Have you ever seen this?

S

spot_n_stalk

Guest
I was elk hunting this weekend and found a huge herd of elk. There was roughly 100 to 150 head in this herd. Within the herd there were 6 large bulls; large enough for me to consider them herd bulls. There were also a handful of satellites, a bunch of rag-horns and spikes and the rest were cows and calves.

Is this normal? This looked to me more like what you would expect from a winter herd. This time of year I would expect large bulls to either be solitary or have a band of cows with them, but not herded up with other big bulls.

This just seemed odd to me and I was wondering if anyone had seen this before?
 
Last year I hunted an area in Montana and had the same thing. About 150+ head of elk that fed nightly and into every morning in a huge alfalfa field (about 300-400 acres). That field and surrounds was off limits to hunting, but I was able to get above it and spot/listen. From high up, it looked exactly like you described. Each morning those elk broke up into their respective small herds, each w/ a herd bull and satellites around them. They all left about the same time, but each smaller herd went their own separate way, to their own seperate bedding area. If I had a few more days, it would have been possible to pattern them somwhat. Never got into a shooting situation but had a blast chasing them.
 
Every year our family goes on a family campout. Last year we went when there was and elk hunt going on. While driving back from town we saw few elk in a ravine feeding. It was only about a quarter mile away from camp. We drove to our campsite and parked the truck and walked back to where we had seen the elk. When we got there we discovered that the ravine led to a huge field. In that field we saw as close as we could count about 300 elk. There were a few good bulls and tons of satalite bulls and cows. We were in unit 1 in Arizona. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. The bulls were bugling and everything.
 

Click-a-Pic ... Details & Bigger Photos
Back
Top Bottom