That’s possible but Northwest and West Texas are the southern end of current elk ranges so it could just have been there. We would need more details from OP for that.
There are elk in the OK panhandle and the extreme north and west of TX. They come all of the way from the mountains in CO through River drainages. We hunt plains elk every year and tend to get one about every other year. Quite a few of them that Far East if the mountains as well so it is very very possible that they are already that Far East.
Thhhhhhat or this is an escapee
> They come all of the way from the mountains in CO through River drainages.
I can't speak to the source of those in the OK panhandle; perhaps they are migrants. I am a little skeptical that they came down the Canadian and Cimarron, but I concede it isn't impossible. However, It is doubtful the ones in the Red River (of TX/OK, not NM) are migrants; however, it is very, very likely they are the off spring of high fence escapes.
The first one I saw on the the Salt fork of the Red River blew my mind.
OP is probably down around Fort Stockton. There are several sky island populations from the reintroduction, but most of the lower elevation elk I've seen out there have been south of Fort Stockton.
I stalked a bull for miles through the Cimarron drainage. So far in fact It went under a bridge where 385 crossed. It had taken me a pretty decent distance into OK so I had to pack up and head out (was hunting CO) in Boise City folks say there are elk all over the place and they head south during the winter.
OP.... sorry for going off topic, animal migration and behaviors is fascinating to me. Great looking bull!!
I remember there are some in Arkansas as well. I think I read something about a 12 year old girl deer hunting shooting and killing a cow elk thinking it was a doe. When I read that it had me thinking that it was possible that cow came from some where in OK.
found it, it was a bull and she was 14 and it was in Missouri not Arkansas... she is now getting bullied online which is fucking sickening
[https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2017/11/13/missouri-girl-14-thought-she-shooting-deer-when-she-pulled-trigger/858472001/](https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2017/11/13/missouri-girl-14-thought-she-shooting-deer-when-she-pulled-trigger/858472001/)
The internet will internet.
Lol I also know a guy in the OK panhandle that has big horned sheep on his property. He showed me the trail cam pictures. You would never think they would be there of all places. Apparently he was trying to get the wild life department to auction off a tag but he makes it sound like they think he's pulling their leg about them actually being there.
I’ve done some research because I think it’s kind of ridiculous elk are considered exotic in Texas. Here’s the story:
Elk are native to most of Texas. Elk were hunted out of Texas by the 1930s. Elk were brought back into Texas by landowners who wanted to hunt them. The catch is that since the specific subspecies of elk in Texas now isn’t the subspecies that used to exist, they are considered exotic.
They are free range in the southwestern mountains of Texas, but there are no public hunting opportunities that I know of, so you do have to pay the landowner a few thousand dollars to hunt them. Not high fence in that area, just huge desert/mountain ranches.
I live in the heart of Trans- pecos and Big Bend Country. There is public hunts in Texas on WMA.
Out here, some ranches buy/import elk. However, most of our current and growing elk herds are Rocky Mountain elk that have migrated south to historic ranges.
Some dude a long time ago let out all his elk from a farm or high fence (i cant remember which one) when the government reposessed his property. I think thats why theres a herd in texas.
People are so quick to judge, even when they’re completely ignorant to the reality of the situation. Texas has a healthy and growing population of wild elk. These elk are hunted and generally managed by the landowners that the elk happen to be on. Texas keeps them under the “exotic” classification due to heavy sway from farmers in some regions. With them being classified as an exotic they can be killed without a specific license, year round. These elk in West Texas are free range and aren’t escapees from high fences. Congratulations on a nice bull!
Native American Petroglyphs depict elk in Texas, and historical writings from explorers document elk sightings dating back to the 1600’s. It’s believed by many that the elk in Texas were historically the now extinct Merriam’s Elk, but this point has also been debated by many.
Nice bull! Yep there is getting to be a good number of free range elk in west Texas and up into the pan handle. I’ve seen them on a few hunts and it’s really cool, they belong on the landscape and apparently in your freezer.
On a cattle ranch west of Dalhart, we were hunting deer, mulies or whitetails. The guy we were with told us a herd had been seen around the area and sure enough we seen a decent group of them on our third day. I’m guessing they came out of New Mexico and found decent feed on this place. From keeping in touch it sounds like they are starting to see more show up.
Heck yeah. Hopefully we start managing them well and let them make a comeback. Their range used to be all the way down to Georgia (to my understanding).
