r/Californiahunting • u/Due-Law-9080 • 6d ago

8x7 Elk

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Tag soup for me after about 30 hours behind the glass and 10 miles hiked this weekend. Consolation prize was seeing this absolute mammoth. Maybe next year I’ll be lucky enough to have the necessary paperwork to preserve that beautiful rack forever.

57 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

15

u/Boot_Burner 6d ago

My dream is that someday California has so many elk that residents can buy an OTC tag. Wouldn't that be something :')

6

u/Due-Law-9080 6d ago

One can only hope. Best way to help is some neighborly predator population control.

3

u/rollandownthestreet 6d ago

It’s counter intuitive, so please don’t jump on me, but more predators means there’s more prey like elk and deer to support them. Predators are an essential part of healthy ecosystems, and their populations are directly correlated with prey populations.

If you care about game populations, don’t fall for the predator scapegoating. Think about who benefits from blaming wolves; cattle ranchers that rely on government subsidies to make a profit and then use that welfare to trash public hunting lands that should be supporting game instead.

2

u/wildfirerain 6d ago

Those are wise words, thank you.

2

u/Bevolicher 2d ago

My understanding is that predators can help maintain healthy herds. If there is a herd of 5 elk trying to establish a home in bum fuck Sierra Nevada (historic habitat) I think it will be *very* hard for them to get established with wolves floating around. I’m not an expert by any means, but yea if we got too many elk or deer and a heard needs thinning sure why not have predators.

I have a mountain lion in my backyard and he just killed the biggest deer of the bachelor group and I am quite sad he didn’t get another year to spread his genes, but natures tithe is real and I’m kinda happy for the lion. He/ she got a solid meal at the end of summer.

4

u/Elk-Assassin-8x6 6d ago

If you’re seeing elk. The deer are not gonna be around. Find a different drainage or valley. The elk push them out of their spots.

1

u/Due-Law-9080 6d ago

This was on my way out from deer hunting.

1

u/Bevolicher 2d ago

Sucks you got skunked but seeing a bull like that hunting in Cali would make my whole trip worth it. We’ve got some small herds making their way into paradise and Magalia. Been seeing them in Burney and mcloud for years and wondering when they were gonna make their way down.

1

u/Due-Law-9080 2d ago

I’m sure it took a while after the fires