8x8 roosevelt elk

[oakie]

Not really sure which forum is appropriate to post this in, but we have quite a few elk that range from 8x8's to spikes. My dad is looking for a larger tractor with low hours. We make round bales and are switching over to the larger square bales. Dad wants to trade a lop tag for equipment obo. Let me know if you're interested these photos are from 2008-2010, the boys just moved back in with some of their girls a month ago. We have only hunted them once, so they think they are pretty safe on the ranch. The barber was bragging about the elk to my dad, not knowing which peice of property they were on, if that says anything about their popularity throughout this town.

 

[oakie]

The big rack is on display at my aunts house. These are sheds from 2010. The neighbor boy trespassed and picked up the 2011 sheds. The small 8x8 is the single. The big one is supposedly close to, or would be the state record. I think that the shed scored a 315 in 2009 and the state record is a 330 (I'm pretty sure, they were close). I didn't have anything other than my wedding ring to use to scale. I'm 5'10" to scale the ones that I am holding up

 

[kfacres]

I'm confused:  Are these wild elk roaming your property: or are they pen raised that escaped???

Is your dad a legal 'outfitter'?

 

[oakie]

wild and roaming. They sell LOP tag (Land owner preference) tags over here to help with the elk numbers. Alot of the locals sell the LOP tags in a lottery or just straight across. Some guys come from Alaska and hunt, it just depends. One of the ranchers focuses their fall on white tail deer hunts and bear hunts. These elk have been pretty highly sought after, my dad and grandpa haven't hunted them but the one time, they bring the sheds in to the fish and wildlife or whatever other place they can brag about them. My grandpa was supposed to shoot the 8x8 so he could have the state record, but he got trigger happy and shot a 6x6, which still isn't small, but isn't the big boy. Dad has had some pretty good offers but likes to turn people down, so I was suprised he wanted to try this. They are pretty neat, we like to get the sheds every year. We border BLM so the moron hunters run them onto our property. Last year we were feeding bucket calves and had to run the generator to run the lamps and one night I saw them bedded down 30 feet above my house. If that tells you how content they are.  They are only photographed here so they don't really run. The field photo was taken at the top of the property on my aunts afternoon jog. She ran by them, took the photo and they were still there when she came back. They are pretty neat. I'm not kidding about the gossiping part, one of the locals likes to hunt all over the world, as does my aunts boyfriend, and they are saying the big guy is a state record.

 

[oakie]

The big rack "mounting" was kinda stupid, in a sense I guess. It was both of the sheds from the big guy, and her boyfriend likes to go to africa to hunt, so he's big into mounting everything.......So he took the big sheds and mounted them and for some reason they are at his house right now. My aunt found the sheds so I guess he got to decide what to do with them. He likes to show them to his hunting buddies. Personally, I think they should have stayed on the place but I didn't find that set. The photo of me holding them is actually at the Fish and Game showing them of to a biologist who likes to hunt, from when I worked there. More like rubbing it in, I guess you could say. The job opportunities seemed to open up once I brought them in. Some outfitter from Africa tried to trade my brother a hunt for a Kudu, my brother thought he said cougar and wasn't really interested, since we seem to have plenty of those as well, and as a result the guy was insulted from my brothers lack of enthusiasm. After it was explained to the guy that the brother doesn't get really chatty over such things and it wasn't meant as an insult, just a misunderstanding things went over smoothe but he was kinda irritated that noone would bite on the africa thing.

 

[kfacres]

how much damage does an elk actually do?  There is talk of introducing them to the area in IL- of which I am from--- that is if they are not there already-- one gets killed every couple of years...

People worry that there are far too many people around- to have an elk population of any number.  Deer are a bad enough problem, imagine hitting something the size of a cow/ or small horse with your car-- plus enough antler to make up for 10 bucks...

 

[oakie]

Well...............it just depends. Our neighbor has about 60 in his front field and they wipe out the fence on a regular basis, and they eat as much as a cow does, so it's like adding 60 cows to your roster that you have to feed but never see any return on. We have been teased since they show up, that they are fun when there is just a small group of them, but our little group keeps growing, and I think it was almost 20 last year. Dad just seeded the place also and the bulls like to grab ass just like cow bulls, and tore the heck out of everything. The fish and game offers some compensation but not enough to make it worth it. Alot of the neighbors sale the LOP tags and I think that it just helps to pay for the fencing, etc. I doubt that they do as much damage as a LOP tag costs (when purchased from the rancher/farmer), but I don't know that for sure. There is another tag that is called a salvage/damage tag, or something like that, it just basically lets you take out a certain amount of elk when they are causing problems. Like if you are a hay farmer and you discover 60 in your alfalfa field. If there aren't a ton of hunters around they would probably be fine. The ones on our place aren't bothered- they were beating up a salt feeder one morning outside my house and it went on until that afternoon- so they just go about their business and don't mind us. But lots of hunters will obviously run them around. I haven't heard of anyone hitting one on the road, but I have only seen three that close to the road and they were pretty spooky. I wouldn't recommend introducing them, they wipe out a fence like nothing else and they do eat quite a bit of grass. I think we are borderline okay, but get a few more and we will have a problem. They are fun to look at though and their antlers are worth something. Dad really likes to look at them-and brag to the bordering neighbor- which is why I am suprised that he decided to try and offer them. His other idea is to offer a lottery type of drawing, like $50/ ticket and draw on a certain date, but his concerns would be, how would you prove to everyone it was ligitimate and not fixed if people from across the country couldn't be there to watch the drawing. So he's still pondering that one.

