When Did You Kill Your First Elk?

ColoradoV

ColoradoV

Very Active Member
Oct 4, 2011
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I was 14 alone and killed a spike at 11 yds w my golden eagle compound bow for my first elk. My father was in the area but in a different drainage. Cleaned it then met him at the jeep. I missed a 5 point bull real real bad when I was 13 w my father there. He was maybe 30 yds away the arrow was lucky to travel 14 before it hit the ground 🤦🏼‍♂️ . No pics as that was 1987,88 we just did not carry cameras.

I know it has been posted before but my wife got quite the bull for her first 👍..

618E6725-4E0B-428C-B3B3-D6FF8E4B1E6D.jpeg
 
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mallardsx2

mallardsx2

Veteran member
Jul 8, 2015
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CrimsonArrow said:
Geez, you look like a baby. Heck of an accomplishment for a kid!
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When I shave I still look like a baby so I stick with the "grizzly" look. lol

Looking back on it the worst part was that I walked right up on that cow on the second day of the hunt right at daylight and after I shot it I had three chip shots at 5 pt and bigger bulls and bigger over the course of the next 12 days.....I guess I really wanted to kill one pretty badly. We were 5 miles from the road.

I should have held out but I was so worried sick about the cost of the license ($475 at the time if I recall about 2 weeks of wages at that time for me) that I didn't want to go home empty handed. I will likely never shoot a cow elk again. If I do, it will 100% be the last day the last half hour of my trip.

Unfortunately, That unit went downhill so badly over the last 20 years its not even funny. One of the guys I was hunting with on that trip decided to start inviting friends and they invited their friends and so on and so forth...now its overrun with people from the beginning to the end of the season....It makes me very sad because back in 2002 is truly was like Narnia during archery season...

33770

My first pack-out of any western game.
33769

3 days later I called this one into 15 yards for my friend:
33771
 
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Colorado Cowboy

Colorado Cowboy

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Jun 8, 2011
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Dolores, Colorado
I was born and raised in California and lived there until I retired in 2000. I hunted almost exclusively deer and antelope and a couple of trips to British Columbia for moose. I started hunting elk when I moved to Colorado in 2000. I killed my first one (a cow) in 2002 at age 61. I still am primarily a deer hunter. Hunting them just gets my blood going!
 
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RICMIC

RICMIC

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Feb 21, 2012
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Two Harbors, Minnesota
I had only been out west hunting 30 years before on a whim & a prayer DIY hunt (unsuccessful). If I only knew then what I have learned since..... So, at 54 I figured it was time to make that once in a lifetime hunt and to book with an outfitter. We hunted hard, and since I had both a deer and elk tag while my hunting partner only had an elk tag, we agreed that he was lead man for elk. On day four of a five day hunt, he had missed twice at different bulls, so I spoke up and I stepped to the front of the line. As it turned out, I had to leave him behind as the guide and I made a move on a 5x5 at 11,000+ feet, and walked up on three 6x6 bulls at 60 yards. The biggest was DRT. Then as I was walking up on the bull, a forkie mule deer jumped out of his bed only 10' from me...way cool.
My photos are stashed away somewhere, as this was in 2006, but the outfitter still has a pic of my elk after it was back at camp as his lead photo on his hunting website. I took a pic of the photo, and the other one is the mount in my house. I've shot 3 other 6x6 (including my avitar pic), and a 5x5, but this is still my biggest bull to date. IMG_2015 (2).JPGIMG_2015 (2).JPGIMG_2016 (2).JPGIMG_2016 (2).JPG
 
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Kodiak

Kodiak

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Oct 27, 2014
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I based my college choice on the fact that at the time Montana gave nonresident college students a deer and elk combo for very close to resident prices. My first elk was my second season of hunting in Montana in 2012. I was used to hunting in Alaska with little pressure and was a little depressed with how many people I saw out the season before. I bought a hard copy of a topo quart and mapped out the farthest point from a road in the area I wanted to hunt. I killed a bull mid morning on the opener a few hundred yards from that point after everyone else has pushed them there. Been hooked ever since.33819
 
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