A mature bull will weigh about 850 pounds while a cow will weigh about 500 pounds. This is the most numerous elk in america and most standard elk weights tend to be taken from this species. Do not want measurements off large bulls. During the summer elk eat almost constantly consuming between 4 and 7 kilograms 88 and 154 lb of vegetation daily. Need average chest depth top to bottom and length of elk front of chest to tail. Bull advertising his fitness to cows.
One extraordinary rocky mountain elk was weighed at 1100 pounds. Yeah so i guess to simplify you can just say 13 from the top. It came out that at about 30 yards the torso of a bull fits just about right between my 1st and 3rd pins meaning if it shows up bigger its likely closer to 20 yrds and smaller its likely closer to 40 yrds. Rear points should extend past the ribcage when the head is up and parallel with the rest of his body. I shot a bull last season with a fork on one side and a 25 spike on the other. If the rack doesnt look heavy and has a thin appearance i attribute 27 inches of mass per side or 54 inches total.
Field judging rules to identify a py bull elk 1. Southwestern bulls tend to be bigger bodied a lot of the time because their growing season is longer. Some of it depends on how much hair the elk has or how fat it is and some of it is regional. Genetics maturity come into play with anatomical features so always compare a bulls body with other elk when possible. The reason i wanted to figure it out was for ranging an elk with my bow. I love your approachreal world.
But you can pretty much count on a truly mature bull 5 years old being somewhere around 30 from back to brisket. The elk is a large animal of the ungulate order artiodactyla possessing an even number of toes on each foot similar to those of camels goats and cattleit is a ruminant species with a four chambered stomach and feeds on grasses plants leaves and bark. Pronghorn antelope 85 9 small deer 85 9 medium size deer 10 11 large deer 11 12 north american wild sheep 12 13 mountain goat 13. A calf weighs about 16 pounds at birth. Determining the 4 mass measurements per side is usually difficult so i use a rule of thumb. Elk 24 26 moose 30 36 given those external body measurements here are some estimated vital area circle diameters that roughly correspond to the approximate heartlung target area.
You start by taking the first measurement at the smallest diameter between the first and second point and then so on until you have 4 measurements total per side no matter how many points tines the bull has see coreys section on scoring elk. Newborn to its mother who recognizes her calf by its voice. General conversation among the group. The inside spread must be 30 or greater between the main beams. Mine are right in the same area. Chirps mews and miscellaneous squeals.
He was so young that his ivories had maybe a 14 of ivory. The bull must have at least five points on each antler to make the book and six points will greatly increase your odds. Of course there are exceptions. Elk are among the noisiest ungulates communicating danger quickly and identifying each other by sound. Bugling bellow escalating to squealing whistle ending with grunt.