I keep seeing people post that they have killed 40-60 elk. I have missed feelings here. Number 1 I'm just plain jealous. 2 how in the hell can anyone afford it? 3 at what point do ethics come into play? A professional hunter does just that, hunt but I've seen what seems to be a high no. of guys claiming to have done this.

We all love to hunt and we all covet that trophy tag. Should there be a limit? When is it someone else's turn?

A lot of them probably hunt in states with general tags, apply in multiple states, and are good at what they do.

If you are jealous figure out how they do it. If not, what do you care.

You need to learn about hunting beyond Arizona. Either way thats one odd post..Ethics? really?

Most i've killed in a year is 3, in 3 different states, two general tags one limited entry tag. I dont hunt cows, but thats one way to rack up numbers as some states you can kill multiple cows a year, or a bull and a cow.

Times that by 20 or more years of hunting, it aint real hard to figure out.

My great uncle who's pushing 80 has killed around 65 head all here in Idaho,every one went to feeding family.

Is that unethical?

My two hunting buddies hunted Colorado since we first went in '88 every year, had 6 or 7 Az tags and about that many NM tags. They've killed that many.

I've killed 13 but I have been on around 80 or more elk kills, average 4 a year. I don't need to be the shooter, I just want to hunt them.

Kent

There is a limit, always has been. At least as long as anyone here can remember. "Someone else" has the same opportunity as the guy who hunts for many years and gets his elk.

I love it so much...nothing like it. I hope I never limit out, but know it will come some day. Sure hope I hear a bugle or two in heaven one day....

If you live near the elk, anyone who can afford a deer can afford an elk. Idaho resident tags are only about $35. I'm 66 and have lived in Idaho all my life. I haven't killed 40 elk but if I had a really good spot, it wouldn't be at all hard to do it over 50+ years of hunting. If you know where the elk are, they aren't that hard to get.

Sour grapes never made anyone look good.

The opportunities are there every year to have an elk tag in your pocket. Because it may not be cheap, easy or come with a guaranteed harvest - does not make it unethical to hunt every year.Much less to harvest an elk after the amount of work, effort and sweat equity I put into getting one.

I don't need to tell you my personal harvest count, over the 34 years of hunting - but all of my elk have provided food for my family and my friends.

If you were to ask me to stop hunting because I've killed X-amount of elk I will tell you to stop wasting your time. I was born into a hunting heritage. Game meat is a main staple of my diet and no amount of complaining about me getting an elk too often - will change my mind.

I'd suggest doing the more difficult task - start hunting outside of Arizona. Find a place, commit to learning it, and start bringing home an elk every once in awhile.

I read on the "internets" somewhere that most complaints are simply a deficiency in B-vitamins. Most of which are easily found in red meat.

Looks like a win-win here. "Meat its whats for dinner"

I know a couple of guys who have taken 40 some elk.

In general they are either serious elk hunters, who do the work learning the animals, and hunting hard - or of course rich, in which case they pay someone else to get them easy access, on private ranches (there are a few owners in that mix but they tend not to post here).

Now if you don't live in a state with easy to draw elk tags, then you've got an issue with taking that many elk in a cost effective manner that most of those 30-40 elk guys don't have - they live there.

Now your question about limiting the total number of elk a guy can take over his life. Frankly most of the guys who shoot a good deal of elk teach others who haven't - so not only is setting a limit goofy, but it would result in less elk hunters becoming successful.

If guys like saddlesore and coyote hunter "stopped" hunting elk isn't going to make the collective number of elk hunters success better off, if anything it's going to go down.

The cost of elk hunting isn't going to get cheaper, so learn from the best you can, and be thankful that there are guys who are honest to god hunters who know and respect game vs. the here today gone tomorrow guys who just want a wall mount and their down - I've never learned much from those types other than to take things for granted. No such "taking things" for granted from a guy who has to hunt them on public land whatsoever.

willflow,

Apparently you suffer from "Arizona Syndrome." This can occur in other states as well, and it amounts to not understanding how different many other western states are from where you live.

A number of my friends and acquaintances live in Arizona (and Oregon, and a couple of other states where drawing any sort of big game rifle tag is cause for celebration). Every year at least one of them asks me, "Did you draw an elk tag this year?" And I explain, yet again, that I buy an elk tag every year, over the counter, and maybe two, along with a couple of deer tags, black bear tag, etc.

If the same person asks this often enough, I tell them they could do the same if they moved from wherever they lived to some state with more hunting opportunity. But apparently quite a few of them don't really get it, or think I'm making it up.

