Thought i'd share a few pics from my side of the world of some Red stags, close cousin to the Elk, hence posting in this section, mods please move if not appropriate.
Lol, football shorts mate. Where I live in Aust. it just gets too hot in long pants during the rut, plus just find it so much easier traversing the bush in my underwear.
sk1, what sort of opportunities are there in the US for free range Reds?
Jager, no opportunities to hunt them on public land in the U.S. they are only here on high fenced private ranches if you want to pay $3000 to $15000 depending on the size of the animal you want to shoot......not exactly my style of hunting. I put it on the bucket list because I would imagine (havent done any research) I would have to travel to somewhere like New Zealand for good opportunities
sk1, the big monster NZ stags you see in many mags come from behind wire too, not hunting for me either. Granted there are some true ripper wild Red stags in NZ and a lot easier to get access to, compared to Australia. If a hunter was to travel from the US to hunt Reds in the South Pacific, NZ is the go, as there is plenty of public land to hunt on, no tags needed, no guide needed and no season, although the rut is the time to do it, late March, early April. It really is not that expensive for DIY.
There are pockets of privately managed herds in Australia that produce great heads, but, very difficult to get access too.