Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Is 40 elk enough?

Id also point out that if you started hunting elk back in the 1960s-1980s tags were far FAR less expensive and usually easier to come by, frequently available over the counter, but some were lottery draw, and if you did your research and planed well, and applied early in several states, it was very easy to have two or more licenses per year from adjoining states like Colorado, Idaho,Wyoming, Montana so that as you hunted in one state, as the dates for that season ended an adjoining states was opening, careful planing allowed a road trip to two or more states
I did that occasionally as finances allowed back then.
during the 1970s especially Id spend three weeks on a road trip hunting at least two states a year. all it took back then was three weeks off work and a couple thousand dollars to do what would now cost you 5-8 times as much and require you to draw a license.
Ive been hunting elk 45 plus years but my personal tallys in the high 20s. but the clubs group total is easily closing on 90 plus,ELK and lots more mule deer, but keep in mind thats a rotating group of 4-6 guys hunting most years for 45 years

Ethics are to some, kill one for the wall and never again.

Ethics to others are kill every legal one you can.

Heck ethics could be kill anyone anytime.

Since ethics have nothing to do with law.

As far as I"m concerned we each do what we feel is right. I prefer to shoot does and culls on whitetails, for meat, while looking for a wall buck... I may never see a wall buck, but I still love the meat.

Some don't or can't shoot does or young inferior males due to rules. So they have to live inside of whatever that is.

For me, my opinion says that generally trophy type animals are self limiting, after lets say X 350 class bulls, the shooter generally is seeking larger. And as such the longer you live and hunt, the less trophies you shoot.

Kind of works itself out.

I'll likely never kill an elk and though I've tried a few times, I'll be good with that. Mostly because we've fallen in love with Alaska and love chasing moose and such... And even there, I wish it was legal for me to take a spike/fork, because I don't like taking mature bulls just to eat. But we sort that out one day at a time. There are a lot more legal bulls that survive each year, than are killed. IMHO. But I"m digressing.

I honestly can't recall anyone on this forum posting up numbers like that. What would bother me more than whatever that number might be is the boasting about the keeping score aspect of it. It seems to cheapen it and turn it into something like a ballgame score. I think touting kill numbers would lower my opinion of that person real fast.

I'm not crazy about killing elk just to donate the meat. I don't believe that meat received as a donation is usually very much appreciated or respected. I've never understood killing to donate because I've never found the need to donate elk meat myself. There are ways of processing meat (summer sausage, etc.) that take large quantities and will disappear fast. Personally I love waterfowl hunting but I quit for many years because I could not prepare it to my liking. When I became a better cook I resumed hunting again.

I've killed up to 3 elk in a season in Colorado. Most every year I'll fill my A-list tag but I find the leftover tags more difficult to fill. Personally I could afford the money to hunt other states but not the time. Killing a few dozen elk over several decades seems reasonable enough to me for most guys but crowing about whatever that number is seems childish.

What a bizarre post by the OP.... I thought that type of jealousy was reserved for women....

Tanner

if its amazed about affording hunts, its all in whwere you prioritize.

Wife and I shot Camp Perry eveyr year, that meant shooting all year in prep.... we could not afford to hunt elk and shoot so we chose.

Now that we've quit shooting, we hunt.

If someone puts their mind to it, tags are cheap enough, and travel isn't that expensive.

If you are talking high buck guided hunts, then I know plenty young folks taht put their life in debt for whatever reason. I don't agree, but they do it for many things. Probalby if you did away with record books, they'd do it less as young ones often like to brag. Its in their nature.

I hate record books because its what you can afford to pay for mostly. its not representative of what it was years ago, and sometimes years ago it was only representing the luckiest...

If you have lots of time and money, you can hunt other states year after year. That's totally different than those of us who live in good elk states and don't have to travel. Resident tag and license prices, as a % of income, aren't all that different now than they were 40 years ago. I can drive 80 miles and be in the heart of some great elk country if I draw a tag. If I don't draw, I have to drive an additional 40 miles to get to a good open hunt.
So, yes, 40 elk in a lifetime is entirely possible. I haven't accomplished it and won't but it's doable for a guy who learns the elk hunting tricks early.

I do not think you need to be a Sherlock Holmes. If some one claims to have harvested more than 3 elk per year of hunting elk. Or take more than 40 elk before the hunter is 25 years of age. The hunter most likely used others tags to transport the carcasses. Most States do not allow party hunting of elk.

Damn, what a whine.

Elk reproduce. Want one? Go get one.

Good thing you don't start bitching about deer and how many ought to be "enough". Folks that hunt in the SE can (and some do) kill more each year than some western or northern hunters will in a lifetime.

Actually, the game biologists here in Montana are pulling their hair out trying to get MORE elk killed. They are over management objectives in many if not most areas.

yea some units in CO have had trouble with too large of herds and numbers...they'll come down to the lower elevations and tear up stuff in the winter. Here in CO it seems there are plenty of elk but not enough muleys.

BDKeg
It's the same here- I am wondering if the elk are eating the deer out of house and home. From my living room window, I have been watching about 200 elk this winter, and there's another 200 that roam around on the back side of the little ridge. Have never seen a mule deer in that parcel.

I've seen lots of elk and mulies in the same general vicinity but not in the same habitat. Elk are grazers while mulies are browsers. I don't think they really affect each other all that much.