Here in Tx 100-200 head in a lifetime is doable. They are considered an exotic animal so their is no real season same with Buffalo and much more. Of coarse they are behind tall fences. This is a cheap alternative for me instead of Colo, but Can't bring myself to do it besides the wife wont allow it. So dont be jellous their are places like Tx that will give you a cheap alternative. I've seen buffalo hunts go as low as $800. Elk can be a little higher

I agree with the OP in that 40-60 elk is a lot. What he does not describe is how long the hunter has been after them. If the hunter is a one elk per year guy hunting in his state and nearing the end of his career, that is one thing. If this guy is 25 years old and kills 5 or 6 a year that is another. What is done with the meat is more important that what is done with the horns. If the hunter can use it, then I feel different than if someone is just collecting trophies and does not use the meat.

Wont claim 40...though Im not sure. I am sure about a string of 23 in a row, in 23 years. I didn't have any missed feelings, or missed elk. All shot with general OTC tags...ethics I think would come into it if I shot more than the law allowed. For years here we had Dobers 50/50 club...if you are over 50 and have been in on the death of over 50 elk....a number of members qualified.
Now fill out one of these and turn it in to Sysop.

Expand your horizons man.

Elk aren't unicorns or pegasus.

There are multiple elk in the freezer every year in my home.

If you thirst for elk hunting, do it.

ingwe - I'm going to have to keep your hurt feelings report and share it with some "friends"

That is simply...AWESOME

^^^ This is what I was thinking. In state apps are cheap and I apply for multiple tags for the meat. Over the course for a lifetime it wouldn't be hard to rack up that many kills. Some people even end up getting 3 or more tags here in CO if they are type C tags (usually private land).

I don't mean to look bad on anyone. I guess I am more curious how SO many guys at younger ages can do it. Of course an older guy who has been an avid hunter his whole life can rack up these numbers. I guess i was thinking more of the younger guys and the cost.

My ethical question was more aimed at the head only hunters. My family of 5 can eat 2 elk a year, and some venicin too I hope. The last thing i want to do is waste meat.

I have been exploring other state options for some time but there is no way I can afford multiple state hunts.

I grew up in New Mexico so yes between these two states elk hunting can be limited. I'm looking into the over the counter hunts and learning what its gonna take. I want to continue learning, I sure don't know everything. I refuse to pay a guide, that's my personal preference.

As far as the limit question, it's just amazing to hear the numbers. I'm sure not one to want the government getting any more involved. It was more of a question about exactly how this can be achieved when a guy is still in his younger years. I have been blessed to have have had 3 bull tags here over 9 years while I have friends who only had 1 or less in the lives over 40+ years.

Ingwe that is an awesome form. My feelings arent hurt, i am just amazed that younger guys can afford to do more than hunt as much as you. I think your example is perfect. Hunt every year and make it happen.

Thanks for all the replays. It gives me some more ideas.

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.

You got 'em!

I suppose I did. LOL!

We hunt mostly cows, for meat.. Although a good number of bulls have been taken, when they were the only sex legal.. This year I think we can get three elk tags.. I never have, but often get two.. Sometimes one goes unfilled, or if I take a second, my neighbors love free elk meat..

I hope to someday hunt WY wherthers it elk, deer or antelope. Funds just don'tallow it right now, too many medical bills and the kids gotta eat.

good post there saddlesore. I can relate.

Thanks for sharing saddlesore. Simplicity is missing in today's society. I am doing all I can to keep my girls involved in the outdoors. I fear for the next generation, all caught up in social media and vanity. They seem to have put on blinders buy choice and just don't care what happens to the guy next to them as long as it doesn't effect them.

I have asked myself that question and all I can say is I have passed the 60 mark and it isn't enough...

When and IF I reach 90 years old,I don't want to look back and think "I should have gone elk hunting more"

I don't care if I shoot another elk in my life time. But if I go, I'm sure as heck going to try to. If not I might as well go camping when it is warm and there are a lot of bugs

all my game meat costs 1100$ a pound. quail, deer, elk, even rabbit.

Saddle sore I sure hope you get to 90 and more. We need as many guys like you as we can get to help influence others.

At 66 I'm the youngest of my group of 3 guys. The oldest is 70. So far we're all going strong but that can change fast. Getting my llamas to carry the meat out has been a huge help.

I'm 39 and with deginerative spinal discs I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hunt. The disc issue also makes nerve issues arise. Dew to a steady dose of percoset and nerve drugs I get around OK. I'm going to put off back surgery until I just can't take the pain anymore.

I had a grandfather who lived to be 99 and he farmed well into his late 70's or early 80's before he broke a hip and that did him in. God bless you old timers who still get it done, alone too.

