Just returned from my fourth moose hunt in Alaska. Have taken four good bulls. Thinking it might be time to shift focus to elk. I have only killed one small 5x5 on my own in New Mexico ,13 years ago.

If you wanted to go guided and had say $12,000.00 to spend, what area and guide would you choose. I have no points so landowner tag or voucher or OTC is a must.

I spoke to Mr. Hill from Hill Ranches in Colorado. Any other ideas? I don't want to sound like a horn shopper, but I want to experience one great elk hunt and kill a 300 plus bull.

300 plus bulls are doable. Quite a few come off of public land. $12,000 is not enough for places like the Vermijo Ranch, or Chama Land and Cattle in NM. $12,000 IMO is like having 10 pref points in CO. Not enough for a great bull, but more than enough for lesser ones.

I would look at the Ranching for Wildlife properties in CO. RFW is for residents only, but those ranches also sell private hunts and can hunt from Sept thru December They are listed in the Colorado Big Game brochure.

I think that $12,000 will get you on a private ranch that has a resident herd and only kills maybe 10 bulls a year. I bet there are members here that know of them.

Deseret Ranch, that's where all the hunting celebs go.

12K won’t get you on those ranches either.

Express UU Bar in Cimarron, NM can help you out for 2K-3K more.

https://www.utahelkhunt.com/idaho/

Saw a bull here whose rack hung over his azz, another huge one with palmations like a moose.

It will cost you, but they are there.

No you didn’t.

Anytime someone says that you instantly know they are full of [bleep].

So True.

Their description of “spike camp” sounds more luxurious than a lot of base camps.

https://worldwidetrophyadventures.com/big-game-hunting-trips/

You're a liar. The world record elk had main beams of 56 2/8 and the number 2 elk had beams of 59 inches. Neither of which would extend past an elk's hindquarters.

He said the antlers "hung over it's azz," which to many (if not most) hunters would mean "above his azz", not "beyond his azz." There's a big difference.

but it is Pole Up His A$$......We know what he meant

Oh for Christ Sakes that's Rulon Jones's high fence operation.

Semantics aside, most I know would take it as discussed. Even “over” the ass is a stretch.

Lol.....at least 18" difference.....

BS. He meant extending past the hindquarters and you know as well as I do that no elk has had antlers that long. Not one of the top 10 bulls in the books has an antler longer than 61 inches. You really expect me to believe he saw an elk in the field bigger than the bull Winters took in AZ or Plute took in CO?

Haha 😂😂, if I had a $ for every time I’ve heard that SLM

The big bulls all left Arizona...

Not all, grin.

I’d. Spend that 12k on equipment, gas and go figure them out, after six or so years maybe you kill a 6x7 290 and you can say he’s 300, most people wouldn’t know the difference. Then you’d have a trophy.

Shawn

I love hunting. I love shooting deer. Elk are just a big species of deer. I will never spend $12,000 to kill a deer.

Maybe I’m young and naive,
But give me a DIY hunt for the mangy bulls with little antlers every time.

So what does Hill want to shoot an elk on his place? Eastman's hunted that a lot, can't be cheap.

around 15 years ago i paid a guide $4,500.00 and got a bull with my bow that scored typical 376 b.c. but i have a spot where my son on public land has taken two nice bulls 1st scored 310 b.c. 2nd scored 380 + b.c. both with a bow we had no guides. public land can have some nice bulls too if you do your homework. Pete53

Two points:

1) Top-10 record-book bulls don't necessarily have the longest main beams. There are some listed lower down that have 63-65 inch beams.

2) While that still doesn't mean the antlers "hung over the azz," I have seen quite a few bulls which could scratch the top of their azz when they tilted their head back, whether when bugling or just wanting to scratch their azz. For years I spent some time each fall photographing rutting elk, and not only saw this a few times, but saw far more bulls with "scratch marks" in the hair on top of their azz where they'd done so. Or maybe it was from admiring cows biting their azz?

...

63 to 65 inches still wont extend past the hindquarters. That would take at least 6 ft of antler and you know that elk doesnt exist

One time deep in the backcountry of Montana...........