God bless our public lands and a reasonable chance of success on an OTC tag in most states across the west if someone is willing to wear out their boots.

Some people seem to misunderstand the post. I never said it was unethical or that there should be limits. I posed these questions to get opinions and suggestions on how one might increase their opportunities to hunt elk anywhere and at what costs.

Maybe I worded it wrong. Yes I am jealous of those numbers since I love hunting as much as the next guy. If you say your not a little jealous of your buddy who just pulled your dream tag for second time in as many years or he just plain has the money to chase elk out of state your a liar.

Hell maybe I made some assumptions about the age of some of these guys posting high numbers.

I can admit when I'm wrong and apologize if I offended anyone.

Well, assuming that Murkowski's epically stupid bill doesn't pass the Senate and a counterpart in the House.

Amen

As was mentioned before, it's all about priorities. I'm neither wealthy or old, but have hunted a lot. I have a fair bit of debt to show for it, but I'm working on that. Not from guided hunts, just spent a lot on licenses, travel and guns. Didn't really need to spend as much as I had on guns, but I did because I wanted to. Thankfully, I can now afford to do more with cash and hunt 2 states most years, and apply for 5 (Wyo, Colo, Arizona, Nevada, Utah). Generally not hunting elk in 2 states each year though, but if I did, it wouldn't be that much more time or money, just a couple hundred extra bucks in a state that I may already be in for deer or antelope.
So for you, without even drawing a license, you could hunt elk in Colorado, Idaho and Montana every year. It would cost something in the neighborhood of $2000 in licenses, they are all close enough that you could bounce from one state to the next in less than a day and just be out gas money (which could be a lot, depending on how you hunt). It would take a considerable amount of time of course to actually kill an elk in all three during low success rate general seasons.
And for what it's worth, before the age of 30 I hunted New Mexico, Texas, Nebraska, Maine, California, Montana, South Dakota, Tennessee, Alabama, Colorado and Wyoming. And ate an elk license that I never got to use in Idaho.
Point is, it can be done. I'm not claiming to have killed 40+ elk, but I will probably will be there at some point in my life. But that's just elk. I'm guessing you probably don't want to hear about the total number of big game animals I've killed.
One other thing I want to address, I highly doubt there are many people who are not eating all of their elk. It is customary to give portions to hunting partners if they helped you. So even those who kill multiple elk some years (most I've killed in one year as a hunter was 2, but that year I think was present for 7 or more?) aren't eating the whole elk because they have others to show thanks for. They aren't wasting the excess meat, or even donating to someone that wasn't involved. My friends share in my success, as I share in theirs. If you have a couple of good hunting partners, like I do, between my licenses and theirs, there isn't much reason for any of our families to go hungry.
Oh and I didn't kill anything the last two years for a variety of reasons, much of it work related. But my fiance took care of me killing several antelope, deer and an elk too. So the freezer is still full and we still hunt... because we like to!

yea not sure, I know muleys have been on the decline for awhile, but DOW is trying to manage and bring it back up again. Personally I've seen a TON of muleys (mostly does) in unit 55. I think this may be a good sign as they've put back does on the limited draw in some units in CO as well. The elk on the other hand, there's plenty of them. I remember seeing a herd this last fall on the east side of hwy 135 during 2nd and 3rd rifle season probably 200-300 head no more than a few hundred yards in a field on private property just teasing the hunters and another herd further up the valley...who says elk aren't near the roads during rifle seasons

LMFAO!!! that is hillarious!!!

I'm two shy of 50 elk kills, but I am an old fart who has been at it a lot of years. There isn't any bragging there and it isn't a game to me. I keep the punched tags as mementos of the hunt. I made a conscious decision to move to Colorado from NM so I could hunt elk every year in 1974. In NM you could not, even 40 years ago.

I also made my elk hunting a priority. I cannot remember missing a season in Colorado since 1974.I have all the necessary good equipment, keep at least two mules, have truck and trailer to haul them and equipment.

In the last several years, Colorado has offered two tags and one year offered three. In the years where I killed more than one, I shared those elk with my hunting companions that did not kill an elk . Other than that, I eat one elk a year. Colorado sells those tags and they want those elk killed. Most of my tags thru the years were OTC or 2nd choice. For twenty years when I was applying for Unit 201 ,I know darn well they were. So those same OTC tags were available to anyone else who wanted to buy one.

I am not rich by any means. I make sacrifices throughout the year so I can pay for my hunts. Except for one guided hunt in Alberta( guide required) all of my hunts have been on public land, in Colorado, DYI. Ditto on the hunts in NM. One year, I did do a cull hunt on a nearby ranch that needed to get rid of some spike bulls and I bought that elk. I don't have a boat, ATV, don't fish, don't play golf or any other hobbies. I have no 60 inch TV. I am debt free. In my gun safe there are only 12 rifles. Two of which I can hunt elk with and one for deer or pronghorns. The others are 22's, 20 year old ML's, or family heirlooms that will get passed to my grandson.

One reason I keep track of the numbers is then I know when I offer advice to someone.I know darn well I have the knowledge and experience to back it up. When I go elk hunting, I don't play at it. Some guys quit hunting with me because they said I work too hard at it.


Most guys that complain, are the ones that do not make elk hunting a priority.