I haven't read every response, so I wouldn't doubt I'm being redundant here, but it all comes down to priority.

I'm 35, and make an average living. I prioritize my money and make hunting my 1st priority. I have unknown thousands of dollars in application fees from multiple western states on my CC every year and I just pay it off when my refund inevitably comes.

I don't drive a new vehicle nor do I live in a fancy house. I don't hit the bar every night or waste money on things like Direct TV, smart phone bills or other "necessities".

I have, however, hunted Alaska, South Africa, Argentina and just got back last week from New Zealand. I wouldn't have it any other way.

I went on my first Elk hunt at age 61 and a friend of mine had to talk me into going. Being the lucking SOB that I am I shot my first Elk and he scored SCI 498 5/8. Now I have to admit that it was an Estate kill but my point is I can't believe that I waited my entire life to go on my first Elk Hunt. So now I have been on two Elk hunts and have two bulls mounted. Now I've been hunting Deer all my life and I have paid my dues but sometime it's better to be lucky than good.

I'm 32 and look forward to just getting a tag and roaming around the hills. I guess for me I don't really spend much money since I always DIY hunt. Maybe $$ spent on ammo,a few bow things/bow maintenance, the usual small supplies, ect. I doubt i'll ever be able to afford an out of state guided hunt...just the tag cost alone is quite a bit. Thank god for public lands and cheap in state tags. OTC bow tag a few miles from where I live and hopefully a late season cow tag as a backup to put some food on the table...I could only dream of getting 40 elk in a lifetime, I'd be ecstatic with half that.

Don't wait to get that back fixed. You would be amazed at what they can do now days if you get a good doc. I fought back trouble since 1960. I thought everyone's back hurt like that prior to that. Lot of pain, TENs unit, shots, electrical nerve severing, two fusion and stuff you don't want to know about since then.
GIT-ER-DONE and start enjoying life.

Glad to hear a good story about back surgery. I have only heard the bad ones. I have a tens unit and it helps some. The spinal injections did absolutley zero to me.

I was told that they recently found that if you have the red hair gene you are less effected by meds. Its true with me and I only have red in my beard. Valium keeps me up for days. I take the percocets and feel almost nothing, always been that way. Time will tell. Its hard when I can't pick up the kids without really thinking about it.

I do not ask for any simpothy, it just is what it is. As long as I can work I'll keep off the government tit, other than working for a municipality as I do.

Doesn't sound like elk hunting can be any kind of priority for you then. Life isn't fair.

If people want "fair" I guess they should start the petition to make Obummer king. I for one will NOT be signing that.

Well, I can eat 50 eggs.

Not true.

If that were the case, I would be sitting home in a rocking chair every year. One year, When I drew a coveted Big Horn Sheep Tag on Pikes Peak, I cranked up my TENs Units to maximum output, loaded up one mule and went up and shot a nice 7/8ths curl ram. After my first fusion, I went elk hunting ,horse back 8 week slater wearing a full body brace. As the saying goes, Cowboy up

Saddlesore you sir are an inspiration.

The big trick to being able to hunt elk until a ripe old age is being able to get the meat out. Saddlesore uses his mules. I use llamas. Others have places where they can use atv's while others find strong young backs to take hunting with them. It's just that when you're approaching 70, from either side, backpacking elk quarters isn't nearly as fun as it was when 40.

I've packed a couple with an atv but 99% of our elk country is too steep and rocky for wheeled vehicles, even if legal.

One thing I learned years ago, is that you hurt just as much sitting home as you do up on the mountain.

Very true. 2 years ago, when I was 65, I hiked 12 miles one day with the llamas packing out 3 deer. I was tired but it was a lot more fun than watching soap operas on TV.

These are the good old days of elk hunting.

Tags are relatively inexpensive, opportunities for multiple tags in some states.

I hunted 8-9 days last year and shot 5, 2 in Montana and 3 in Wyoming...all on public accessible lands.

3 cows and these 2 bulls:

Montana bull:



Wyoming bull:



I was already done elk hunting in Montana and glassed this one up en route to pack my bull. Another hunter came along, that I didn't know, and was looking for a bull. I showed him this bull and helped him take this one:

Very nice bulls sir. Always good to see people still helping others out.

Yep, and a trumpet on the way there.

one factors thats becoming rather obvious,is that reading through this thread, its the old geezers that are still hunting, guys that started out decades back, that seem to both rack up the larger total kills, and thats probably because it takes years to develop the effective required skills and knowledge required to do so, and spend the weeks and decades afield it would require, the sad part is that about the time your in your 60s or older , having paid your dues for 30-40 plus years and you now know what to look for and why your doing things your generally in less than ideal physical condition to still carry on for several more decades to reap the rewards of those gained skills

That and being a resident or qualifying for "kinship permits" in states that have cheap and plentiful tags.

