later in season if that is when to want to hunt.

If he wants a regular price cow license then area 7 is a good choice if you have the time to hunt it. I know a better area with more access though for a Type 4 license, also better bull draw odds on that area and big bulls to be found with plenty of access on public ground.

Lets see your trophy cow elk Mikey, it is your only area 7 kill? Post 'em up.

A cow tag is always easier to draw, as there are about 5 times as many cows as bulls. Archery hunting success ratio is about 1/2 or less of rifle hunting. It use to be quoted as 18-20 % for rifle and 10-11% for archery. Due to ever increasing number of hunters I believe it is more like 14-15% for rifle and 5% for archery. So factor in those two statistic before choosing sex and what to use

Season wise, you can buy an Over the Counter tag (OTC) for 2nd and 3rd rifle season and archery for some big game units. Colorado is divided into Units and you select which unit you want to hunt in. Many units are lumped into one big area. I don't know of any OTC units that are not tremendously over crowded and success ratio is probably at least half of units that require a to draw a tag in a lottery.

Weather is a big factor too. Of the four rifle seasons the first season is more likely to have warmer weather, but that effects the success kill ratio. The later the season, the more chance of snow which could limit access to hunt areas, but success kill ratio climbs, especially for cows since they will be herded up more and at lower elevations if the snow is deep in the high country.

Horses will definitely get you into better country. Many areas in Colorado are Wilderness designated and ATV or any motorized/wheeled vehicle is not permitted . So it is either back packing or horses/mules. If successful, those horses will be invaluable in packing 300-400's of meat back to your truck. IF, and that is a big IF, the horses will pack meat, you have the experience to do so, and are very familiar with handling horses. You cannot depend on there being forage for your stock, the later the season the less there will be. Therefore,you will need weed free certified hay or any processed feed . Water is a big concern. You will have to camp near a good water source. The later the season the more of a chance the water will be frozen up. Lack of water will kill your horses.Then you get into the problems of the horse being hobble broke, high line or picketing broke and the possibility of encountering moose, and bears, or even the occasional llama.

On the plus side, horses will expand your hunting territory and make you more mobile. A lot of foot hunters will exhaust themselves in 3 days hiking around 10,000 ft elevations. With horses, you can hunt hard all day and all you have to worry about is having enough energy to crawl back into the saddle. However, they will add an hour to an hour and a half to you camp chores morning and evening and taking care of them during the day.

For your first hunt, I would seriously recommend this guy and hunt Wyoming. http://www.headinwest.net/ The learning curve is tremendous and it is money well spent. Most of the time, new hunters spend 5 years + before being successful .

Someone mentioned, " just go,don't over think it ". That is fine if you want to go on a camping trip and hike around with a rifle. 10% of the hunters, kill 90% of the elk, they don't do that with that kind of attitude.