a couple of nice tules.

[bobby7321]

took these with a digiscope setup this morning while out hunting pigs (got one too!) in san benito county.

is this much antler normal for this time of year (1st two pics)?

 

[tmoniz]

I can't tell from the pics if they are in Velvet or not. They should have dropped by now.
Where in San Benito was this.

 

[oregoncritters]

Yes, that is perfectly normal..They should start dropping those antlers here shortly..Looks like you have a decent place to go pick up some sheds..That would be sweet...Good work on the pig as well..

 

[tmoniz]

Gotta pic of the pig?

 

[bobby7321]

im about 90% sure they were actually IN velvet. thats what sparked the question. i could have been dreaming, but while looking through the spotting scope i could see nice brown fur on the antlers. for arguments sake lets say thats true, would they already be showing that much antler?

i posted the pig stuff in the pig forum (big sow with the mini-14)

 

[Kentuck]

I would say those are last year's antlers. Elk drop a little later than deer.

 

[baboltin]

thanks for sharing them with us

 

[DFGELK]

I would say they are last years antlers that have not dropped, but nothing would suprise me. I usually see antlers dropped by mid February but that is not a hard and fast rule. So if they did drop recently they would not be that developed by now and that is why I think you are looking at hard antlers and not antelers in velvet. Hard to really tell from the pics but that is my opinion for whats it worth. Many times the lesser bulls are last to shed.

Joe

 

[DEERSLAM]

I agree, looks like they haven't dropped yet. Give em sometime to grow and they'll be nice bulls. Someday I'll draw a tule tag.

 

[bobby7321]

yeah i guess i was imagining things (which is very possible). i'll be back to look for sheds in a month or so.

DFGELK,

just curious... what is needed to open a new area to elk hunting? I've easily seen over 100 elk on any given day, so I'm assuming theres at least double that in the local area. Seems like it could definitely support a couple tags. And I know the landowners wouldn't mind! I've had a couple of them tell me
"well they eat as much as cattle, and knock over fences to boot"

anyways.. just wondering. thanks!

 

[DFGELK]

I would need to gether population information, ratios, etc to set up a new hunt. What part of San Benito County where they in? I enlarged the La Panza zone last year taking it to hwy 25 and J1 which is a big chunk of San Benito County. Then the new San Luis Reservoir hunt comes down from 152 to 156 along J1 which has another big chunk of San Benito County. That area may very well be in a hunt zone. Many (most) of the areas with tule elk are entirely private property and many of these property owners with elk are in our PLM program and have a limited harvest. I wanted to open a new hunt this year up north but I was told we our back to the 3 year cycle on our enviromental document so I could not do it for a couple more years. I am all for new hunts when they are appropriate, even if the only elk are on private property. Some times landowners allow access for free, many times they charge, but at a minimum it provides some opportunity that was not there before and draws some people from the other hunts they use to put in for which makes those odds a little bit better for the people that put in for them. Hope that answers part of your question at least.

Joe

 

[el_vaquero]

Nice ones...thanks.

 

[bobby7321]

wow! i'm glad I asked. This ranch is well within these new boundaries. Forget Grizzly Island, I know exactly where there are some big boys in that zone now... I posted these pics because I thought it was new growth, but these are nothing compared to the big boys I saw in the fall.

thanks again!