To those of you who have shot a cow elk?

[gotshot]

Alright Pa, very excited for you and your daughter. Go get'em and happy eating.

[idahoelkhunter300wby]

Ive only ever heard of one buddys old cow being tough but she was so old almost all of her teeth were missing and she had birdshot under her hide where the farmer had been chasin em out of the fields all summer.
Take the first shot you get at a cow and dont worry about it. Hold off on shootin a calf till the end of season.
Goodluck. Enjoy.

[PA BEN]

I love horns, but in the long run it's all about the meat with me. My kids could shoot does in Chewelah. We have 5 daughters. We would shoot 5 to 7 deer a year. All we had for meat was deer and elk. Didn't need to buy meat. I also cut it up myself. My kids are calling me from college asking for deer meat. Wild game is the best. Hope to get our years supply of meat on this hunt.

[Fullabull]

Shoot the first one that present a good shot...it could be your last chance

[PA BEN]

Shoot the first one that present a good shot...it could be your last chance

Yep. Don't pass up on one when it's a meat hunt.

[gaddy]

after a couple of spikes, the last one was an older cow. the wife & kids agreed that it was the best eating animal i had brought home. i always wonder if its the testesterone levels. would you rather eat a grizzled old man or a tender female.
kind of like my gramps telling me years ago not to take a buck thats been run hard as the addrenilan will taint the meat. a younger buck that has not been pushed will taste better?

[400out]

I thinking all has been covered well! One thing to remember is no matter what your eatting! female tastes the best! 

[gaddy]

as long as its clean.

[400out]

as long as its clean.

hit that right on the head! LOL

[SkookumHntr]

I always go for a smaller one, last years calf! Not going to beat that for tender steaks!!

[Bigshooter]

I think what they eat, how they are killed and how they are processed matters more.

Let me give you a steak off of this years calf and a steak off of a 6 or 8 year old bull that died the same way ate the same thing, and tell me they taste the same.

Without a doubt younger is better eating in my book.  I've ate (or tried to eat) old bulls that the backstrap was cubed that was tuffer than leather.

[Encore 280]

I got a Mudflow calf a couple years ago and it was really tender, like veal. The meat wasn't even a real dark red yet like a mature animal. My wife really loved it, that's a good thing! Just had a roast last nite from my Margaret cow that I got last week, she's good too but not as good as the calf. Steaks will be on the menu later this week. Shoot a cow and a calf.  The calves are good size now.

[elkslayer069]

Shoot the tanest hefers you can find best meat youll find

[GoldTip]

I've shot plenty of cow elk, only had one bad one and I didn't shoot it.  Dad shot one back in 91 or 92 down in Dillon and that old cow didn't have a drop of fat when we skinned her.  She was strong eating.  But I've probably eaten all or parts of 25-30 other cows and they were all good.

[str8meat]

shot a cow in the cowiche 2 years ago let her hang for 9 days and still a little spunky. she was old, ivories wore flat. hard to beat a yearling cow. chances are she might not be pregnant. kill a big mature cow and your killing the calf too, which just might be a spike in 2 years. have fun and good luck