Hunting & Fishing First Big Guy Down of 2022!

[skinney_7]

Had my first Bull Huntress out this season.
Her, Her Husband and Son all came out stayed for a few days, and had an awesome hunt!

Posted up along one of pastures bordering the north end of one of our pivots. Ended up Bugling him back out of the corn, after he followed his cows in, She made a perfect shot, and followed with a 2nd just to be sure. These Prairie Elk are complete BEASTS, I'm guess easily over 1200lb easily... He made it 40 yards into the irrigated pivot before expiring. It's awesome to have a walk in cooler for this time of the year, because it gets hot, fast!

Enjoy!

 

[davsco]

wow he's amazing! shot distance?

 

[skinney_7]

wow he's amazing! shot distance?

He was just over 100M.

 

[XP1K]

Nice. What part of the country is this ?

 

[Adam B]

WOW, what a beast!

 

[powdahound76]

Dang!!!

 

[Romeo458]

That's awesome

 

[roostercogburn98]

Can’t wait for the opportunity to do this once in my life

 

[skinney_7]

Nice. What part of the country is this ?

Middle of Nowhere South Dakota. Best place on earth.

 

[Mike Casselton]

Middle of Nowhere South Dakota. Best place on earth.

10,000% agree.

 

[zeroz]

He's got pretty weak thirds, LOL. Hell of a nice bull! 1200 lbs would be an absolute freak of a Rocky Mountain elk, probably a world record. Thats the size of the Roosevelts on Afognac which are the biggest elk in the world. A giant rocky is usually in the 800-900 range. Most Rockys in CO are more in the 700 range.

 

[XP1K]

Middle of Nowhere South Dakota. Best place on earth.

The middle of nowhere is always the best place to be.

The common joke around where I live is that we're not quite to the edge of the world but you can see it from here.

 

[skinney_7]

He's got pretty weak thirds, LOL. Hell of a nice bull! 1200 lbs would be an absolute freak of a Rocky Mountain elk, probably a world record. Thats the size of the Roosevelts on Afognac which are the biggest elk in the world. A giant rocky is usually in the 800-900 range. Most Rockys in CO are more in the 700 range.

I've been saying it for the past 5 years, unfortunately I don't have my feedwagon with load cells hooked up yet and I would get a legit weight. Right now they are at their heaviest point, this bull had 2" of white fat from his rump to the start of his backstraps. In another month they'll be wearing down, and in 2 months they'll be a few hundred pounds lighter I recon.

 

[candyx]

Do you butcher that beast for meat ?

 

[powdahound76]

Do you butcher that beast for meat ?

Elk is some fine eating wild game.
A big bull like that may not be the same as a smaller bull and still good eatin.

Never had corn fed elk…..

My CO public land 350”+ 6x6 bull ate dandy.

Taken with a Savage and Leupold 3x9.
In .308!!
With a Hornady SST!!!!!

 

[candyx]

Elk is some fine eating wild game.
A big bull like that may not be the same as a smaller bull and still good eatin.

Never had corn fed elk…..

My CO public land 350”+ 6x6 bull ate dandy.

Taken with a Savage and Leupold 3x9.
In .308!!
With a Hornady SST!!!!!

Thats a lot of Elk steaks !!

 

[TACC]

Wow !

Great shooting

 

[shields shtr]

Corn fed elk...Free Range?

 

[skinney_7]

Corn fed elk...Free Range?

I'll fix it for you.
Corn fed elk... Free Range.

 

[zeroz]

No one is making them eat that corn, damnit!

 

[shields shtr]

Corn fed elk... Free Range.

Nice. We have a few of those in MT in the southeastern part of the state. I bet they are good eating.

I am assuming that must be a limited draw type hunt in SD? Rifle hunts during the rut have always seemed weird to me, my buddy had a tag in Utah one time that was a rifle hunt during September. It felt bizarre the first few days toting a boomstick with elk bugling all around us. Such a fun animal to hunt during the rut.

 

[skinney_7]

Nice. We have a few of those in MT in the southeastern part of the state. I bet they are good eating.

I am assuming that must be a limited draw type hunt in SD? Rifle hunts during the rut have always seemed weird to me, my buddy had a tag in Utah one time that was a rifle hunt during September. It felt bizarre the first few days toting a boomstick with elk bugling all around us. Such a fun animal to hunt during the rut.

Yes Sir, this fine Lady had 15 years preference, My hunter that just filled yesterday had 20, now they have to wait 9 years to be eligible to apply again. Basically a once in a lifetime tag. We actually have a depredation (antlerless only) from mid July to mid Aug, that's bizarre.

 

[zeroz]

That doesn't make a lot of sense in a state that's trying to build the herd. Is it that there isn't a ton of habitat and they are at carrying capacity so they arent really trying to build the herd? There are a few crop damage units where there are PLO tags during the summer but for the most part CPW uses non lethal methods if the elk start getting in trouble. They'll give ranchers flash bangs and hay stack fencing and then they'll compensate for damage as well.

 

[skinney_7]

That doesn't make a lot of sense in a state that's trying to build the herd. Is it that there isn't a ton of habitat and they are at carrying capacity so they arent really trying to build the herd? There are a few crop damage units where there are PLO tags during the summer but for the most part CPW uses non lethal methods if the elk start getting in trouble. They'll give ranchers flash bangs and hay stack fencing and then they'll compensate for damage as well.

There's plenty of habitat, but the Ranchers want them gone. Lot's of damage to the fences, corn, hay as well as specific strains of pink eye that's transmitted to cattle. Factor all the costs to offset the damages caused, and they aren't worth what the state would be paying out in damages.

 

[zeroz]

Bulls like that can go for what out there? 10-15K. 500-1000 for a cow? That offsets quite a bit of fence if a ranch can sell a handful a year.

 

[skinney_7]

Bulls like that can go for what out there? 10-15K. 500-1000 for a cow? That offsets quite a bit of fence if a ranch can sell a handful a year.

Your numbers are pretty good. On the Reservation, we had 3 fellas stay in our cabin that were at 10,100 for bulls, and heard of a couple around 12K. I know their cows are 500 right now, I don't charge for Cows on our private ground.

 

[goof58]

Had my first Bull Huntress out this season.
Her, Her Husband and Son all came out stayed for a few days, and had an awesome hunt!

Posted up along one of pastures bordering the north end of one of our pivots. Ended up Bugling him back out of the corn, after he followed his cows in, She made a perfect shot, and followed with a 2nd just to be sure. These Prairie Elk are complete BEASTS, I'm guess easily over 1200lb easily... He made it 40 yards into the irrigated pivot before expiring. It's awesome to have a walk in cooler for this time of the year, because it gets hot, fast!

Enjoy!

Wow, Nice bull......Thanks for sharing

 

[goof58]

He was just over 100M.

Great shooting and good job on this one.

 

[RTH1800]

Excellent!

 

[b6graham]

Your numbers are pretty good. On the Reservation, we had 3 fellas stay in our cabin that were at 10,100 for bulls, and heard of a couple around 12K. I know their cows are 500 right now, I don't charge for Cows on our private ground.

do you do just cow hunts?

 

[Ronws]

Elk is good eating. My friend, John, once shared with me some elk he had harvested. Smaller than stew grind, but it worked good in a chili with a recipe I found that used some baking cocoa to give it that mystery sweetness you can't quite figure out.

And some sweet cornbread to go with it. I remember that meal to this day. And that was around 2006 or 2007.

 

[brc54]

He was just over 100M.

Good catch, awesome job

 

[Jtk98]

Great shot and a good catch