Low Spike count

[sako223]

When there were about 800 elk at the Oak Creek station they counted 8 spikes and over 70 bulls. The other day there were about 400 elk and they counted 4 spikes. I never saw one. Anyway to me that figures about 1% of the herd feeding is a spike.

[GoldTip]

Not a good sign.....

[DOUBLELUNG]

The spikes are the few that made it past the arrows, balls and bullets last season.  They will be next season's smallest branched antler bulls.  This years spikes are the calves, if you want an index to the hunting prospects for general season, look at the calf crop, not the post-season spikes.

We sure do mine the heck out of our bucks and bulls.  Being born an east-side bull calf means the odds are REALLY low for living more than 18 months.  Make it through the second season, though, and odds are good for living several years and getting a bunch of cowtang.

[DOUBLELUNG]

If there are 700 antlerless elk at the feedground, if at least 160 of those are calves, it's a pretty good prospect for next general season, and should produce a harvest of 60 or so spikes out of that 800 elk (80 bull calves less nonhunting mortality and survivors).  That figures out to 30 calves per 100 cows, a decent ratio.

If only 115 of those 700 antlerless elk are calves, or less, it's looking pretty lean.  20 calves per 100 cows is poor recruitment, and now it's more like 40 spikes in the harvest from that 800 elk. 

If more than 200 of those 700 are calves, recruitment was really good, and there should be a bunch of spikes to shoot come fall.

[sako223]

Yes I understand where the spikes come from. My impression was that after what seemed to be a low harvest year there should be more spikes. Couldn't find the harvest numbers from last season but the previous years usually average less than 10% hunter success rate for elk. 2008 was 9%.

[WonkyWapiti]

I was at Oak Creek on Friday and counted only 5 spikes.  On the other hand I can't tell you how many 6 by's I was drooling over. 

[norsepeak]

Keep in mind that most of the herd didn't even come down this year, especially the bulls including spikes.  We've seen spikes up above 5k feet all winter, this has been a very easy winter on the deer and elk, and a lot of spikes made it thru the season so next season should be good, except for the game dept. F'in everything up...go figure

[colockumelk]

The spikes are the few that made it past the arrows, balls and bullets last season.  They will be next season's smallest branched antler bulls.  This years spikes are the calves, if you want an index to the hunting prospects for general season, look at the calf crop, not the post-season spikes.

We sure do mine the heck out of our bucks and bulls.  Being born an east-side bull calf means the odds are REALLY low for living more than 18 months.  Make it through the second season, though, and odds are good for living several years and getting a bunch of cowtang.

Aint that the truth.  In the Colockum on average only 10-15% of yearling bulls live to be 2years old.  On average 70-75% of all yearling are killed by hunters.  Another 8-10% die of natural causes.  (Yearlings have a much higher natural death % than other elk.)

It's no wonder that we don't have that many branch bull permits given out.