Hypothetically Speaking

[Researcher]

Lets say you are after a 350+ bull.

There are various states that clump hunt units together for open hunts or draw hunts. If you read through the state posted information or talk to a biologist and they tell you which units have the highest elk densities and which are scattered. Which units are you choosing?

Are you choosing the higher density units? Wont they draw more people year after year? Or do you choose the lower density unit and risk not finding elk?

Seriously just a hypothetical here.

 

[Rich M]

If I ever go elk hunting, I know exactly where to go and it is one of the low density places you speak of. Have some intel about where and when and it is an easy tag.

If a big elk was important to me, I'd find out where they live and then see what can be done about hunting them there.

 

[Sharpio]

So many factors go into hunting elk...I would go with an area that provides more elk and more opportunities to find what I am looking for.

 

[5MilesBack]

I'll take a unit with only one bull if I can hunt it without any other hunters around. For me it's not about the elk density, it's the hunter density.

 

[Ross]

For any an elk to grow to 350+ you need age, genetics, food and security. In todays world that typically is going to be a limited draw area and or private access. Just because there are more bulls it does not guarantee bigger bulls. I’ll choose areas with fewer hunters and or elk if there is a better chance of a bigger bull.

 

[Beendare]

For any an elk to grow to 350+ you need age, genetics, food and security. In todays world that typically is going to be a limited draw area and or private access. ....

Bingo

OP, you might not be aware but there are services like Huntin Fool and a few others that break down those limited draw units in detail including trophy quality.

To stumble into a 350" bull on an OTC unit in Co is a needle in a haystack. Finding on on a Gen unit in MT or WY is possible....but low odds unless you are spending the summer scouting those areas. The 350" plus bulls I've seen are as Ross stated above- almost all have been in limited draw units.

Since threads are better with pictures- grin.....This one was in Utah Little Creek roadless unit and even then it took me 13 days of hunting and passing other 6 point bulls bulls before I found him.

 

[Researcher]

For any an elk to grow to 350+ you need age, genetics, food and security. In todays world that typically is going to be a limited draw area and or private access. Just because there are more bulls it does not guarantee bigger bulls. I’ll choose areas with fewer hunters and or elk if there is a better chance of a bigger bull.

These were kinda my thoughts

 

[wildwilderness]

There are different ways to go about it depending on time and budget. But I would say the amount of hunting pressure in any area has a huge effect on your odds of getting a big bull.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

99% of hunters would judge the 325 bull that’s in the back of your truck at somewhere between 350 and 365.

 

[Kyle C]

My thoughts are Age class and high density would be my choice. Big bulls take age which can be tough outside of LE. Analogy for density would be not all 8 year bulls are going to make it to 350, but if there are more in the area the better your chances to find one. If I walk into salt lake I'll probably see alot more dudes over 6'6 compared to hole in wall small town in NE Oregon. I feel the same applies to elk.

The more bulls there are and a higher age class will have a better probability of presenting larger elk.

Just my two

 

[Geewhiz]

For me the hardest part of hunting giant bulls is passing on a big bull in hopes of finding a giant. You got a 300 inch bull at 30 yards in archery, you gonna pass that opportunity for a (very small) chance at a bigger bull?

 

[Marble]

In 22 years of OTC in CO, I've seen four bulls that were 350. We killed two of them.

I will choose the area in this order

Knowledge of area
Ease of access (I refer difficult to access)
Number of animals
quality of animal


Sent from my SM-S918U using Tapatalk

 

[dirtytough]

There was a podcast about the Acoma Rez. They have been managing elk for a long time. They said on average the best scoring bulls are 9 years old. I'm sure that could change a little from region to region. But if you are looking for big bulls you need to find old bulls. Where can you find the oldest bulls? The area 98% of people hunt or the place where 2% of people hunt? Whether that's an LE tag, private land, an extreme area to hunt physically, or hard to hunt mentally with there being very few elk. The bulls have to get age on them to get big.