What to shoot and not to shoot for bull elk?

[MuleyFever]

... I just want somthing good to eat and good to look at

Then shoot the first one that looks good and have your parents cook it up.

 

[Mojave]

Ok so you peaked my interest. 22 is not a trophy unit. I would kill the first six point bull I saw. The average for the unit is 260-300. 23 is the unit with 350 bulls behind every tree. Success rates are 70% on bulls. Do bugle cow call and kill an elk. Just don’t hold out for a 400 that may not come to be.

23,9,27 are the units with the super Arizona freak bulls.

I would not count on leaving bull elk to find other elk.

 

[Hunt4lyf]

This is your first bull elk hunt? Shoot the first one you see that is legal, they all taste the same. Don’t put pressure on yourself to shoot a certain size bull, you’re setting yourself up for disappointment, especially just starting out. Spikes taste delicious.

 

[ColoradoCowboy]

I am going to agree with the consensus here and say shoot the first mature bull you see. I am not familiar with the elk in that unit but any mature bull while I am hunting with friends and family is all I could ever ask for.

A rifle tag at the end of September sounds like an amazing opportunity. Go have fun and give us an update after! (With pictures of a beautiful bull of course)

 

[TxxAgg]

Cows is correct but coos is regional “normal” in NM and AZ. Elliot Coues was the first one to identify them. He went by cows.

I heard somewhere (a podcast) that he pronounced his last name such that it rhymed with House. So yet another variation.

 

[Dabouv]

I have a early rifle bull elk hunt in unit 22 comming up,This Is my first elk hunt, how big Is a nice bull thease days, does 320 inch bull opening morning soud good?

the younger the bull, the better the meat. What would you do with the horns? Are you going to mount it? I recall shooting what was a pretty decent buck in high school and I barely had enough money to process the meat let alone get a mount . Some people like mounts but I can't imagine what I'd ever do with it, hang it in the garage? Getting any bull in most areas on a non guided, non private land hunt is a tall order so i say if you see a decent bull and you have a good shot, take it. There is no reason to focus on rack size in my mind but again, I can't think of a scenario where I would get a mount but others love them.

 

[Coues Crazy]

Thanks guys for all the info,
my uncle has a youtube hunting channal and will send you a link to the video!!
only 5 days left!!!

 

[WeiserBucks]

we see 350 bulls all the time its a great unit 2 years a go my uncle killed a 394 inch bull my dad killed a 370 split beam, like 2 weeks ago me and my brother saw a 360 and a 340 (if I had to guess) chilling, its a great unit, mabey not as good as 23 but I would say Its a trophy unit If you know how to hunt it.
thanks for the input!

If this is the case then you don't need any advice from us. Have a great time and take a bull that makes you happy.

 

[406unltd]

Good luck

 

[Miflatlander91]

Good luck! I'll be in the same unit but not till mid November

Sent from my SM-G998U using Tapatalk

 

[CRJR45]

Whatever you shoot , have fun !

 

[Coues Crazy]

Im 13 years old and I was lucky enough to draw a early rifle bull elk tag in unit 22N off of 3 points.
My brother in college was able to fly out on wenesday night, me and him drove up thursday morning and got at the cabin thursday afternoon we got to the glassing point at about 4:30, I sat down and immediately we started spoting elk and after seeing about 10 small bulls we spotted a shooter he probbly scored 320 and a cuple of minuets later my brother spots a big old bull like 1200 yds away we got the spotter on him and he was 350+ we watched him for about 20 mins then we headed back to the truck.
Next morning (opening morning) we made a plan to get to the same spot as the night before, we were about 10 mins away from where we park then we see a elk right off the road it lifts his head and it was him and he was a huge!!!! He spooked and we parked the truck abou 200 yds away and me and my brother jumped out and went after him we started hearing his bugle so we bugled back and he just was not comming in. We started hearing so many bugles he got away so we spent the rest of the morning chasing bugle and 2 small bulls got withing 10 yards but no shooters and at about 9:30 they shut up we desided that it was to thick so we left. saturday basicly saw a funky looking 6 by 2 and he was werid but cool I liked him he he had like the biggest 2 point I've ever seen, my uncle told us about him and we went after him but It was to thick. Sunday morning we went to a spot but there were a group of like 20 other hunters so we went to the spot where all my uncles spoted a sweet 330 bull like 4 miles away but it was not aprochable but even if he was he was on AZGFD property, we didint see anything Sunday afternoon. Next morning we went to and looked for that big bull but it started raining and we got all wet so we decided to go and drive the roads and look for elk, the rain let up and on are way back to the spot we saw some elk(it was monday morning and we were leaving the next morning so I was willing to shoot anything)(also my first elk hunt) we didn't see any bulls at first but then we saw a sweet little 5x6 so we set up and no good shots so me and my brother literaly ran as fast as we could he was standing broad side at 80 yards I was shacking my butt off and I shot frehandedly and we thought I missed so we went after him and he was still bugling so we looked for blood for about 3 hours and nothing we got back to the truck and I just felt horable and like I let everyone down, went back to the cabin ate I took a 2 hour nap woke up we got in the car we were driving and my dad was talking about how my uncle was driving and he spotted his 400inch bull right where he were driving so we pulled off the road and pulled out the binos and then I heard the magical sound of somone saying elk!! So we took out the spotter and and we saw goofy looken spike like 700yds off the road my dad was like no too much for a spike me and my older brother persuded my dad to let us to try so my dad droped me and my brother off as close as we could get in the truck(600yds), so we headed in it was armageddin in there is was all mansaneda and it was SUPER THICK in there so after and hour and a half or so we made it about 400 yard from where we marked him on ONX and we saw a little river bead so we walked down to see if we could see anything and there he was standing at 350yds broad looking at us but the problem was he was litteraly 300yds strait up a super steep hill so my brother put his pack down I put the gun on it it didn't even get me looking half way up to him so I started digging with my elbo in the dirt for the stock and my brother got 2 big rocks to lay the pack on, I got him and my brother said ''11 inches high'' so I put the cross ares on him said a quick prayer in my head, amed a little above his back, and BOOOOMMM!!!!(no ear plugs) then I hear ''you got him Put a nother in'' then BOOOOMMM!!!! ''HE'S DOWN'' I did'nt relize it yet but my nose was bleeding becuase I got scoped twice so I stood up and I was Shaking like a leaf in a hurracain!!!
Nothing crazy
My first bull!!

 

[CRJR45]

A priceless hunt ! I'm happy for you , and the fact that your brother was there also , great stuff !