We never heard one bugle all day. We were calling aggressively and all of the elk were responding by raking the bush on the way in. No calls on their part, but they were all quite interested. Pretty typical for early season elk actuvity though. You cant be in a rush. If they hear you tgey will likely come sooner or later.

Norm

Great job! Thats a cranker! I love the looks of those prairie elk. I wish the o es around here would live long enough to get that kind of size. Beauty!

Norm

My fiance got her very first big game animal yesterday. We had this buck at 54 yards the night before and we couldn't get any closer. We chose to back out and return in the morning in hopes there would be more wind and cover noise. We spotted him at about 9 the following morning and we were able to get into 22 yards. He stood up and began to feed, she waited until he was facing the other direction, drew back, stood up and punched him right through the heart. He didn't make it 90 yards. Yesterday was a good day to say the least. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...381148c6bb.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...020cbd4e47.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...5b35fe4863.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...6a76a8a8cf.jpg

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That is so AWESOME. Beautiful first animal. The biggest of congrats.

My first thought also. Awesome pics and congrats!

[QUOTE=tbrown;3837497]My fiance got her very first big game animal yesterday.



Congrats. That’s a great first muledeer.

Beautiful mule deer. Congrats!


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Great animals everyone! Keep em coming.

Congrats to everyone so far!

Great pics. I am wondering something...sort of odd, but I will ask. I'm wondering if the successful hunters are seeing many ticks on their deer? I ask because a couple of early season deer I have shot in the past were quite infested.

Outstanding mule deer! Congrats


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Awesome animals congrats everyone so far :)

Typically we see ticks on the early season animals, there was not a single tick on my mule deer. I was quite surprised.

Nice animals fellows, congrats to all of you!

Great pics guys....I’m all revved up for bow hunting this year!

Long time coming!!! Finally got an archery elk. Lone bull, spot and stalk. Got reminded pretty quick that they aren’t a deer. Lol. Couple hours later he was in the meat locker.
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Great bull ... congrats ..

Awesome flat land elk. Congrats

Congrats to all!!! Love seeing the pictures and success stories. Just gets me amped! :D

mine had at least 12 ticks between the back legs....

Congrats on the elk Norm, looks like you will have some good eating this winter.
But I did find this comment a little contradicting in that you wish that the elk around you would LIVE long enough to get bigger but yet you shot a young elk. Nothing wrong with shooting a young elk and its perfectly legal but they will only get bigger and reach their full potential if you let them go, let them grow... I'm sure you realize that, just more of a practice what you preach comment.
At any rate, congrats to all successful hunters this fall and best of luck to everyone else.

Cheers,
SS

Maybe they do live long enough to get to the max potential but you haven’t found them yet :thinking-006:

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Not even close to the trophies on this thread but I couldn’t be more excited. This buck is my first archery kill and my first velvet buck. I had this buck at 15yards for 10 minutes until he finally presented a shot. My heart was beating so hard I felt it in my throat! Bow hunting is a whole new level of excitement for me. 100% addicted now.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...ee0aa83146.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...7cf17d7262.jpg


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There’s not as many elk in that area as there used to be due to deforestation of prim areas and lots of pressure. Not very many bulls make it to be 6 pointers any more and are lucky enough to make it to being a 5 now days. Used to see heards of 20-30 elk now it’s 5-10.

Like gmx says, habitat destruction is a primary cause of low elk numbers. We just dont get the numbers that the southern heards have had a chance to get. I have hunted 350 class bulls around here, one was harvested, the other died of old age and i killed a 321" 7x7 a few years back. It is quite likely that there are a few more 300 class bulls locally but they are scarce.

They get hammered hard in the gun season, since we are so close to the city, and once rifle season opens there are guys everywhere, shooting everything that moves. This along with a strong native harvest, the numbers simply just dont seem to grow. Every now and then a big one show up though. Not like the prairie bulls though, or the bulls around the bases.

Recently i have been lucky enough to find, hunt and harvest boone and crockett class bull moose during archery season, so i now treat my elk tag as a freezer tag, and then hunt for a big bull moose. This is why i am willing to kill a raghorn bull or cow elk, just for freezer meat. So, "pracitice what you preach" - i guess its just a concious decision to fill the freezer because i can. The one small bull i kill is just one less that the weekend warriors or the natives will kill. This zone will never have big elk numbers ever again because of habitat loss and other factors. If i happen to find a big bull elk, i may decide to focus on that, but when there are 200 class bull moose to kill its hard to not go after them.

Norm

Those last few bulls posted are damn fine specimens!!! Well done guys

Quite likely there are, but i cant look everywhere. But i have hunted here for over 35 years, so i do know a few good places to look, and run close to 20 trail cameras year round. I also scout on foot for around 20 days a year, and hunt for 30 to 35 days a season, so its not like im not looking or am talking off the cuff about something i dont have any time or energy invested in. I also have a few close friends that i compare notes with, so between us we cover a fairly large area, and have a good idea of the quality of animals in the area. Just sayin, not like we arent looking, lol

I have had the opportunity to hunt some great animals around here over the years, and i am thankful for that.

Norm

Can’t always tie them to your favourite spot. Congrats to all bowhunters. Any legal doe, buck, calf, bull, and predator harvest! All beauties and well deserved!

A trophy is a trophy, and this is a beautiful velvet buck. Shooting a big game animal should always be considered a trophy, even a doe - why not? It’s a measure of accomplishment, and they should all be held with pride.

Well done!
BG