Is this a shooter?

[Ryan Avery]

Finally drew my Moose tag. 17 year in the making so I'm going to make it a gooden But I don't even know what a gooden is! I will be out looking over the next month. My question is, how big is this bull?

 

[Daniel_M]

I only know Alaska standards. Is that a Shiras?

Rule of thumb that applies to Alaska....

1) 10" between the ears on a mature bull. Use that to help estimate width.
2) Broadside head turns with antlers over the spinal hump is a 50" minimum.

That's a tough call for me since I'm not able to apply any environmental variables like tree size, rocks etc to call body size.

Any better pics?

 

[mt hunter22]

Really hard to tell from that shot,, looks like he has the width..but hard to tell on the palm size.also cant see the front shovels,, but if i was in area that getting a B&C bull isnt very likely ,,i would definitely be looking at this one pretty hard.

 

[Ryan Avery]

This is the only other pic I have. Not a great pic.

 

[Daniel_M]

This guy is 53".

Another trick to help estimate is burr width. Average that I've seen is 8".

 

[HUNT]

View attachment 9595

Here is 52.5" wide North Idaho bull. 2011


I would estimate that bull at least in the high 40's. Good width for A Shiras. What unit did you draw?

 

[Ryan Avery]

Nice bull! I drew unit 1-1

 

[Rizzy]

He's probably even bigger this year

 

[mt hunter22]

i know my brother in law killed a nice 51 inch moose here in montana.. but the pans werent very wide, and it missed the books because of that and because the fronts or what i call the shovels were just one big point no palmating or anything.

 

[Jesse Minish]

Congrats on the tag! Looks like a decent Idaho bull to me. Are you going to try with your bow?

 

[Eagle]

This of course won't help much, but this is the biggest Shiras I've ever seen in person. Saw him a few times during the summer of 2007 while I worked in Yellowstone. He was a big fella compared to all the bulls I've seen in the Tetons and other parts of the park as well.

 

[Jared Lampton]

I agree with HUNT. He is probably at leastin the mid 40's wide. His palms also look to be pretty wide. The big deal though is the brow tines. If he has forked brows on each side then he is a real smoker. I think he could be crowding the B&C minimum if his brows are forked and he has a good number of points on each side. Then again pictures can be deceiving. Good luck finding him.

 

[Daniel_M]

Anyone with an intact shiras skull or a set of antlers that haven't been cut through the skull plate?

Be good to get an average width between the burs.

Also don't let the velvet fool you. Makes a bull look bigger for sure.

 

[HUNT]

Anyone with an intact shiras skull or a set of antlers that haven't been cut through the skull plate?

Be good to get an average width between the burs.

Also don't let the velvet fool you. Makes a bull look bigger for sure.

My Shiras is 7" between the burs. Skull plate intact.

 

[bbrown]

Here are a couple CO Shiras to compare. I was about 3-400 yards away and had no idea the the biggest bull (the one on the left in the last pic) was even there until he stood up.

 

[tstowater]

Ryan: Get better optics and pictures so we can see, but I would be hunting that bull unless I knew the area had a reasonable number of B&C bulls. Based on what I can see, it is a pretty good bull. As Daniel said, velvet can fool you.

 

[CoHiCntry]

Here are a couple CO Shiras to compare. I was about 3-400 yards away and had no idea the the biggest bull (the one on the left in the last pic) was even there until he stood up.

What unit are these bulls from? What year? Thanks...

 

[bbrown]

This year and northern CO - shoot me a pm if you want more info.

 

[CoHiCntry]

This year and northern CO - shoot me a pm if you want more info.

I took a bull in unit 8 last year. One of the bulls in your pictures looked familiar. Can't be him if these pics are from this year... he's on my wall Great pics though!