Changing focus

[Caseknife]

Kind of amazing to me when I am on a cow elk hunt and other hunters ignore bulls that are bugling. Very good possibility that he has cows with him......

 

[madtinker]

As always...more reps and more encounters will always be beneficial.

BUT...don't go into a cow hunt thinking it's easier. IMO, for archery at least, cows much harder to hunt than bulls.

For now I am rifle hunting. But the point is well taken. Nothing about this is easy.

 

[Jethro]

Took me 5 hunts(4/5 were archery) to kill first elk. I never once considered taking a cow before the last 2 days of each of those hunts. I’m no trophy hunter and if you saw the 3 elk racks I have, you’d agree. But my goal was to shoot at least a branch antlered bull. Last year shot cow on day 11 of 12.

Even in those early years filled with tag soup, there was no shortage of learning.

 

[JRay]

If bringing home meat is a large part of the equation, then find the tag that’s most conducive to that element of your goals and get a bunch of kills under your belt. There are ways to have good hunts annually and build points for a good bull tag in the future.

 

[robby denning]

Do it! One of my regrets when i was young was not getting more shooting experience (especially with a bow) on live animals. I jumped right into big buck hunting and while I'm glad, my shooting sucked because I hadn't really had the live practice.

you can always come back to bulls.

 

[WanderingWapiti]

Reading this is a healthy reminder that killing an elk is never a guarantee. Heck, I only just killed my first elk (cow) this year. Of course my ego's got me wanting to try and kill a bull next year, but still being new to big game hunting and archery, I better chill out and take the first legal elk I can. I might not even get an opportunity to shoot anything!