An elk and a deer and I'm done for the year!

[MCMXI]

Typically we get one elk and one deer tag up here in Montana, and after shooting a young white-tail buck last night I'm done for the season with 18 hunting days still to go! I usually go down to Belt near Great Falls to hunt mule deer and elk, but unless some other tags are available I won't be doing that this year.

I only have 20 acres up here but I was able to shoot both animals on my property which was a first for me. I'm having a mount made from the elk since that was kind of special. I used a Tikka T3X chambered in .300 Win Mag and Federal's excellent Vital-Shok Trophy Copper 180gr for both. Not surprisingly both were one-shot kills with the elk falling over less than 10 yards from where he was shot, and the deer less than that. Neither were long shots but I did get to use the Spartan Precision tripod for the deer and shot from the standing position. I would rather have used a .308 Win for both but the Kimber/Proof 84M wasn't where it needed to be i.e. I haven't finished working up a hunting load for it. Oh well, next year I guess!

The elk was about 450lb on the hoof and weighed in at 320lb gutted & skinned but not sure if that was with/without the head. My friend at the meat processing facility thinks I'll get about 180lb of meat back. I'll be lucky to get 50lb from the white-tail but he'll taste good I'm sure.

 

[Armored farmer]

You're not done.....?
Grouse? Quail? Pheasant? Ducks? Rabbit?

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Good looking Elk and a good looking deer. I'm still waiting for muzzle-loading late season, here near Cheney Wa., which will be the 25th of this month. Both deer and elk will be open very close to where I live. But, once hunting seasons starts around here, the elk all go to the wildlife refuge, and the buck deer all head into the more people populated areas.

Anyhow congrats, those both look like good healthy/good eating animals.

 

[Armored farmer]

Yes, two very nice animals.
You should be proud. When the snow is blowing later in the year, you can sit by the fire and enjoy some good venison steak.
Well done!

 

[horsemen61]

Looks like good eating!

 

[WisBorn]

Congratulations on two nice trophies.

 

[Ru4real]

Nice work!

I’ve found the 1/3 thumb rule is pretty accurate. If you get 180 pounds back, I’m thinking your elk was more than 450 on the hoof.

I de-bone at the kill site and only weigh meat when it goes into the freezer, so this is why I’ve taken efforts to prove this thumb rule. For example, this year I packaged 153 pounds of elk meat, so my elk was about 460 on the hoof, which is what I would expect for a mature Utah cow elk.

Works for whitetails and mule deer, as well. The 1/3 thumb rule doesn’t apply if you do bone in roasts, obviously.

 

[Highland Lofts]

You harvested two nice animals, congrats.
It is nice when things work out for you.

 

[MCMXI]

Thanks for the positive feedback. @Ru4real, I'll be sure to update this thread with the amount of meat I get back but your 1/3 rule of thumb seems about right. BTW, a full elk shoulder mount is going to cost me around $1,200 so I'll have to think about that some more. I'll probably go for it since this is the first bull I've shot on my property making the mount more significant than a bigger bull somewhere else.

A small herd of 15 to 20 elk were back at the house this morning with one nice spike bull. He's not legal in my zone since he doesn't have any brow tines but I suspect he'll be a nice one next year or a couple of years from now. I tried to get decent photos using my spotting scope (Leupold Mark 4), and that's an empty horse barn in the bottom photo in case anyone is wondering.

 

[MCMXI]

You're not done.....?
Grouse? Quail? Pheasant? Ducks? Rabbit?

I typically go pheasant hunting in the Belt, MT area in October but COVID put a damper on that. Maybe next year.

 

[WisBorn]

I typically go pheasant hunting in the Belt, MT area in October but COVID put a damper on that. Maybe next year.

COVID has done that to a lot of hunts. I was going to Wisconsin this past week to bow hunt - cancelled. Next year maybe for bow and rifle, will see. SC deer hunting is open now, but I just find it hard to hunt in 80 degree temperatures. Pigs this winter!!!

 

[IALoder]

Nice work! Both are great animals! Enjoy those elk steaks! Elk and especially elk steaks are definitely my favorite wild game to eat!

 

[WestKentucky]

Great eaters. Not babies but not hormone hounds either. Well done.

 

[MCMXI]

Enjoy those elk steaks! Elk and especially elk steaks are definitely my favorite wild game to eat!

Absolutely! We had some of the backstraps and tenderloins last weekend and they were excellent. I'm making an elk vindaloo tonight which should be incredible if it's anything like the mule deer vindaloo I made twice this year to rave reviews.

