Contributors to this thread:
Don't know the guy but some hunter killed a 442, 6X8 on Tejon Ranch, an hour from Los Angeles. May already be posted.
is that a FC hunt?? holy mackerel that's a lotta horn
michael
There's no draw for it. You buy the hunt from the ranch. I think it was like 20 grand last time I checked and you were guaranteed a 350+ inch bull if the guide said it was a 350, or you got to come back the next year and shoot another. I was under the understanding that it wasn't a high fence hunt, although the elk never leave the ranch. It's an absolutely immense ranch though. It takes up almost an entire unit.
So somebody shot the blue-ribbon steer from the fair?
They're still wild animals, they just don't have the pressure or any access to them from average hunters like most elk do.
NOT high fence.....wild and free ranging elk accepted by B&C and P&Y. The 'ranch' is 257,000 acres!
Not high fence. I saw one hit in I-5 some years back. I contacted Fish an Game back then about it. They said every now and then they wander off.
hunts are $30K management hunts run $12,500 Yikes!!!
At least they untied it from the tree..........
Great ranch. No high fence just BIG as was already said What a really great elk. Congrats to the hunter!
Wow! That thing looks prehistoric! Effin massive! Congrats to that guy!
Sweeeeet bull!
Congrats to the hunter!
archery?
Mark
I find the high fence comments a bit odd ( assuming they are serious ) . It’s been established by people in the know that it’s fair chase .
I was thinking that's a tule elk because of the location in SoCal, but it sounds (and looks) like the Tejon guys got their hands on some Rocky Mountain elk at some point?
Gonna be a lot of deductions........ =D
Wow. That looks like a 1000 lbs of elk. Congrats to the hunter. Rifle?
Does someone have any better photos of this bull....this one is a little distorted.
That is an incredible elk but even more shocking is that some poor sob owns a 257,000 acre ranch in California.
Can you imagine the taxes that guy has paid over the years?
The amount of misinformation and people speaking out of their rears is astounding on this thread. How many times do people who have actually spent time on the ranch (myself included, a lot!) have to say that it is wild and free range? There are no high fences, period. Nothing gets tied to trees, it's a fair chase hunt on monster wild elk. Deer and hogs for that matter too. Yes, it costs a lot of money, but since when is that anything new for big elk? What makes this hunt so unique is that it's just 75 miles away from Los Angeles and thriving industry. Think of what a busy, highly compensated, executive must do to go on a typical elk hunt... 10 days off is not realistic away from the office and family. The ability to go on a real elk hunt with monster bulls so close to home is very appealing and is what drives the price up. To a high powered executive, time is money! It would cost them FAR more money to go on a lengthy elk hunt like what is more typical of what the rest of us do. More power to them. These hunters are also men and women in America who give us jobs, pay more than their share in taxes, and fuel the economy. There are guides (personal friends of mine) on the ranch who rely on these hunters for their livelihood and putting shoes on their kids' feet! These people deserve to hunt without wise ass ignorant comments like many posted here. Time is money and they like to hunt. Give em a break. I've met several of these hunters and to a man, they have all been friendly and kind gentlemen who are just like me and you, they love to hunt, their wallets are just fatter.
And there is no one person who owns the Tejon Ranch. You too can be an owner. TRC is it's stock symbol.
Get the facts before you diminish someone's accomplishments. It's a remarkable bull. Congrats to the hunter and the fine men and women of Tejon Ranch's wildlife management division!
Genuine question here. Are the elk wild and, if so, are they regulated by the state as other game species are? I'm interested to see if wild, native animals can be privately owned. Looks like it's a unique situation.
Sdhntr, I don’t think anybody truly thinks they’re tied to trees. :)
I did hear a rumor that they have corn feeders and when the feeder goes off, the sound of a hoochie mama is played. Then they give the hunters a hand carved hoochie mama to take into the field.