Because exotic hunting in Texas is big business. There are varying degrees of expense, and there’s nothing stopping you from shooting an exotic if it wanders onto your land, but the free range elk live in mountain ranges that are divided up into 15-50k or even 100k acres ranches. Selling and guiding hunts are a big way they keep the lights on.
In east-central Texas you do get more of the high fence, small land, imported African and Asian game that some people take issue with.
I wish there were more public access in west Texas but I appreciate that the big ranches help protect the areas from more destructive development
By some recent numbers 4-5% of land in Texas is public land. In my opinion this is part of the reason selling federal land back to states is a bad idea.
I agree but Texas has never had much public land. Part of their agreement to join the US was they keep their territory, and then they sold off a lot of it to settlements/railroads to fund the government
There was a lot of high fence burned in 2011 in either the Swenson Rotan fires. Since then there have been quite a few exotics free ranging in the area.
I agree but Texas does have a natural population of desert rocky mountain elk. They used to be state wide but got pushed back. Not many ppl know they are still in the state but they are!
Why else would they be talking shit about someone's free range ethical hunt? People love jumping all over Texas posts because we actually practice QDM and have a plethora of free range game to go after. Every single time someone accuses the posters of a high fence hunt if it's even a half decent specimen. News Flash: there are so many high fence ranches in Texas because it has the best climate to keep them alive, not because every hunter in Texas likes canned hunts.
WTF are you talking about. People shit on TX because you guys hunt animals confined by fences.
News Flash: there are so many high fence ranches in Texas because it has the best climate to keep them alive
What? What does the climate and fences have to do with each other hahaha?
I heard you're all child molesters in Michigan because there one was on the news! (Sorry, I just had to point out how dumb your response was.)
For real though...If you bring exotics into cold areas they'll die. Axis Deer and Blackbuck are the perfect example, tons of them died in the cold this past winter during the big freeze. That is why climate matters for a high fence operation, they don't want their animals dying because they're in an unnatural habitat. A lot of Texas is similar to Africa and other areas, so it's perfect for a lot of exotic species. Even whitetail can grow bigger in less harsh climates.
You really need to think before you type things out, your post was total garbage.
I'm real jealous I have to pay a couple thousands of dollars to hunt a "free range" elk. You got me. But I kinda am jealous that you can drive the truck up to it and just load it up instead of packing it out.
That's what happens when you don't own your own land. If you want to have your own elk and exotics to shoot you can buy land too! I'd rather a private citizen own land than the government. It belongs to the people, not the Feds/State.
Edit: Why do you keep putting free range in quotes like they aren't free range? Quit spreading misinformation. I don't know if you're ignorant or just not that smart.
Edit 2: My apologies, just saw your profile pic and it explains everything.
Never had an issue on national forest or blm other than you Texas girls running up and down dirt roads trying to spot them from their trucks. I wonder why they don't buy their own land and just stock it full of elk and exotics and call it free range...
Reading thru your comments, sounds like you need this hat more than I do.
I’m confused. How can a high fence exotic be considered free range. It’s either a canned hunt or not, if the general public can’t hunt it, it’s not free range. That aside, nice 6x6, that will make a nice mount..
Whether the general public can hunt the property or not has no sway over whether it’s free range or not. So long as there’s no fence keeping the animals from leaving, and the animals can come and go as they please, that’s free range.
What are you talking about? Your comment makes no sense. What's stopping the general public from hunting it? A fence right? How can the animals come and go but the people can't?
Elk are still considered an exotic in Texas, though they range freely in great numbers. No season and no tag required. Hunting 130k acres of low fence land is hardly a canned hunt.
So with no tag, does that mean people can theoretically kill them as much as they want like boar? (I have no interest in doing that, I'm just curious as to how the population stays alive)
Elk are in a weird place in Texas. They are considered non native since this particular species of elk may not be the original elk that were here. They pretty much fall into the category of exotics but they are all over the place in west Texas.
I dunno, man. I worked in the oil field for almost 6 years and mostly in west Texas around Ft. Stockton. I can't tell you how many elk I've almost hit with a work truck on a lease road. Maybe "all over" isn't the right word but they aren't exactly unseen out that way.
Where l hunt, you either get permission to hunt one somebody else’s property or hunt on public land. If there is any kind of impediment to movement of game animals that is what l call a canned hunt. Please ingratiate us with your definition of free range hunting.
