Who will shoot?
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: cnelk
18-Jun-16
Its the second week of season and you have 2 days left of your hunt
This cow came by your set up and slowly drifts past you.
Do you punch your tag?
From: oldgoat
18-Jun-16
Your pic didn't work, but I'll punch a tag on a cow 30 minutes before the sun comes up on opening day!
From: cnelk
18-Jun-16
Antiquated.... grrrrrrr..... should work now
From: LUNG$HOT
18-Jun-16
The only thing I see in that picture is a plate full of backstraps with some sauteed onions, mushrooms and a cold beer back at camp! Bon appetit! In other words... Yes I take her. :)
From: oldgoat
18-Jun-16
To add to my other post, whenever I could get that shot,a lot of pressure would be off and I could concentrate more on getting my wife into getting a shot but I'll admit, if she could get that shot first, then pressure would be off too, but I'd still take whatever is legal and good shot presented after especially since we are over the counter this year!
From: rick allison
18-Jun-16
That there's some purty good eats!!!
From: wyobullshooter
19-Jun-16
Ordinarily, I hold out for a bull. However, this year I decided to apply for a reduced price cow tag since we need more meat.
This year, and this year only, you can bet I'd punch it, since my any elk tag will still be in my pocket! That, and the fact if it's only the second week, I know I have a lot more than two days left. HA!
From: Huntcell
19-Jun-16
Not going burn my Az tag after tens years of points on a cow. Nor my lucky to draw a random draw Utah LE after 5 years on a cow or etc.etc If Had a extra tag for cow it be shooting time in the meadow!
From: LBshooter
19-Jun-16
Yes, it's all about the,meat, antlers second.
From: WapitiBob
19-Jun-16
Good photo showing the bone structure of the front leg.
From: tradi-doerr
19-Jun-16
In a heart beat!! meat in the freezer is better then an empty tag.
From: spookinelk
19-Jun-16
Does she have meat on er'? She'd help me with my guilt over shooting raghorns every year....lol
From: JLS
19-Jun-16
No way I'm passing up that shot.
From: Salt
19-Jun-16
Two days left to hunt, yes I am letting the arrow fly.
From: Michael Schwister
19-Jun-16
I always say I am holding out for a bull, then shoot the first cow I see. Last year I managed to let a couple cows walk 3 days in, but with one day to go I took a big cow with my selfbow. My goal this year is bull or bust. I do not know if I have the strength.....
From: Lost Arra
19-Jun-16
Any elk with a selfbow is an enormous accomplishment. Congrats! I might even take that cow to the taxidermist.
To original question: yes I would shoot. (Trick answer since I rarely draw a bull tag)
From: Arrowflinger
19-Jun-16
YES!!
From: brunse
19-Jun-16
Yes.
From: ELKMAN
19-Jun-16
Nope. We have never shot a cow, and we never will as long as the Game and Fish, and the Wolves continue their quest to rid Montana of Elk completely... :-(
From: kadbow
19-Jun-16
Probably not.
From: rick allison
19-Jun-16
Elkman, I get that. I'm but a humble Wisconsin whitetait hunter and between our DNR's CWD extermination decade and out of control wolf numbers, I haven't tagged a doe in over 15 years and foresee no change to that attitude any time soon.
From: PECO
19-Jun-16
For sure!
From: dapper
19-Jun-16
Depends! My son and I hunt together, unless its decided before that point to shoot a cow, I wouldn't. Because I would virtually end his hunt with taking a cow. Unless he has a bull already down, then I could do as I please. But if we are seeing little, we may have decided at that point to take a cow if the opportunity presented itself.
From: midwest
19-Jun-16
Yes sir!
From: Jaquomo
19-Jun-16
Elkman, in CO you'd be doing the state a favor in cnelk's area because the bull-cow ratio is way out of whack and way over objective. You can shoot two cows and a bull over there and they congratulate you.
Two days left and no elk, I sure would. And with an extra cow tag I'd shoot her on day 1.
From: kentuckbowhnter
19-Jun-16
On public in Colorado I would shoot.