Nowiser-No, the elk are not wild, They are all managed from the day they come from the incubator. They are hand fed with small kernels of high protein, specially designed, antler enhancer. All elk are a cross between Rocky Mountain, Tule and Irish. They are not owned by the ranch. They all belong to a music producer from Tonopah. (IOW- Read the above posts.) BTW- The hunter shot that elk with a crossbow at 120-yards as the elk jumped from the truck. The fence around the ranch is 2,678-miles long and 13-feet high. GOOD LORD!!!
No Wiser, yes the CA DFW is the governing body over this hunt and any other hunt for wild animals in CA. All state laws would apply. You need a tag and a license to hunt these animals through the state of CA's PLM (Private Land Management) program. I do not believe wild, native animals can be privately owned, and I know they can't be bought or sold in CA.
These animals originated from a neighboring game farm back in the 60's. The place had elk and pigs. They escaped during a wildfire and established themselves on the Tejon ranch. Now wild as could be.
oooh.....somebody got their butt hurt.......LMAO! no one appreciates sarcasm anymore......SMH
Regardless, sorry if you were offended by my careless joke. Frankly I don't give a single $^*( about rich guys doing rich things that 99.9% of the rest of us could never afford to do, which makes it unrealistic and not "hunting" in my opinion. But it is just an opinion. And frankly those super busy super rich guys don't have time to read my sarcastic jokes on BS or would give a rat's ass about them.
Still SMH........LOL
Thanks Nate, that's exactly what I was wondering.
Not really sure what that response was about, Bowriter? No need to be a jackass. I was simply curious if the herd was privately owned or publicly owned and managed by the state.
Jordan,
if spending 30k on a fair chase elk hunt isnt considered hunting what's a 45,000 polar bear or 75,000 desert bighorn considered?
I cant afford those hunts either btw--
Michael
Michael......I'm saying in my opinion it is not what I consider and value as "hunting". Hunting is what you make it. Some prefer one weapon over another for themselves. Some prefer a hotel over a tent for themselves.
Just because in my opinion for myself I don't consider something to be "hunting" doesn't mean $^*^ to someone else. I imagine if I grew up a super rich guy who was super busy I'd have a MUCH different perspective and opinion about what is "hunting" for me.
Who gives a rat's ass what my opinion is about my personal preference is regarding "hunting"? No one should. That is the point.
I am not judging this hunter. I hope he was fully satisfied with his experience. He sure looks like it!
But for me......naw.......just doesn't trip my trigger. No more than going to Africa and shooting a striped horse to mount in my den.......god help me.......that is stupid....in my opinion. But who cares? LOL ;)
Let the fans make the noise. Getm uncle Nate ha
I’m curious since money seems to be the factor people are bent up about , if this guy killed this same free ranging wild elk but only paid a 500$ trespass fee would it still be “ unrealistic and not hunting “?
I suck and have a silly sense of humor. This was never meant to become a serious debate...not by me....still not. The rut is on! Peace out and shoot straight!
"Who gives a rat's ass what my opinion is about my personal preference is regarding "hunting"? No one should. That is the point."
Nailed it
Grew up a super rich guy? Most of the super rich that I know didn’t grow up that way. Generally, their kids who grew up “Super rich” are also super failures. The super rich guy is usually the one, not always, who’s worked his way up and knows what sacrifice is. I love how people Say it’s not real hunting. It’d be like the super rich saying, you’re not a real worker.
How do we even know the guy is "rich"? Maybe he's just a regular joe that knows how to save up!
These are not Tule elk. They're the same blood line as most elk in this country that were mostly repopulated from YSNP.
Personally, I think it's a shame that the ranch gets all the tags to sell. I feel it should be more like Utah's CMWU program and regular guys should be able to draw it too in exchange for the state giving the ranch tags for wild animals to sell. They recently started giving out some hog access through the SHARE program, but that's a pittance of the wildlife on the ranch.
