Biggest CO Bull Elk You've seen . . .

AntlerObsession · Dec 6, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-11 AT 09:44AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Dec-06-11 AT 09:34?AM (MST)

I wanted to throw this out there as I am anticipating hitting the Western Slope 2012 hunting Bull Elk. I would love to hear tell of those monster bulls that wander fair chase, private or public land throughout CO. Now, I understand there is a substantial difference between bulls on large private ranches, and even more so for high fence properties, but please feel free to share those as well. Let's here about those once in a lifetime bulls we've had the pleasure of witnessing and will never forget. This is mine.

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/AntlerObsession/IMAG0091.jpg

This bull has shown up on my trail camera 3 times in the 6 weeks I had this camera up. A 6x7 bull that is pushing 350". Public Land, OTC tags, some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen! My last pic was Oct. 29th, so hopefully he'll pop up next year with an extra 10"-15". :9

YukonDall · Dec 6, 2011

THATS A TOAD........THX FOR THE PIC..............YD.

nfh · Dec 6, 2011

nice bull.

HiMtnHntr · Dec 6, 2011

400" gross, public land. It's rare, but it happens.

SoleSearcher36 · Dec 6, 2011

I've seen two bulls flirting with the 400" mark over the years......got about 3 seconds of video of one of them on a disc somewhere. Only takes about .5 seconds to see 400" of bone tho. One of them a straight typical and one a bit more trashy but both monsters. Both well onto public land in OTC areas. Another one we hunted in archery for several years that is so funky I can't even really guess on score but has to be up there.....he had somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 scoreable points and disappeared on us one year....never to be seen again. Until last year when I discovered a kid had lucked into him in the cedars during 3rd season a few years ago and killed him.....guess the kid showed us! Trying to work out access to the rack to score it and get some photos of it the next time I am on the west slope.

Coloradoboy · Dec 6, 2011

All mine have been in the Northwest Corner. Never seeing anything that would flirt with 400. Couple in the 370-380 range. Know of a couple 390ish bulls that have been killed.

utehunter · Dec 6, 2011

here are my 2 biggest....

my biggest

2nd biggest both over 375+

AntlerObsession · Dec 7, 2011

>I've seen two bulls flirting with
>the 400" mark over the
>years......got about 3 seconds of
>video of one of them
>on a disc somewhere.
>Only takes about .5 seconds
>to see 400" of bone
>tho. One of them
>a straight typical and one
>a bit more trashy but
>both monsters. Both well
>onto public land in OTC
>areas. Another one we
>hunted in archery for several
>years that is so funky
>I can't even really guess
>on score but has to
>be up there.....he had somewhere
>in the neighborhood of 20
>scoreable points and disappeared on
>us one year....never to be
>seen again.

That would be a sight to see! I'm not sure that I have ever seen 400" on the hoof. Being from AZ, I've seen plenty 370"+, my Father-in-law has found sheds that go over 400", but never on the hoof. And 20 points! Holy Shnikeys! What a pleasure to witness that beast!

Amazing that this caliber of animal comes out of OTC units! These are some absolute monsters! Congrats to all the lucky hunters, and keep them coming! This is great!

SoleSearcher36 · Dec 7, 2011

Back about 15 years ago I was shown a polaroid shot of an elk rack sitting on the hood of a guys jeep. It was taken around 1995-96 in the high country of colorado on an over the counter archery tag by a guy you would call "ecentric" at the minimum. It is to date the biggest typical colorado bull I have ever seen and I believe it would still easily surpass the archery world record. It was a straight 7x7 with incredible length and unbelievable mass extending out to the tip of every tine. The guy who took this elk is very eccentric and has NO interest in having the bull scored. He won't even have it mounted for reasons he wouldn't explain fully. As to the book or having it mounted he just said..."that's not why I do it(chase monster bulls)". He has killed some amazing bulls on public land in colorado........locates the one he wants in the velvet and basically scouts them every day until season. He logs every possibly pertinent detail on his scouting days.....temps, barometer readings, wind direction and speeds by the hour, humidity, etc. He is wealthy and single and all he does is watch these elk for over a month before season...coming off the hill basically only to refresh his supplies. All I can say is the rack is legit and I believe would net around 430". Killed over 100 years apart, the genetic symilarities between it and the 442" plute bull are shockingly close. All this may really mean nothing as the owner would never allow me to take pictures of this rack so my account of it is really just scuttlebutt but at the end of the day it simply means that even in OTC units there is a chance of the existence of a mega-bull.

