This is the elk my son got last week- 5X6 - not a wall hanger rack, but respectable-
We only SAW 2 elk this year- this one, and a brushhead that he was hanging around with.
Areas I've hunted for 35 yrs and always at least seen elk- especially cows, were barren- hardly any sign at all- the fact that the FWP has put all the districts in the 300 series to Brow-tined bulls only indicates that they know the herds have been severely impacted by our 4 footed friends.
anyway - it took us 2 days to get him out- 1st day drug all day and ended up getting the hind quarters out at 8pm- the 2nd day we walked back in w/ pack boards, boned out the front half and packed that out.
Had a great time w/ my son and dad- would have been a great hunting trip even if we hadn't gotten anything.
Shoot. I can drive less than 10 miles and shoot bigger ones than that. Easy too. I know the fellow who raises them. Has a nice 10' high fence to keep them at home, so getting them out of there would be the really hard part.
when you say 4 footed friends do you mean wolves? down here the coyotes are laying waste to the whitetail herd. the DNR has refused to cut back limits so far. I have a feeling the next generation will not have the opportunity that we have had.
great story and good looking kid. make those memories every chance you get. i wish i could still get my old man to get out in the woods with me.
Nice bull, Rankin. He did good.
When you pull the trigger, the work begins.
We sure could use some of that snow, we opened our whitetail rifle season Saturday. A little white helps the aging eyes.
Rick
snoop
In Texas, there used to be bounty on Coyotes, but there is not one now. However, it is not uncommon to have several around you. Me and a neighbor to my farm "lay em to waste like" at every opportunity, them and the hogs. We may actually hurt the coyote population, but never the hog problem. There is no closed season on either of them in Texas.
Nice. I saw 17 elk in my 4 day hunting season here on the Oregon Coast. Only 4 bulls out of all of those and it was 2 at a time. Both times they were over 1500 yrds away across the canyons and rivers. Chased the second set until dusk of the last day and never could get the shot. 🙁 No Meat hanging for me this year.
I hunted the bitterroot wilderness a few years back in NE Idaho and spent the whole 10 days looking over my should for your 4 legged friends. Those suckers were everywhere. Out calling every night but 2 and sometimes we'd here them during the day. A few times I came across their tracks in my tracks only 20 minutes apart. In total we only saw 4 cows while we were there but found 3 kill piles, two of them were fresh as one could imagine. In one blizzard that rolled through we could hear about 3 wolves coming our direction as they called back and forth and traveled up a ridge line. It got silent when they were just at the edge of visibility and that moment was the only time in my hunting life where I felt I needed to draw my sidearm. AZ hair raising experience, let me tell you! You can have them for sure. We are now getting them in NE oregon and Im hoping that a little range land justice will keep them at bay. The elk population in that area has already taken a hit due to the large cougar population.
Thats a nice bull, and im sure good eating. 😛
Glad to hear you had a great trip!
In Eastern Oregon, they are having great luck generating larger bulls and increasing the elk numbers by making the branch antlered bull a draw tag, general season over the counter tags are spike only. This has resulted in many large 5x5 and 6x6 bulls breeding the cows rather than spikes.
The second approach that has a drastic impact is to trap the mountain lions and remove them from the elk herds. This has resulted in a huge increase of calves, thus larger herds.
Jud can probably attest to this.
JRL