The two are often mutually exclusive. Me, I'd be after a quality wilderness horseback hunt. I'd suggest a pack trip in the Bob Marshall B&C be damned. The experience of a real wilderness hunt is far more enduring than a pile of bone on the ground.

Maybe a nip o the Irish?

A quick google search turned up these.

This first bull is straight broadside. Gives you an idea of how much bone it would take to reach his ass without any deceiving angles.


Second two bulls have some long main beams. Still can’t reach their butt.


If this ass-scratching bull is out there, someone should have pics.

Yellow stone has monster bulls.
And talk about a challenging adventure, try sneaking a 350” bull out of a park.
Bet it would get the heart racing!

Pennsylvania has bigger bulls and there are more elk in Rocky Mountain NP than one will see in Yellowstone now.

Many years ago, probably late 80's, my wife and I would go to Yellowstone and photograph elk. One morning we found that some one had killed massive bull and cut off the antlers in Norris Meadow. We contacted the Park Rangers and they copied our videos and photo we had taken the day before. It took the two years to find the culprit. He had finally put the antlers with a mount in Utah.

Interesting data on the Yellowstone elk herd. In1994 there were 19,000+ elk in the Yellowstone elk herd. This was the park and surrounding areas. Wolves were released in 94 and 95. In 2021 the elk herd was about 5800 with about 2000 in the park itself.

If anyone wants they exact figures they can search on Google "Elk herd count in Yellowstone"

Hmm.


Nobody has posted pics of a bull that can scratch his ass.


Still waiting…

Sounds like you need to go to Pennsylvania…

Rules are no meat waste, cutting racks is for people with terminal cancer.

Yes it does.

I've seem some really nice bulls in Idaho's unit 54. Getting a tag, though, is a pipe dream. The drawing odds for residents are about 1%, even worse for non-res.

Judging from photos I've seen, bulls in transplanted herds in east have some monsters. They're protected and allowed to grow with limited hunting. It takes a few years to grow really big ones. Again, getting the tag is the hardest part of the hunt.

Some years ago, a guy who made hunting videos put out a new elk hunting show with a guy getting a beaut with a bow. Shortly after than, some fish cops were watching it, in UT IIRC, and one said he'd been to that exact spot. There were some terrain features he recognized - inside Yellowstone. The park service took photos from the video and found the spot. When questioned, the guy who made the video stated that it was impossible to find really good bulls anywhere else.

Do an ancestry.com test.
I received my results recently. I’m 37% American Indian, that’s Feather not Dot for those not in the know.
I’m pretty sure I can just start shooting elk anywhere anytime I please.

There’s plenty of herds out west with limited hunting.



The secret to those eastern bulls is easy winters and no natural predators. Those elk have easy lives. Makes for big racks.

I hear A3 will getcha a big bull, if ya draw a 23 tag…grin

I can't wait until wolves show up in RMNP and eventually slaughter an elk on the main street of Estes Park. The yuppies will have a heart attack.

Wish I could remember that poachers name. He was from Oregon and a archery hunter who was making a big name for himself. A friend of mine was a archery pronghorn outfitter near Maybell. Another friend guided the poacher. Ran into my guide friend a month after the hunt, and he said "something is not right" with that poacher.

In the early 90's he was caught on the Paunsaugunt in December with the fresh killed head of huge buck, a rifle, a bow, and a video camera. Without a license. He had shot the buck with a rifle and then video taped himself with the kill describing how he had killed it with a bow. Among the video tapes in his truck they found another tape of him with a huge bull. One of the Utah officers had done his graduate work in Yellowstone and thought the country looked familiar. Utah sent the tape to the Park Service in Yellowstone and they found the spot and bones from the bull.

That poacher went to the federal pen.

Wish I could remember his name....

Noel Feather

This is a high fence deal. At least the one in Idaho.

Utah has some private ranch hunts...link is one I know of

But I'll bet it pushes $12K or more

In my elk hunting years here I've taken three public land bulls with LE draw tags

Being out of the loop now...not sure what the best draw units are out there now

http://tavaputsranch.com/hunts/elk.htm

👍 Thanks!

All of Rulon Jones ranches (Idaho, Utah, New Mexico) are high fence hunts. Those are the only three Rocky Mountain states that allow that kind of hunting.