State with the heaviest Rocky Mountain cows

[Rsully661]

I love shooting bulls, which is why I apply for most states. But in between bull hunts I chase cows and actually enjoy it much more cause in the end I’m in it for the meat. Plus it’s easier to make a family vacation out of and less stressful. I have only taken elk in Idaho and Arizona. But I was wanting a more educated opinion on which state has the heaviest cow’s? Is there much of a difference?


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[brn2hnt]

Science would say Canada, MT, and ID.


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[fmyth]

I don't think its that easy. Buddy and I each had 2 cow tags for WY last season. He killed a cow in both units. The first one he shot was a fatty and he got an estimated 160lbs of meat from her. Then we changed to the second unit less than an hour away. We both shot cows and got around 80lbs each. The cow I shot was 16.5 years old. Same state, adjoining units and vastly different yields.

 

[wapitibob]

NM or AZ

 

[Buck197]

I've seen fatty cows in several Rocky mountain states, made me change the beer joints I goto..........

 

[jolemons]

On the ranch I live on in north central NM, the cows will average 450 live, but that varies with precipitation, age, pregnancy and lactation status.

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[BeaverHunter]

Science would say Canada, MT, and ID.


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Correct. Bergman’s Rule.

 

[Rsully661]

Correct. Bergman’s Rule.

I would think this rule applies just like whitetail deer, but I felt the bodies on the elk in Arizona were bigger than idaho.


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[RS3579]

I got 1 in PA it weight in at 443. We have check in all harvested elk in PA. Some were over 500lbs the entire state heard is only about 1400 head.

 

[dirtytough]

Washington or Oregon. There are a lot of rockies mixed with rosies. I have never killed a cow there but the bulls are huge bodied.. And you will get a lot of big rocky bulls that are crowned like rosies.

 

[slick]

I would agree. Rosies are noticeably bigger in body mass, if Bergman’s applies then i’d wager Olympic National Park area on up the BC coast.


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[dirtytough]

I would agree. Rosies are noticeably bigger in body mass, if Bergman’s applies then i’d wager Olympic National Park area on up the BC coast.


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If we go off of where they separate rosies from rockies it’s I5. So Park would be considered rosies. The elk on the west side of Mount Rainier National Park would be considered rockies and there are some tanks.

Also I believe in the 1940’s there were rosies transplanted to SE Washington and NE Oregon. The bulls in there have huge bodies and a lot of them have great mass with big crowns.

BC might have bigger bodied rockies? I don’t know much about the elk up there. But in the lower 48 I would guess Washington.

 

[slick]

Whoops- reading comprehension problems. North Cascades of WA, heck even Cascades of OR. But I’m not sure I can recommend those to hunt.


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[11boo]

Not Colorado. I had what could have been a easy cow tag a couple years ago. Kept turning down shots on yearlings/small cows waiting for the fatty. She was never found.

 

[wapitibob]

I forgot about the westside Rosies; they'll dwarf a rocky mt Elk.

 

[Jn78]

Not Colorado. I had what could have been a easy cow tag a couple years ago. Kept turning down shots on yearlings/small cows waiting for the fatty. She was never found.

It is possible to find a fatty. For reference, that is a 3/4 ton truck with a 6.5 foot bed.

 

[eshunt]

We have killed large cows and smaller cows in just about every state we have hunted. The only place I could definitely say the cows are larger is anywhere you can find Rosies. As for the Rocky cows, I couldn't say that any one state was better/larger than others.

 

[MT257]

I harvested one that weighed 450 field dressed in Montana.

 

[Marble]

I harvested one that weighed 450 field dressed in Montana.

Thats a big one for sure.

We've probably killed 40 to 50 cows in CO and none of them are as big as the Rosie bulls I've seen here in CA. We have a fairly decent herd of Roosevelt elk on the west side and every bull we've killed, and every mature cow I've seen, has been bigger than anything we killed in ID or CO.

It seems like a 15-25% difference in size.


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[MT257]

Thats a big one for sure.

We've probably killed 40 to 50 cows in CO and none of them are as big as the Rosie bulls I've seen here in CA. We have a fairly decent herd of Roosevelt elk on the west side and every bull we've killed, and every mature cow I've seen, has been bigger than anything we killed in ID or CO.

It seems like a 15-25% difference in size.


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It was definitely a large one I think the check station aged her at 14-16.