I took the caped head to the taxidermist today and it was an eye opener for sure. Talk about perspective. My elk is small, and I mean really small compared to some of the monsters he had in there. Still, it'll look great up on the wall and I'll never forget my first bull on this property. I'm not a trophy hunter but part of me would love to get one of those monster bulls.

 

[JFrank]

Absolutely! We had some of the backstraps and tenderloins last weekend and they were excellent. I'm making an elk vindaloo tonight which should be incredible if it's anything like the mule deer vindaloo I made twice this year to rave reviews.

I took the caped head to the taxidermist today and it was an eye opener for sure. Talk about perspective. My elk is small, and I mean really small compared to some of the monsters he had in there. Still, it'll look great up on the wall and I'll never forget my first bull on this property. I'm not a trophy hunter but part of me would love to get one of those monster bulls.

Nicely done,
How about grabbing a Wolk tag ! We have a few out back of us I’m trying get around on but at my age it’s tougher than a two dollar steak.
I figure I’ll keep at it though. Lol

 

[LoonWulf]

Typically we get one elk and one deer tag up here in Montana, and after shooting a young white-tail buck last night I'm done for the season with 18 hunting days still to go! I usually go down to Belt near Great Falls to hunt mule deer and elk, but unless some other tags are available I won't be doing that this year.

I only have 20 acres up here but I was able to shoot both animals on my property which was a first for me. I'm having a mount made from the elk since that was kind of special. I used a Tikka T3X chambered in .300 Win Mag and Federal's excellent Vital-Shok Trophy Copper 180gr for both. Not surprisingly both were one-shot kills with the elk falling over less than 10 yards from where he was shot, and the deer less than that. Neither were long shots but I did get to use the Spartan Precision tripod for the deer and shot from the standing position. I would rather have used a .308 Win for both but the Kimber/Proof 84M wasn't where it needed to be i.e. I haven't finished working up a hunting load for it. Oh well, next year I guess!

The elk was about 450lb on the hoof and weighed in at 320lb gutted & skinned but not sure if that was with/without the head. My friend at the meat processing facility thinks I'll get about 180lb of meat back. I'll be lucky to get 50lb from the white-tail but he'll taste good I'm sure.

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Congrats on both animals, I think they both look real nice!

 

[Ugly Sauce]

Absolutely! We had some of the backstraps and tenderloins last weekend and they were excellent. I'm making an elk vindaloo tonight which should be incredible if it's anything like the mule deer vindaloo I made twice this year to rave reviews.

I took the caped head to the taxidermist today and it was an eye opener for sure. Talk about perspective. My elk is small, and I mean really small compared to some of the monsters he had in there. Still, it'll look great up on the wall and I'll never forget my first bull on this property. I'm not a trophy hunter but part of me would love to get one of those monster bulls.

You could always mount the antlers on a nice plaque, and hang your rifle across the tines. ? We started canning elk and deer meat this year. Makes the best stew meat, and stews to die for. Really delicious.

 

[earlthegoat2]

Nice haul this year.

Down here in the south, it’s hog season all year. It’s nice when the hunting season never ends.

 

[MCMXI]

You could always mount the antlers on a nice plaque, and hang your rifle across the tines. ?

That's an interesting idea. I put down a deposit of $650 for the mount but it's going to be 12+ months before he even starts on it so I have plenty of time to figure out what to do. I've never really liked European mounts but maybe I need to look at some to see if that makes the most sense. I'll probably go back and forth for months before I figure out what to do. At least I have the luxury of time.

 

[MCMXI]

I don't typically show pictures of food but here's 4lb of elk "roast" marinated in spices for 15 hours and then slow cooked in a dutch oven for 3 hours. It's ridiculously good ... the elk just falls apart.

 

[LoonWulf]

Mmmmmm...........elk roast............

 

[MCMXI]

I’ve found the 1/3 thumb rule is pretty accurate. If you get 180 pounds back, I’m thinking your elk was more than 450 on the hoof.

I weighed all the meat that I got back from the elk. The steaks, burger, roast, pepper sticks, Thuringer sausage and jerky weight 137 lb or so. The elk was 320 lb when weighed at the meat processor without guts, hide or head.

I'm not sure what processing costs in other areas, but I ended up paying $476.30 which averages out to $3.47/lb.

 

[d2wing]

A friend of mine moved to Montana and will be a resident next season. I deer hunt with him and gave him a rifle. Maybe I will get to hunt out there. Happy for that you live in such a great area.