Dilema

[Boogieman509]

Not sure what to do here.  I live in GMU 124 and have a nice deer honey hole.  I hunt it with my uncle who prefers Modern firearm.  For elk I archery hunt in the 368 unit with a group of lifelong friends.   Well as of two weeks ago I am having elk show up on a regular basis.  They are all cows and I have yet to see a bull.  It is a any elk unit.  I have the elk patterned and am confident I could bag a cow.  Will the bulls eventually show up?  I would prefer a Bull since I can get a cow in the 368 which is cow only but these ladies are walking 15 feet from my deer blind.. Any advice???

[Lucky1]

Kill one of the cows?
Nice problem to have.

[h2ofowlr]

They should be coming into heat, so the bulls may be close behind them.  Later this week may be a good option, unless you have a mult-season permit and that unit is good for muzzy as well. 

If you want some good eating meat, I would take a cow.   

[RadSav]

You should be in pre rut over there right now.  I doubt the bulls are very far away.  Might try a bugle or two.  Maybe even an estrus call and see what you get.  I expect come muzzy season all mature cows will be trying there best to keep the sex crazed bulls away with little success

Those do look like adolescent cows so they might be staying on the fringe of a harem.  Could be what they are looking at.  We get those little adolescent groups around here too.  They tend to stay clear of the rutting bulls, but are never too far away from the mature breeder cows.

Good luck no matter where you head to.  Should be a good time either way.

[Boogieman509]

Thanks for the help.  Kind of a newbie trying to learn as much as possible.

[MLBowhunting]

A bull will be there any day now. 

[jackelope]

A bull will be there any day now. 

 

Wait for it.....

[pd]

Funny that you ask this question.  I was just talking with my father the other day about this type of issue (he is a lifelong elk hunter in Idaho).  His answer is always the same: Take a fat cow over a bull any day, because "cows taste better than rutty bulls."

I realize the cows in your picture are adolescents, not mature cows.  I guess it depends on your perspective, if you are a horn hunter or a meat hunter.  But there is nothing wrong with passing on a big bull to take a big cow.

[Eli346]

That's wild veal on the hoof right there!

[KFhunter]

A bull could gather them up and push them out of that area and then you wouldn't see them for a while.

If nothing else he/they will mess up their pattern.