Sometimes it takes so long to find that really good elk hidey hole that you get your geezing license before you do.

I know several good hidey holes, however, I don't want an elk bad enough to go into them.

Years ago a friend located a high flat mountain that was pure hell to climb. The elk were on top. As he was dressing out a big bull, a plane buzzed him. Later, after he was home, he got a call from the IDFG congratulating him on the nice bull. They told him that they'd got his name from his truck license parked at the bottom. He was the 1st hunter they'd seen up there in several years. They knew about the elk but nobody hunted it more than once. He said he'd never do that again. The elk wasn't worth the work to get it out.

I've said that nearly every year after packing out elk,but somehow I keep going back, my wife says its a MASOCHISTIC STREAK, A MILE WIDE

(for the few with a limited vocabulary)
masochistic personality
n.
A personality disorder characterized by the infliction of pain on oneself so as to gain personal satisfaction .

Again I can't thank you old guys enough for shareing your story's to us kids. I for one am listening.

My brother has talked for years about buying land in the gila forest, maybe someday we will. Then we can get some mules and go after the monsters.

To the OP: And there is your secret, if you are still young enough. Pick spots in your chosen district where you would least like to go......


Then go there.

I took my first elk in 1974. I was pretty young and ignorant...Now, I'm just old and ignorant, but there is something about being, "In the elk" in September that is nearly unmatched. It's something I want to do every year until I'm physically not able to. I don't even need to kill one every year, but just need to be there....I went back to a recurve 19 years ago. This bull is the only elk I've taken with it. I had my goal of a really good herd bull, or nothing at all. Dozens, and dozens of close encounters through the years, but there was always a snafu involved. I can't describe what I felt when this all came together last fall....it was an amazing day!

I know a guy that will only hunt bow and makes all of it himself including his arrows. He may buy strings but im not sure on that one. He will not hunt with anybody unless he goes to Canada for moose. Nice bull!

My hunting partners realize I have an obsessive compulsive personality disorder that involves elk hunting related in some form year round. Most guys have a life I guess. I'm only about half-way to that 40 mark.
There is no off season. Every weekend is -

scout and scout again
deploy trail cams
hunt a leftover tag (I'll even hunt real low success tags just because I like the hunt as much as the kill)
gun shows
volunteer with the youth hunting programs
hunt sheds
shoot at the gun club
hunt antelope or sheep (in large part to prepare for elk)
collect trail cams
service equipment
contact landowners
local elk banquet
elk camp Vegas
state elk rendezvous
campfire rendezvous
visit a new shooting range

and I don't have reloading in that mix.

I know a lot of guys who are just plain full of it also.
hear stories of how great they were, killed dozens and dozens of elk, but I've never seen a picture and only seen maybe one or two dead elk in the 15 years I've known them. 40-60 elk is a LOT of elk. it is totally doable don't get me wrong. but how many guys out there have killed 15-20 and to them it feels like a lot more so they exaggerate a little bit, it happens.
I know guys that do it with deer, say they have killed over 100 when actually it's probably more like 20.

You mean everything ever posted on the internet isn't true?
Damn. There go my plans for a quest for the Chupacabra.

Pat....that is a whopper of a bull....but rumors hereabouts say you have killed more than one big one...I don't know what to believe...

I could post a lot more photos of dead elk ,but most of mine are hard copy taken before digital cameras were around. They are mostly stuck on the sticky page of albums, and it is not worth tearing up a photo just to convince a few of the elk I have taken. I don't have enough ego wrapped up in it for that. Then to there were a lot of years that cows and spikes were not photographed

I'm not a head hunter. The majority of my elk were cows and I didn't take photos of many of them. Sometimes we've hunted bulls only areas and I have taken some but for meat, I prefer a tasty cow.
This gentleman is one that I boned hot. He was one of the toughest chewing animals I've ever shot.

No need for that, I'm pretty sure he wasn't talking about you. You're too cantankerous to be a bullsh**er......

amen, I wouldn't cross Saddlesore. I meant the other blow hards that aren't hard to find, especially in states that don't have elk hunting.

I just pray God let's me kill enough elk before he takes me away that I can tell a believable lie about how good I am. And the first one will be a good place to start.

Now there's an honest, sincere man.

Some of us are lucky to have spent our entire lives in states where there is good elk hunting with lots of opportunities, like Montana, where you can start hunting elk with a bow in early September, hunt for six weeks, lay down your bow, grab the rifle, and hunt another five weeks. You don't have to choose either or, you can do both.