From: stealthycat
19-Jun-16
no
I solo backpack hunt, its a bull or bust I imagine
From: Fulldraw1972
19-Jun-16
I would for sure. Aim for the opposite leg too.
From: drycreek
19-Jun-16
Hell yeah !
If I could get there.........
From: Rick M
19-Jun-16
Nope, I would try and get my partner to shoot her??
From: Aaron Johnson
19-Jun-16
cnelk knows my response.... by the way, my arrow just zipped through in the crease right above her elbow ;^)
From: a'Lish
19-Jun-16
Yup!
From: wyobullshooter
19-Jun-16
ELKMAN, I feel your pain! What Jaq posted applies to the areas I hunt as well. Thank God, we don't have wolves there(yet), and herd size is well above objectives.
As long as G&F keeps getting pressure from the ranchers down on their wintering grounds, they'll keep trying to reduce the herd. I figure since they're going to issue the extra tag anyway, it might as well be me.
From: cnelk
19-Jun-16
Nice to see there some cow killers here!
So, who has the noisy bow and alerted her when you drew?
From: drycreek
19-Jun-16
That wasn't my bow cnelk, that was me thrashing in the brush in the early stages of coronary occlusion !
From: 12yards
19-Jun-16
Since I've never shot an elk before, I'd surely tuck one in behind her shoulder. Would love to have a freezer full of elk meat. On the other hand, if I was hunting and seeing tons of elk and having lots of bull action, I might not.
From: elkmtngear
19-Jun-16
I have to shoot her...because if my Wife ever saw this pic, she would kill me for not doing so! :^/
From: butcherboy
19-Jun-16
That would be a tough one for me. I have 2 elk, 1/2 oryx, 1/4 beef, and 1 1/2 hogs in the freezer. I don't need the meat but then again I haven't drawn an elk tag the past three years so I probably would shoot her pretty quick.
From: sfiremedic
19-Jun-16
I'm definitely not shooting her until i know what she's saying...
From: Brun
19-Jun-16
It would depend on where I was hunting and what action I was seeing, and if I had a partner who had already killed. By myself, OTC, 2 days left I'm probably shooting.
From: 3dirtdevils
19-Jun-16
Dead elk!
From: jdee
19-Jun-16
No way !! Wouldn't even cross my mind. 2 days left... not interested in a cow.
From: Inshart
19-Jun-16
First 5 minutes - last 5 minutes; makes no difference to me .... elk steak all the way.
From: Jaquomo
19-Jun-16
She's saying, "Chill, man! I have an Indica contact buzz from hanging with a cool bull all morning, gettin' our groove on an' gettin' down together, and me be totally mellow, just munching out!"
From: sfiremedic
19-Jun-16
See... I knew I didn't know what she was saying... I thought for sure she was saying, "please don't kill me Mr. Elk Killer. I was just eating some dinner before I get bred by that big 'ol bull."
From: cnelk
19-Jun-16
My Stealth Cam had the recording of her....
She was saying "I am such a whore. Where is another bull? Oh Wait! There he is!"
From: willliamtell
20-Jun-16
Depends. If it's a moonshot draw big bull district this image is just a "what I saw instead of the mr big I came for". If this is Montana it's a "thank you jesus and please don't let me blow this shot". You'd know what you were going to do in this scenario by second week in.
From: LINK
20-Jun-16
I love elk meat. 2nd to last day in a otc unit, she's all ready on the ground.
From: Mad_Angler
20-Jun-16
I'm still trying to plan my very first elk hunting trip. I will definitely take the first legal elk that I see.
Folks told me that the way to learn how to kill elk is to start killing elk...
(and she looks delicious...)
From: trail hound
20-Jun-16
trophies are great, but not why I hunt. First morning I would be proud to fill my tag with a dandy cow like her.
From: jdee
20-Jun-16
Sounds like some of you fellas haven't heard but you can eat a bull too. I'm a meat hunter but I want a big set of antlers on their head along with that meat. No bone, no shot !!
From: 12yards
20-Jun-16
LOL at jdee. True!