 

[chambero]

Wish I had what you are looking for, because you've got what I like!  I love elk and mule deer hunting out west.  Biggest elk I've got so far was a 6x5 on public land in Co in 2007.

 

[oakie]

Make an offer, the worst case scenario would be he would say no, and then have more bragging material to use on the neighboring ranchers, lol. Seriously, they have like 5 hour conversations about the elk when they all get together. Whenever grandpa can bring them up, irrigation meetings, livestock association meetings, etc he likes to brag about them and say what "a problem they are".

 

[chambero]

Unfortunately I spend too much money on my show calves to have enough left over for private land elk hunts.  My chasing these days is limited to public land either on my own or via drop camps with outfitters.  I assume you know people pay $10K+ for chances at bulls like that on private land - at least for Rocky Mountain elk.  I would guess Roosevelts might be worth more than that due to their more limited range.

 

[oakie]

The neighbor said he sells tags for $12000 and not to take less than $20,000-25,000. Dad has the exacts, I'm just the daughter who doesn't hunt. Dad wants a newer tractor so he thought a part trade with the elk would be something workable. It would just be cool to see our ranch in the record book  ;D

 

[chambero]

If he wants that kind of money he should contact a guy that runs a publication called "The Huntin Fool" that specializes in connecting hunters - ones with deep pockets- to private land tags.  You can find them on the internet.

 

[oakie]

If he wants that kind of money he should contact a guy that runs a publication called "The Huntin Fool" that specializes in connecting hunters - ones with deep pockets- to private land tags.  You can find them on the internet.

Is that a real thing?

 

[chambero]

Oh yea its real.  It was originally just a magazine that cost a few hundred dollars to subscribe to that specialized in advertising and writing about high end, western big game hunts.  The service costs enough that it weeds out the riff raff, hell raisin stereotype of hunter.  Like I said, look it up.

 

[oakie]

They have a facebook page too, you are right on the target there, lol. They look like they cater to a certain type of people. I posted in Iowa CL just to see (lots of tractors there, maybe someone is selling one) and a guy said he hunts all over the world and is interested. The man that was a co-owner to columbia sportswear and the co-owner to mossy oak-when they were merging over to share the camo print on columbia and advertise columbia on mossy oak like at least 12 years ago- came over and hunted on my neighbors place one year. They were shooting turkeys and other birds. We got to meet him, it was pretty neat but he was a bit of a braggart. He called up John Michael Montgomerys brother (montgomery gentry) and let us listen to the answer machine. The farmers figured him out though. They would all show up in tattered nasty coats and he would give them one, lol. It's a whole different breed of people. I think his name was sammy, he liked to drink, the other one was pretty normal. The same neighbors have shot various Honda commercials on their property, so the elk is dads bit of bragging material to that neighbor. It's kinda neat/frustrating, they scrap all the bikes you see on commercials, I think it's because they don't have serial/VIN numbers, something to that affect

 

[vc]

They can't call this hunting, what is it called? Sounds like the bison hunts I saw on TV, you drive out in the pasture and pick the bison you want to shoot, get out of the vehicle get it in the scope and shoot. They come out in a truck and pick it up and process it for you.
I don't hunt much but I do spend quite a bit of time on the water chasing the little green fish, I think shooting an elk under those conditions would be like fishing for a hungry 22 pound bass in a swimming pool, toss a bluegill on 40 pound test and hoist it in once it bites. I guess I like the fishing part as much as the catching part.
Now I do not begrudge the person with the Elk on their land trying to get a little compensation for the damage, I just do not think I would feel right being the one to shoot it.

 

[oakie]

lol, my uncle tried to go about it all dressed in camo, and they smelled him a mile away and ran. Just depends. Go up to them with a yipping jackrussel and a loud kubota and they don't seem to mind, but since every tom, dick, and harry has tried to get them dressed in camo and calling them in they are a little wiley to that. They are used to us checking livestock or taking pasture tours though. You can almost pet the deer off the kubota towards the end of calving season. I guess it depends on how into it you want to get. Personally, I prefer my protein grain fed and in the freezer already, but to each his own. Legally you have to be like 50 feet from the vehicle to shoot them, so  I guess you can call that hunting. We have a lots of ponds with the large green fish too You could make it a sportsmans package and let them shoot the canadian geese also, since they seem to enjoy munching the new clover. Could even make it an extreme package and throw in some cougar/bear/bobcat tags, or whatever is in season at that time. The neighbor has a really old, still functioning cabin, so we need to get one of those to compete