That is a great statement. I'm looking for #3 so I won't be talking up my "skills" anytime soon.

I think it's worth adding that elk hunting does not have to be that expensive. I hunt in CO each fall because that's where I grew up. Yes the tags are a bit pricey, but the only other major cost is getting there. I use frequent flyer miles for that. Everything I need for a week in the Rockies fits in my back. There was some initial cost, but it all gets used year after year so it's not that much in the big scheme of things. All how you choose to do it.

Thought I better offer some proof.
SCI TOP 20 at 498 5/8 Estate Rifle Method
Nontypical 11x11

What's an "Estate Rifle Method"?

By the look of the atypical antlers, I assume he's talking about a canned hunt. Many of the elk bred for huge antlers on game farms develop an unnatural look. We used to have an elk ranch a couple miles from here. Some of their breeders looked really weird.

Estate referers to high fenced farms. There's a big defference in a two acre "canned" farm and a 400 acre or 4,000 acre Estate farm. Now before anyone makes a big deal out of any of this just remember that when you get to be 60+ like I am, your mind still wants to do all those hunting trips you've been dreaming of but you body is saying "screw you". Hell I can't climb mountains anymore.But I wish I could. Call it what you want, Farm, Estate or even canned, but many hunters now have another way to hunt and enjoy a sport they love.

I think you're talking to a couple of guys who are 60+, except saddlesore. He's 70+.

No big deal till you call it hunting on a hunting site.

It'd be interesting on a livestock site... maybe...

Plenty of us have raised livestock for butcher and even may sport a set of longhorns above the mantel... we didn't hunt them.

That's not a wild elk that wandered on private property.

Kent

I graciously accept the error of my ways.

Some of the most memorable hunts I have ever been on were hunts where no one in the hunting party even harvested an animal.Time spent with my best friends is priceless to me.I hate knowing that I will never be able to hunt with my Dad again on this earth.

Myself and most here dont agree with that method of hunting.

but you didnt try to pass it off as something it wasnt, as you specifically said it was an estate elk,most of us know what you were referring to. No harm done.

Couldn't have said it better

Willflow- If you apply in arizona only; a more realistic goal is shooting 40 javelina or coues. it needs to be something you can get drawn for every year.

What if someone shot 40 antelope instead of elk? when i was in yellowknife after the wolf hunt there was a young couple at the table near me. they had just returned from seeing the gentelman's father. leaving at 12 noon on the 7 hour sno mobile ride ( ska dew) to the father; the couple harvested 19 caribou , a wolf and a wolverine. skinned/cleaned and had everything done by 12midnight.

You can't live long enough to draw 40 antelope tags in Idaho. The drawing odds are some of the worst in the state. I've applied annually for many years and have only managed to draw twice, and one of those was a muzzleloader hunt.

However in Wyoming, you can usually get a pronghorn tag every year, and often can add two or three additional doe tags at minimal expense. A fellow intent on so doing could rack up 40 pronghorn in Wyoming, in 10 - 20 years.

I guess one could hunt WY and kill four doe antelope each year.
Buck antelope tags in CO are about every three years. So since I like the meat, I hunt does in the December hunts. I have shot some nice bucks so I don't need the horns, and those bucks are stinky critters anyways. I never kept track of the antelope I have killed. More than a few, but less than a bunch.

BTW - was impressed when I learned that my elk hunting mentor had taken over 20 elk, hunting from his same camp, for over 20 years... The guy knew that country, and knew his elk. He could also shoot!

Impressive.

He's probably taken at least 10 or 12 since then...

Guy

Not tough to rack up a lot of elk, deer, and pronghorn in Wyoming right quick.

The last 10 years or so, each hunter could take up to 6 pronghorns (2 bucks and 4 does), 2 buck deer (one has to be a whitetail) at least 4 does, 3 elk only one of which can be a bull, 2 lions, and a bear.

To the OP I too in the past have scratched my head about some of the claims I have seen be it deer elk or whatever. In a lot of cases it is just as some of the folks have claimed here. They live in the middle of an area that opportunities abound and they also have careers that allow them the time off to pursue it. . Remember the sample represented here is a very small sample of the population at large. I may be wrong but I don't get the impression that the guys talking about hunting 4-5 states each year for multiple species are guys that get just 1 - 2 wks of vacation a year from a 9-5 job and have to decide to go hunting or to Disneyland with the family.
Like they said there are people that have the opportunity and time to do it. I also know several fellows that seem to kill numerous deer every year here where I live. Often they are guys that are shooting deer on their kids quota tags haven't been to one of their kids ball games ever & don't hesitate to use every sick day they have each year and so on and one in piticular has been thru about 4 wives. It has to be to each their own, but I will admit that sometimes I have felt a bit of jealousy into the past but in my heart I know it's largely been my choice to hunt just a weekend maybe two a year and I'm OK with that as I have a lot of trophy pictures of my wife smiling on the beach in Hawaii or on the golf course in a number of nice resorts.