Or put all the tags on a draw and the ranch can let the market decide what access is worth to them. That price would come down because the hoards of people putting in for the tag would probably not spend 30K each, so it'd be more reasonable. Right now they control the tags and the access and the tags should belong to the state and the access should belong to the ranch.
That's currently how the deer and hog tags work on this ranch, they just both happen to be OTC for hogs and essentially OTC for the deer tag since the access is so limited because the ranch is essentially the entire unit. Yet, the elk tags all go straight to the ranch. Seems crooked to me.
I can't say I disagree Ike. I'd love to see a bull tag or two and a few cow tags go to the draw.
On a different note... Anyone been there for a hog hunt recently? It used to be such an awesome opportunity and the greatest hog hunting around. The decline in hog numbers the last 2-3 years has been incredible. It's really hard to grasp, and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that it could have gone from what it was to what it is now. I had a membership for about 12+ years and just stopped renewing last year. I miss the place terribly! I keep hoping for a rebound in pig numbers, but I think there are just too many factions against them.
What’s with the drop in pig numbers? Usually you can’t get rid of those things!!!! Drought? Over hunting? Something else?
There's no way it's overhunting. Pigs repopulate sport hunting numbers with excess.
I wonder if their deer numbers are down too. If they are, I guess it'd be because of decrease mast crop or some change in the food supply. Animal number decreases often times are due to a decrease in carrying capacity and that's usually due to food since they haven't lost any room.
SDHNTR
I have been on that ranch twice back in the day. We were in the process of bidding on the hunting on Catalina island and took a day or to off to see the area
What do you think happened to all of the hogs
SDHNTR
I have been on that ranch twice back in the day. We were in the process of bidding on the hunting on Catalina island and took a day or to off to see the area
What do you think happened to all of the hogs
5+ years ago it was the most incredible hog hunting imaginable. We’d easily see 100+ pigs in a two day hunt. All the time. Multiple bow shot ops in a weekend was the norm. Drought is certainly the biggest contributor to the decline, but there has to be more to it. Overhunting did have an impact, for a year or two anyway, under the management of one particular fellow. The most troubling part, however, is that with pressure now backed way, way off, the hogs are not rebounding back as one would expect. I have my suspicions that there are other factors at work, but I cannot put my finger on the culprit. It’s really sad. The place did a 180 in a remarkably short period of time. My 8 yr old son misses it so much he cries about it regularly. So sad.
The deer, elk, and turkeys (“native”) though are doing just fine.
OK, not sure if this has been mentioned, but the photo is doctored, the guy is sitting back from the elk just looking like he is holding up the antlers if at all. Most all elk species have ahead length from back to nose of about 19"-22", this picture looks like the elks about is about 3ft, fake a$$ picture!
It's not fake, he's just long-arming it a little. For those of us that look at a lot of dead-animal pics, they don't look natural to us unless the hunter squishes himself right up against the animal and the hunter didn't do that in this particular picture. The animal is angled away from him a little and he could have moved up some which would have made it look more natural to us, but it does make the antlers and the animal look bigger.
This is why I try to get 2 hands on the animal for pictures nowadays. It forces you to not have a long-armed photo and they look more natural.
Would this bull meet the fair chase entry requirements for P&Y or B&C ?
Just why is it no a fair chase? The ranch is large but there are no high fence to stop the elk from leaving the property. And just who says some of the elk don't leave the property and may even come back.
If the elk are no pressured, have plenty of good cover and ample food and water just why would they leave?
When I took my last elk in CO the outfitter took long arm pictures of me and the elk just to show me how it was done for the want to be hunters egos. Never showed the pictures to any one as I feel they are faked.
Yes I can afford to take high priced hunts like this but I decide not to and invest in prized collectable firearms that increase in value every year.
As already discussed and established.....YES it is accepted by B&C and P&Y.....there have been several entries already recorded from this ranch in years past. These elk are very wild and free ranging.......you won't 'walk up to them'.
