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I don't know if this has been discussed before and I'm not going to search, but, is there a reliable way to judge bull elk age on the hoof like guys try to estimate deer age? Are spikes and raghorns typically 1 1/2 years old? are small 5x5s typically 2 1/2? Just curious. Maybe some pics would help too!
Spikes are 1.5, with a rare small branch-antlered "spike" occasionally showing up. 2.5 it's a "raghorn", but I've seen small 6x "raghorns". I have one here in the garage that I'm sure is 2.5 that would be a small 6x6 except he only grew one brow on each side. His back end has a sword time and a branch past that.
I killed a smallish 7x7 once that I'm not convinced wasn't a 2.5 year old with great genetics and nutrition. Or he may have been old and downhill. I sawed off his antlers to pack out and didn't pay attention to his teeth. After 2.5 it's a crap shoot. Some bulls will mature as 5x6's and never be more than that. There is that gene where I used to hunt. Other places they mature as huge 5x5s. My partner killed one once that we called 'Little Big Man". Mature bull, large body, perfect symmetrical 6x6 rack, except the rack was overall about 30% smaller than a normal 6x6 for that area.
What I can tell you is that of the more than five dozen my hunting partner and I have killed with bows, from young to old, no two are alike. Even the spikes are different in length and shape, sometimes 1x2, sometimes 2x2, one 3x3.
Like it was already stated way to many variables. Heck where I live (NW Wyoming) we have different growth rates in the different drainages. I can say it takes a bull elk about double the # of years to reach his maturity than it does for say a whitetail deer.
Dr. Gary Wolfe is probably the preeminent expert on elk antler growth and age. He was the wildlife manager for Vermejo Park ranch for a long time and did significant studies on the relationships between age, nutrition, and antlers. Google him and you can find a number of abstracts and PDFs of articles he's written on the subject.