Everyone makes decisions, including where to live and how to spend their time and money.

My advice is to invest wisely in life...this isn't a dress rehearsal.

These women have all killed elk. My wife don't care if I have to go back to work during the week, she's there for 10 days of elk camp.

Not everyone gets a tag every year but camp averages 6 to 10 dead elk per year.

We've been to Hawaii... I worked there for awhile on a construction project, Mexico beaches, have family next to California beaches and disneyland 6 hrs away we visit often... but elk camp would be last to eliminate if required... according to my wife.

Yep! I'm working on improving the wisdom of my investment. I live a long way from elk country and managed to get two in two different states last year.

Unless I move I'll never hit 40 elk, but either way it wouldn't bee too many. I love hunting them and the country to do so.
Rock Chuck- Can't you hunt pronghorns in ID every year with archery?

Yes, but several years ago they changed the rules to reduce the number of applicants in controlled hunts. They made archery a controlled hunt with unlimited tags. It used to be that guys would apply for a rifle controlled hunt. If they didn't draw, they'd grab the bow and go.
Now, by having archery as a controlled hunt, they made antelope hunting a 'choose your weapon' deal. You have to decide whether to apply for a rifle or an archery hunt. Since archery tags are unlimited, nobody got cut out. It just doesn't allow them to apply for the rifle hunt, too.

I don't know if you can put down the archery application as a 2d choice. If you can, that would negate what I just said because that would give you an automatic archery tag if you didn't draw for your 1st choice rifle hunt.

BTW, if you can get 40 antelope with a bow, you're a far better bowhunter than I am.

Don't let these guys rag on you too much. To be frank a lot of hunting is not much different if you are hunting a high fenced area of substantial size. Especially guided hunts on some of the ranches and reservations or some of the texas whitetail ranch hunts for whitetails. Sure the game may be more or less free roaming but those guys watch the herds and know where they are going to be and even have a good idea about the size of the bulls/ bucks. Face it with all of the ranching and gas and oil production etc people are everywhere and its a rare elk that hasn't become somewhat accustomed to humans. That doesn't mean they can't be cagy. They have us patterned too and once they see a change in our activities or we wander too far out of our place they figure it 's time to hide out. However you shot a great bull and had a nice trip with your buddies that's what's important.

Some years ago, an eastern university had a square mile fenced and was doing research on whitetails inside it. After a few years, they had too many deer so they had a special hunt to thin them out. There were lots of deer but they were so good at hiding that it took 2 weeks of hunting for the 1st deer to come out. I didn't hear if they got the quota killed.

Thanks Bangeye, I won't get raged. If there is one thing I've learned after 62 years and 3 divorces is to pick a fight worth fighting and this aint one of those. LOL. But you are right, I had a great time with my buddies. I didn't have a wall big enough so I mounted him on a Cypress stump.

Back in the 80's when they were really thick, you could get 9 antelope tags a year in Wyoming. Now most years the max you can get is 3-5 goat tags.

oxforddictionaries.com

hunt
Syllabification: hunt
Pronunciation: /hənt/
Definition of hunt in English:
verb

1 [WITH OBJECT] Pursue and kill (a wild animal) for sport or food:

game 1
Top 1000 frequently used words
Syllabification: game
Pronunciation: /ɡām/

3Wild mammals or birds hunted for sport or food.

Kent

Actually sounds rather "responsible"
and completely ethical to me.

What a STUPID and JUDGEMENTAL topic to start a thread about!

GOOD for your relatives BigSwede who apparently took good care of their families! Even if done in a rural, WESTERN way!

If you hunt the right areas, killing 40-60 elk in a lifetime isn't hard. I've taken 13 Colorado elk in the last 15 years with resident tags which cost under $50 each (and less as you go back in time). Had I figured out elk hunting sooner, my total would be much higher as I've only missed one or two years since I started hunting Colorado elk in 1982. By then some people my age had been hunting elk for 17 years or more.

Lots of people can afford to hunt with guides and hunt multiple states. How they afford it is none of my business and being jealous is a waste of time and energy.