As for the 'fake' photo.....don't quit your day job. :) The photo is not doctored.....just long armed a bit for that one photo. There's a better one on their FB account Hunt Tejon for your review.
Roy,
Thanks for the clarification question regarding fair chase. This ends discussion for me on the matter. Congrats to the fortunate hunter for taking a super nice trophy.
Sd, good posts.
As an old hog hunter....my guesses as to decline in pig populations in order of importance [BTW, nothing you don't already know]; Trapping....is someone on nearby parks trapping them? Drought....yeah it hurts them but they should be rebounding Predators....when we first started hog hunting in the 80's lions and such left them alone......not now.... slowly Lions developed a taste for the "Other" white meat. /grin
BOHNTR, No doubt this bull is a monster (Congrats to the hunter) just the mass compared to the bulls ears tells just how really heavy beamed it is, even the brow tines carry mass almost equal to the main beams. But, long arming is a form of doctoring a photo to make the animal look bigger than it is, as an OM we see this quite bit, especially with whitetails. If what I've read about this ranch is true (outside of their cattle ranching) there are no captive/breeding of elk/deer on the ranch, and no containment fences, then any wild animals coming/taken from this ranch would be fair chase by the rules of B&C, P&Y, LHC.
SDHNTR, "Think of what a busy, highly compensated, executive must do to go on a typical elk hunt... 10 days off is not realistic away from the office and family. "
So when one of these "executives" arrives at the ranch does the staff bow and curtsy?
What's makes an executive from LA any different than one from KC? Must be a California thing? Reading your post gave me a good early morning laugh... Thanks!
Sdhunter, you described to a T, the trophy hunter. A rich, white dude that comes in to a prescouted, or worse, “hunt” to kill the biggest animal to hang in his mahogany accented den, so he can brag to his rich buddies about his kill over Cuban cigars. The general public, don’t get that confused with “anti-hunter” is growing tired of that narrative. It’s been shown over and over that the general public isn’t necessarily against those of us, the vast majority on bowsite, who hunt for meat, and that’s the story we should be promoting...not the guy so busy he has to go to a private ranch close to home and kill something in a day because he’s too important, busy (and rich) to do it the “hard” way.
Disclaimer...I’m going off sdhunters scenario. This guy might be blue collar plumber Joe and saved his whole life for this hunt.
I’ll take every single elk hunt story I’ve heard this year over that guys 400” bull. Every successful hunter on here, and non successful hunter, should be proud of the effort they put into their hunt. And an extra big shout out to the Diy, public land hunter, successful or not.
Whatever. I’m not going to argue. I respect all fair chase hunters. The guy is busy, yet loves to hunt, so he does so on a blue ribbon ranch close to home. That’s bad? He does what he can to get into the field. Like we all do. Just because he does it differently doesn’t mean his accomplishment should be diminished.
I’m busy. I have a demanding job and a family with little kids. I can’t take off and hunt like a lot of guys here. So hell yes I’m going to do whatever I can to stack the deck in my favor with the resources I have available. We all do that. That’s all this guy did too. I bet he’s a nice fellow too. I’d like to shake his hand.
Sdhuntr you’re describing what mossback has done for years. Follow a bull or buck, trophy class, around all summer. When they get him in a good spot they call out the “hunter” who flies in, shoots it, takes his picture, and flies out. All this because he’s “busy and important”. I despise this type of hunting, along with the vast majority of non-hunters.
We’re both projecting who this guy is. If he read this thread, he’d probably be shaking his head. Haha
Wow, there's more wanking on this thread than the ones about guys killing semi-domestic sheep inside an actual high fenced facility. It's amazing how people will act when a little antler is involved. The ranch is about the size of an average big game hunting unit and it's unfenced, it's a far larger area than many of you ever hunt in. The 'trophy' hunt costs far less than many dudes spend on a new truck every few years, so it's not some unattainable hunt.