flycrewsupe · Dec 8, 2011

I know of 2 375 plus bulls killed on the western slope during 3rd season on public land.

elkmeat · Dec 9, 2011

i have seen 3 monster bulls. one 370",s and one high 380",s in area 11. the biggest in N.M. well over 400". the shed was bought for $23,ooo.it came off of a outfitters ranch.

HiMtnHntr · Dec 10, 2011

Wait . . . Someone paid 23 grand for single elk shed? That's getting out of hand, but would you happen to have the guy's contact info?

mntman · Dec 10, 2011

actually he only said $23 and a "ooo" so I wouldn't get to excited over trying to sell your sheds... ;-)
Mntman

"Hunting is where you prove yourself"

elkmeat · Dec 11, 2011

sorry, i don,t rember his name.it was south of Quamodo N.M. to make a lone story short,the offitter was a crook. he had 5 six pointers all in the 350 to 375" range,and the 400plus in his hay field. he was charging 6500.00 for 5 days and would have his hunters sitting by the road watching theses animals. they all would think they were going to shoot these bulls opening day. little did they know they were pets. he had them trained to go into his pole barn before daylite.all of them were castrated , thus the big racks.he raised them from calfs.i found all of this from his sisterr who owns the food store in Quamodo. what a racket.

quercus1955 · Dec 13, 2011

My hunting partner and I got this bull on game camera in Aug of 09. I had previously found his sheds in July 09. The sheds measured out at 410 3/8 inches net non-typical and 422 5/8 inches gross non-typical. He was located on public land in an OTC unit near Colorado Springs. After two years of searching/hunting for this great bull we found him on 12 Aug 2011. He died of an apparent Mt Lion attack with the same antlers he carried back in Aug 09. His deadhead measured out at 405 1/8 inches net non-typical and 416 1/8 inches gross non-typical. He is the fourth largest non-typical bull ever found/killed in Colorado.

k22hornet · Dec 14, 2011

Quercus,

What a monster bull!

I've been living/hunting Colorado for 31 years now and have only seen 3 bulls that were even 6x6, much less a bull that would score 350"+, alive and during a hunting season, on public lands. Even Rocky Mountain National Park isn't loaded with 350"+ bulls.

Adventurewriter · Dec 14, 2011

Querus Now that is a find....wow...

greatwestern · Dec 16, 2011

LAST EDITED ON Dec-17-11 AT 03:13AM (MST)[p]Holy CO Crankersaurus! Hell of a dude...neverminding score, ya just can't beat them 'cheater' 3rds, I always love that less-than-common characteristic on bulls

I guess the biggest bulls I ever seen in colorado were a pair of mid August velvet dudes in the san juans that were somewhere in the 340-50 range...certainly not the biggest, but pretty good CO bulls anyway

**edit---man, I had me one big run-on sentence goin there...time for nappy nap I guess!

Kayak_to_hunt · Dec 17, 2011

The biggest I saw this year went 386" this year.

Last year the biggest was 363"

Not in the units you boys think as we all know there are no big bulls in Co.

AntlerObsession · Dec 29, 2011

I rearranged my photobucket albums and it pulled the pic in the original post. Apparently I can't edit a post more than 300 minutes after it's been posted. Here it is!

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i369/AntlerObsession/CO Hunts 2011/IMAG0091.jpg