Covet a trophy tag? No thanks. I'm a meat hunter the usually hunts a single season (or overlapping seasons which gives me an extra 2 days). Most years I have both a bull and a cow tag. I've only filled both tags two or three times and have turned down far more shots than I've taken, sometimes coming home empty-handed as a result.

When is it someone else's turn? When they decide to send the time and resources required to do so. I give up quite a bit to hunt elk every year, even with resident tags. When I first started I hunted opening weekend and maybe Monday, 2-3 days tops. These days I hunt the 7-10 days and have a much higher success rate.

Instead of being jealous, figure out how to be successful with your hunts and have more of them.

I'm never jealous of someone elses success but I sure am envious sometimes.

This cracks me up.... Does the OP want us to stop hunting in hopes that it will leave more elk for him or does he want a red x marks the spot kind of help? We can shoot three elk a year in Wyoming. This will be my 31st year of elk hunting. Do the math....

To be honest, we have only been able to shoot three for about the last three years or so. We have been able to shoot two for over ten years. The last two years, I have thrown three tags in the garbage can during open elk seasons. One can only eat so much elk meat.

My first year of college in Laramie I decided I needed some meat. Shot seven antelope. Don't ever do that......

This man speaks the truth. Nut up and dive in. We hunt by the theory that we have only so many days to kill them. We have a long time to get them out.

I'll be up to 40 elk when I'm roughly 62 years old. I'm currently 46. I'm guess my answer will be no, not enough.

You have the quality as well as quantity.
Every one of yours would be the bull of a lifetime for most guys.

NO!
74 @ 53

jealous?



of not starting sooner!
not getting out EVERY year.

Guess I Should turn some of my tags back in then for this fall. two elk tags, a deer tag, an antelope tag and a moose tag and probably a crop damage tag for deer or two

Come hunt with me in my unit where the hunters success rate is 3% and then we can talk about who gets a turn my friend... Just sayin.... . No complaints here though. I hunt the hell out of them every year and have been damn near successful every year for the last 10 years. There's, what you call, a learning curve though...

Pat, I went back to recurves (and I have a thing for barred turkey feathers) also years ago now, but you are right. That is almost a magical time to be in mountains. While I've taken some thirty deer with my bow I've never had it come together for a nice bull.

Beautiful pic and a prehistoric bull!

Last year unit 41 had a 11% success rate for 1st season and 2nd season had a 5% success rate. A lot better success rate than a lot of units in Oregon especially for those boys hunting the coast.

Also one can never shoot too many elk as long as the meat is being utilized. Side note I hunted the coast one time for elk and that was enough for me.. I talk about Alaska and weather being hard on rifles [bleep] I think hunting the coast of Oregon will test any rifles durability that was one wet and miserable 7 days.

I have lived in the deep south most of m life. Flat coastal areas at that. I have dragged 120# whitetails a mile or so through the woods to get them back to the truck. I've done that in hilly areas too. It's a workout. I just came back from a vacation in CO. I did a lot of hiking. On one of those hikes I struck up a conversation with someone I had just met. We talked about hunting and our dream of elk hunting one day. The country we were in was rugged, rocky and steep. The air was thin. I looked at him and said that a hunt would be great fun right up until you pull the trigger. Then it would be utter hell. I can imagine that even "easy" elk hunts are work. Packing out a blacktail in Kodiak was one of the most exhausting things I have ever done in my like.

Work? That may be an understatement.

Paul: I killed my last elk 11 years ago( I quit hunting them after that...)
My pard and I killed side by side bulls on a hillside that was, shall we say, steep. On the good news side, one kick ( literally) and the bulls rolled to the bottom- a spot we could get within 100 yards with the truck!

Pard started dressing them and I headed for the truck, and the ranch, to call the cavalry. I returned with 7 guys, two trucks and a four wheeler. There was a couple obstacles, like a creek between trucks and now dressed elk. By my watch it took the seven of us plus machines 3 hours and 25 minutes to get them loaded into the trucks.

That is as easy as elk hunting gets.

And after three decades of it, I decided Im too old for this schitt!!

The last bull....






Younger days....when the mountains weren't so steep, but a pic of a more typical DIY elk deal....try dragging 600 lbs of dead weight over this....

Eileen and I still hunt elk, but only in areas where it's reasonably easy to get them out. The cow she got last fall was only a mile from the truck, but died in the bottom of a coulee. The coulee wasn't too deep, and within a quarter-mile or so the country pretty much leveled off (or as level as most southwestern Montana elk country gets). We had our in-line Neet game cart, and reduced the load as much as possible in the little time we had, since we wanted to get it out that evening. It was close close to dark and there were bears in the area, including (possibly) grizzlies.

