Passing up the shot...

[Hummer]

Been thinking about this all day, i'm an idiot. Next time up, and the bow is drawn, it's getting slung. I'd be done elk hunting and going up bear hunting this weekend. Oh well, maybe they'll be back, I know I will...

One of the ways we succeed in hunting and anything in life is by learning from our mistakes. If you passed up a good opportunity on a 4x4 bull because you were looking for something bigger, that's a decision for you to make, and reasonable if it fits your goal. Should you have another opportunity you'll have a fresh decision to make based on the importance of your goal and on the evolving circumstance of your experience such as the number of animals you're seeing, the likelihood of success, and the time left to hunt. Besides the quality of animals in the hunt area, a hunter's experience, age, physical ability and hunting skills will all play a part.

It's easy to get caught up in the fantasy stories of magazine hunting writers who often report about guided hunts on private land or other restricted areas managed for trophy animals. But for most hunters using public land where hunt success averages around 23%, getting any elk, bull or cow, is a good measure of success, and any legal bull is a good bull.

While my first goal is bringing home the meat, I'd be lying if I said that taking a good antlered bull means nothing to me. I appreciate a trophy bull because they are magnificent and I know how hard they are to come by in the areas I hunt. Given my first goal, I take pride in bringing home an elk almost every year. Our family relies on the elk, deer and pronghorn I bring home. The 6x6 bull I took last year was exciting but I'll be every bit as appreciative should I run into a cow elk or a smaller bull next month. Where I hunt I know better than to pass on any legal elk, but what's important to you is a very personal thing.

[buckshotbarlow]

^ good point, i've seen some monsters where I hunt, and when u see em 3 years in a row, and u have a cow tag during rifle it just pisses you off. I'm gonna get the meat this weekend and just be done with the hunt. I think my wife would like that. Then i can get my bear tag filled...

[CO Hugh]

That right there is why I'll never shoot a elk. There's NFW I could do all that with my busted-up old body. They'd have to Life Flight me outta there.

Horses!!!

[yjsaindon]

Been thinking about this all day, i'm an idiot. Next time up, and the bow is drawn, it's getting slung. I'd be done elk hunting and going up bear hunting this weekend. Oh well, maybe they'll be back, I know I will...

You said it not me .... I'd have a really hard time passing one up knowing how hard they are to get, especially with a bow. Last I heard, this was a while ago, the ratio was 1 elk for every 7 years hunting. I will say that if that was my ratio I'd find another animal to hunt. Don't beat yourself up too bad. I'm just glad to hear you're out there. Good luck with the bear hunt. I hear they like jelly doughnuts.

[gnihcraes]

From what I hear, my father and his archery gang are not doing well either. FYI.

[sniper7]

I thought I read one bull every 10 years is the average for Colorado hunters. Might have just been elk in general. I know several people who fit those stats plus some.

[buckshotbarlow]

Well the hunt this past weekend had it's highs and lows. First off, my buddy stuck a 6x6 in the exact same spot. Problem was, i was up on the ridge cowering in a very small bush while the herd bull was coming to me. Right when my buddy let loose on that satellite bull, the herd of cows broke and I never got a shot on the herd bull as he decided it would be best to go with his ladies. He was a massive 7x7, with a rack wider then my arm wingspan. I just sat there and cried, but was very impressed that I was able to call him away friday night. We spent the entire night looking for his bull, and the morning after we got done hunting and never found it. So, saturday morning, we got into the herd bull again, and we tried and tried and tried to get him to come up from the valley he was in, and couldn't get him to come up.
/start of rant/
About 8:30am saturday morning, idiots started opening up with some sort of rifle capable of 30rd mag dumps. The animals spooked and we were pissed and also scared. These mofo's had no concern about firearm saftey as bullets where whizzing over our heads. We decided to make it back to camp through the valleys, preferring to stay on the lower ground versus the ridgetops. We got back to camp, and got our guns and went looking for those guys to let em know hunters are in the area, and at Pike Natl forest, shooting like that is illegal. So we never found the fuckers, and tried to find some cell reception to make a call to the dow. I guess my S3 and my buddies I5 couldn't get service, so we never got a chance to make the call. Then, we took our naps, and got ready for the afternoon hunt. We were planning on hunting a different location, and started going there when all of a sudden the fuckers started up again, this time with a larger caliber rifle. We decided to hunt by camp in the deeper meadows and never saw jack shit the rest of the night. So we start sunday morning, elk are bugling their balls off, and charging at any call (but this is at 530am) and we couldn't let loose our telephone poles...Right at 730am, those fuckers opened up again, and bye bye said the animals. We decided to try another ridge and right as we crested it, here's mr 5x5 at about 10yds. We just sat there, cussing him out, and him cussing us out. What a frig'n tragedy...So he bolts, we head back to camp while there's a withering firestorm going on. We break camp, and while doing this my buddy goes over to the general area to get his bow case and runs into the fuckers. He tells him there are hunters in the area, and that it's illegal to shoot while not in lawful pursuit of game. He gets the middle finger salute and told to fuck off verbally. He comes back to camp, we load our guns and go over there. I guess those 3 punks got the message and packed up their camp and made it out of there before we could get their license plate to report them to both the forest service and the DOW. I just wish TIM, the GW was around to write them a fucking ticket and get em arrested.
/end of rant/

Overall, saw lots of animals and was very happy with the hunt, even though i didn't get to sling an arrow at elkzilla.

[sniper7]

Sorry about the bad experience. My area had some issues with people on dirt bikes. Had several heated conversations, a few Dow calls and now the Forrest service shut it down big time and lots of volunteers helped to clean the area up.

[buckshotbarlow]

Old man filled his cow tag...yippie...No pics, but it took 4 of us 4 hours to debone, trim, package and get ready for the hamburger grinding...

[losttrail]

I hunt for the meat mainly. If it happens to have nice antlers attached, that's just icing on the cake. But antlers don't taste good to me.

I've harvested more does and cows over the years than bucks or bulls. Have never taken anything larger than a 4x3.