From: cnelk
20-Jun-16
@ jdee
Would you shoot this bull instead of that cow?
From: GF
20-Jun-16
If I were me, and assuming that I had an either-sex tag in hand.... I would be doing my best to hold off until I knew whether she was being followed and by what. Second consideration would be if I had a partner with a cow tag who was likely to get a good opportunity on the cow.
Most likely, though, I'd have shot the cow already. It would have to be a pretty darn big bull and almost zero chance of getting busted before I could pass up a bird in the hand like that...
Given an opportunity on that bull, no hesitation whatsoever.... unless a herd bull were just about to run him off....
From: cjgregory
20-Jun-16
Nothing wrong with a 4x4 either. Both make good steaks.
From: WapitiBob
20-Jun-16
I don't shoot Cows unless they're in Wyoming.
From: jdee
20-Jun-16
cnelk, not interested in him.
I don't care what a guy shoots but I want bigger bulls....thrill of the hunt !!
In my younger days I killed a few bulls about that size but I have passed on many bulls that size in the last 10 years.
I live in a great bull unit, if I didn't and didn't see many big bulls I would probably shoot any elk.
From: Longhorn
21-Jun-16
Every time I step in the woods I am looking to kill a world record bull........ Then I kill the first legal animal to come along (I think it's the Blackfoot in me)..... I have seen so many people pass on the first animal only to not see anything else. I get asked a lot how come I seem to always kill (whatever I'm hunting) and I tell them because I never turn anything down.... So goes without saying that I would kill it.
From: BUCKEYEBUCK01
21-Jun-16
For me this year will be my first time elk hunting so no matter what i kill is going to be a trophy in my book bull or cow. i know there is a 4 point restriction so if i get a chance at one of them its just as good as any record to me. wont have may chances to get out to the elk woods.
From: fisherick
21-Jun-16
Absolutely, this would fill the freezer. Although I try to hold off the first 3 days for a bull, I would definitely take that cow then go fishing.
From: IdyllwildArcher
22-Jun-16
I always start every hunt telling myself, "ok, you want "this," you will hold out for "this," on day "XX," you will drop your standards to "this," etc etc.
Then I see a non-trophy animal and my tongue and stomach conspire against me.
If I had a truly high-end trophy tag, I could hold out. Otherwise, that first picture just invites the shot.
From: ElkNut1
22-Jun-16
Yes, I'd take the bull over the cow, I don't hunt cows unless there's a special tag for one. Nothing wrong with taking them but they get a pass with me these days. Plus, I've never taken a 4- point bull before! Yes, she definitely has that Contact Buzz look, I see it in her eyes! (grin)
ElkNut1
From: wildwilderness
22-Jun-16
OTC CO I would most likely take that shot any day of the hunt. That 4pt raghorn would taste the same to me, and I already have a shed full of antlers like that. Now if I had 2 archery tags I would of course take the cow and use the E/S tag for only a bull!
Now on a limited unit I would not shoot a cow, even on the last day!
From: Paul@thefort
22-Jun-16
Hell yes!
From: Inshart
22-Jun-16
Perfectly said "Hell yes"
From: splitlimb13
25-Jun-16
It depends on the unit guys . I would not shoot a cow in the highly coveted n.m. units no matter when or what happened. Typically I'm a wilderness hunter so would not ever pack a cow out ten miles . I would wrather shoot her than a small bull though .If I'm in a unit full of roads like a unit 9 or 5b than she'd be taking a dirt nap.
From: Outdoorsdude
25-Jun-16
Like my wife said two years ago " That's out of my range. Can you shoot her? (me yes!) DUH! the freezer's empty!" whack! BCD! and she ate gooood.
From: tradmt
26-Jun-16
I shot her the first day with an opportunity like that. Spent the rest of September hunting rutted up pronghorn and stalking mulies.
From: brunse
26-Jun-16
I'd pick the bull over the cow. Extra 25+ pounds of deboned meat.... But would t wait on him
From: PA-R
28-Jun-16
Being a flatlander from Missouri, you bet I would take that shot, first day of hunting, or last.