After gutting, we cut the cow in half at the back of ribcage and took off the lower legs. We packed it in two trips, and the Neet cart helped a lot, because it can go right along the middle of game trails, and has handles on both ends, with hand-brakes on the rear handles. I pushed up the hill while Eileen pulled, and when she needed a breather I'd grab the brakes and we'd rest a while before going again. We had both halves in the pickup by 10:30, which was actually a pretty easy deal, considering. But even a 400-pound cow ain't like packing out deer, for sure.

Usually we hunt uphill on closed logging roads, which makes it relatively easy to bring them out with either a cart in dry weather or with a toboggan on snow. Though getting them to the logging road can get interesting.

That's how two "senior citizens" do it. Dunno how much longer we'll keep after elk, but the older we get the more we appreciate whitetail does and antelope.

This senior citizen uses two mules .I have more than a few years on Mule Deer. If I didn't,I could not be elk hunting.

Never enough! I love hunting elk and being out west, I can't describe how great a feeling it is. I've killed ten elk, 8 small bulls and 2 cows, all in Colorado, thoroughly enjoyed hunting each one with a couple of mulie bucks thrown in. Last one I killed was in 2008, I had to take a leave of absence hunting elk to pay for my daughter's college, hopefully I will be elk hunting again in 2017. I wish I lived out where the elk roam and I'm jealous of the guys who can hunt multiple states!

That cart sounds pretty handy. Years and years ago I had one of those first generation carts shaped like a "V" with the big wheel at the apex (front). It was murder due to balance issues when loaded and you couldn't push the unwieldy thing over any obstruction. I had one friend frequently disparage it's heritage on one hunt--not a good design.

The trouble with NOT hunting elk is not having its meat.

A good cart is a good thing to have in fairly even country! Pard showed up with one on a deer hunt. we went up the hill, killed two deer and he wanted to go back to the truck for the cart. ( I'm old school...if Im heading to the truck, I might as well take a deer with me...)

" It'll be worth it." he said....



He was RIGHT!

Noted! 😀

Yep!

And the Neet Kart (I believe that's how the company spells it) can go over obstructions a foot high, like deadfall, because of the two in-line wheels. The cart can be tilted upward so the front wheel goes over, and then tilted forward so the rear one goes over.

I know a guy who uses one to pack his packframe and camp gear into the mountains. He can then hunt with his packframe on his back, so is able to haul animal parts back to the trail he wheeled in on, and then uses the cart to haul everything back down the mountain.

Amazing how the principles of the wheel and lever can make packing heavy weights easier. A lot of people on the Campfire make fun of natives in southern Africa for not knowing anything about wheels when the first Europeans showed up, but from the evidence many hunters have never made the connection between the tires on their pickup and not having to pack dead animals on their back.

But with the two in-line wheels aren't there balance issues with this one too? I was initially visualizing "in-line" as side-by-side until I Googled it.

Anyway, it's obviously a better design than the one I had; though I could get a whitetail out on it I found cutting one up and carrying it out on a freighter frame no harder.

Edit: further thought acknowledges that two drivers is much better than one at the rear.

Yep, and in not-too-rough country one person can cart out two antelope.

The Neet Kart is also used by search-and-rescue teams to pack injured humans out of the woods, or at least to a spot where a helicopter can get to them. This is usually done with a person on each end.

We'd been using a conventional side-by-side wheeled cart for a number of years in easier country, but they obviously have problems on sidehills or narrow paths. I was loaned a Neet Kart to try out, and after packing some heavy loads at steep angles decided to buy one, partly because even if 60+ hunters stay in shape, they're still over 60. Eventually age takes it toll.

Killed my first elk in 1971, kill between 0-3 elk every year since.

My 83 yo dad is at 50+ elk, he still draws a cow tag and kills one most years.

Besides, elk are good to eat..........

Casey

It's often hard for people who live in states where there's a low-percentage draw for a lot of elk tags. I have friends in both Arizona and Oregon who ask me, "You draw an elk or deer tag this year?" Or at least they did before I explained that in Montana I buy both over the counter, every year.

Killed my first elk in '88...

If I recounted correctly, I am only to 25-ish elks out of 28 years of hunting them.

Over the counter tags mostly, with a controlled hunt mixed in here and there.

I put more into elk hunting than most other animals... I love the rewards, the sites, smells, taste the experience. And yet I do not kill one every year.

I'm just a regular joe, have daily job, hunt mostly on weekends but live in a elk healthy area...

If I had the time, funds I would like to think I would be at 40-ish elks by means of traveling to foreign states to kill wapiti's

I will be hiding right over here.

lol...lol