New 'Bowsite' definition according to tradi-doerr......long arming is now a 'doctored' photo. Got it. :)
USC, never did I describe any such thing.
I hate rich people. They remind me of all the opportunities I squandered. ;-)
“ I can’t take off and hunt like a lot of guys here. So hell yes I’m going to do whatever I can to stack the deck in my favor with the resources I have available. We all do that.”
Speak for yourself, bud...
I love hunting, and I do it for basically 2 reasons:
#1 - To get better at it.
#2 - Meat.
The more I “stack the deck”, the harder it is to get better at it. I admire big antlers as much as the next guy, but I don’t covet them the way that many do. Given a choice between taxidermy and a non-res tag, I’d go for the tag. Not that I’ve ever shot anything that I wished I could’ve had mounted, but that’s how it has shaken out. I take satisfaction in being able to figure out where the critters are and in being sneaky enough to kill one. I don’t get out much, so I’m not picky about inches of bone.
But you know....
I know where to go fishing if I want to haul in rainbows of 18”-20” on practically every cast and I know where to go to get snubbed by wily, stream-bred browns all day long. I’d rather work all day for a 14” brown.
That's what’s great about non-competitive outdoor pursuits; you don’t have to please anyone but yourself.
How other hunters choose to “stack the deck” makes no difference to me- it’s their lives, their time and their money. I wasn’t there, so I have no idea how much smarts, how much skill, how much work or how much patience went into taking that 400” bull. It would be a mistake for me to judge how good a hunter another guy might be just by the size of the bull that he shot on some fancy, high-dollar, pay-to-prey outfit. Just as it’s a mistake for him to convince himself that he’s any better than a guy who gets a legal, public-land animal now and then.
Having been a guide on the ranch myself and been a part of some of the elk hunts I can’t help but laugh at some of you with these comments. I suppose in person y’all wouldn’t be as brave to say these things ya write on here. Guy kills a big elk a pic is shown and it turns to this. Sad. Don’t be a sheep as many of you sound like. Go work on your archery skills they’ll come in handy :-) Congrats to the hunter I bet he was thrilled. Wish I could have been there. Good work to the crew on the ranch. They are first class guys!! Miss them
I don't understand why so many people care what other people do with their time and money.
BOHNTR, No offense taken, it's just talk and matters of opinion-all good!
What exactly is the "hard way"....trail cams....ozonics...food plots...mechanical broadheads....carbon arrows....range finders...scent lock suits....340 fps compound bows??? Who cares who or how it was killed....it`s a magnificent animal and I wish there were more pics. A ranch that size could have a dome over it and it would still be fair chase.
It is sad how some folks trip over themselves in an attempt to diminish the accomplishments of others - accomplishments some detractors even admit that they characterize in a negative light despite not knowing the surrounding facts.
This long arming narrative is frankly stupid. Yes, stupid. They guy's arm that is holding the antler is to the side of his body and not to the front - which is basically the definition of long arming. The distance from the camera to the elk may cause the animal to be out of proportion relative to the hunter, but it is not long arming.
I'd like to have let him live and find his sheds every year. The meat is probably tougher than the soles of my Schnee's.
'hunts are $30K management hunts run $12,500 Yikes!!!' And, IMO, that isn't all that much these days, compared to some trophy sheep hunts raffled off, of New Zealand SCI Red Stag hunts, or even and hunts in Africa, for example. $30K is not a rich guy figure, I don't see it as one. Like someone said, most PU's are over $50K now.
It's amazing how much jealousy comes out when a big animal is shot with limited access and/or with a high $$ tag.
I say CONGRATS to the hunter and more power to him! ;-)
great bull,,,,,, love the smile,,,,,,,, congrats
Insane mass on that brute...can't imagine what just the skull plate/antlers weighed !
“ let him live and find his sheds”
I bet the hamburger from that bull tastes nearly as good as the burger from a cow. I’d eat the burger from a bull like that one with a huge smile on my face.