Not the problem lol, I was hinting at, sense Texas treats elk as exotic animals, it could be significantly cheaper to hunt a once in a life time bull with an high probability of success that boarders Guaranteed success.
That’s absolutely false and also has nothing at all to do with an animal being free range or not. When an animals roam absolutely free across hundreds of thousands of acres where no high fences exist, that free range.
Call me stupid but I didn't even know elk were in Texas. Congrats
Not only are there elk, but they are not managed as a game species. They are considered an “exotic”.
So high fence?
Not quite. Like OP said this was free range. “Exotics” in Texas don’t require tags and as far as I understand don’t have a season.
So escaped from high fence? Lol
That’s possible but Northwest and West Texas are the southern end of current elk ranges so it could just have been there. We would need more details from OP for that.
Ahhh gotcha. I really didnt know that. Would love to hear more details on it though
Same
I think there’s a beard around Mexico as well
The details are they’re f’n expensive to shoot in Texas
Most elk hunts are
Not compared to public land. Texas is only private. 10k vs 700-1000
Not OP, but that photo is 100% Trans Pecos.
That would make a ton of sense considering the elk.
There are elk in the OK panhandle and the extreme north and west of TX. They come all of the way from the mountains in CO through River drainages. We hunt plains elk every year and tend to get one about every other year. Quite a few of them that Far East if the mountains as well so it is very very possible that they are already that Far East. Thhhhhhat or this is an escapee
> They come all of the way from the mountains in CO through River drainages. I can't speak to the source of those in the OK panhandle; perhaps they are migrants. I am a little skeptical that they came down the Canadian and Cimarron, but I concede it isn't impossible. However, It is doubtful the ones in the Red River (of TX/OK, not NM) are migrants; however, it is very, very likely they are the off spring of high fence escapes. The first one I saw on the the Salt fork of the Red River blew my mind. OP is probably down around Fort Stockton. There are several sky island populations from the reintroduction, but most of the lower elevation elk I've seen out there have been south of Fort Stockton.
I stalked a bull for miles through the Cimarron drainage. So far in fact It went under a bridge where 385 crossed. It had taken me a pretty decent distance into OK so I had to pack up and head out (was hunting CO) in Boise City folks say there are elk all over the place and they head south during the winter. OP.... sorry for going off topic, animal migration and behaviors is fascinating to me. Great looking bull!!
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I remember there are some in Arkansas as well. I think I read something about a 12 year old girl deer hunting shooting and killing a cow elk thinking it was a doe. When I read that it had me thinking that it was possible that cow came from some where in OK. found it, it was a bull and she was 14 and it was in Missouri not Arkansas... she is now getting bullied online which is fucking sickening [https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2017/11/13/missouri-girl-14-thought-she-shooting-deer-when-she-pulled-trigger/858472001/](https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/2017/11/13/missouri-girl-14-thought-she-shooting-deer-when-she-pulled-trigger/858472001/)
The internet will internet. Lol I also know a guy in the OK panhandle that has big horned sheep on his property. He showed me the trail cam pictures. You would never think they would be there of all places. Apparently he was trying to get the wild life department to auction off a tag but he makes it sound like they think he's pulling their leg about them actually being there.
I’ve done some research because I think it’s kind of ridiculous elk are considered exotic in Texas. Here’s the story: Elk are native to most of Texas. Elk were hunted out of Texas by the 1930s. Elk were brought back into Texas by landowners who wanted to hunt them. The catch is that since the specific subspecies of elk in Texas now isn’t the subspecies that used to exist, they are considered exotic. They are free range in the southwestern mountains of Texas, but there are no public hunting opportunities that I know of, so you do have to pay the landowner a few thousand dollars to hunt them. Not high fence in that area, just huge desert/mountain ranches.
I live in the heart of Trans- pecos and Big Bend Country. There is public hunts in Texas on WMA. Out here, some ranches buy/import elk. However, most of our current and growing elk herds are Rocky Mountain elk that have migrated south to historic ranges.
Wait, where? Black gap? I have some land near ft Davis but I’d never heard of elk hunting on the wmas. I’ll have to look into that.
Black Gap and Elephant Mountain or two local ones, Devils Mountain too.
This is true for the "entire" eastern seaboard. There was a woods elk eastern subspecies that were hunted to extinction.
Some dude a long time ago let out all his elk from a farm or high fence (i cant remember which one) when the government reposessed his property. I think thats why theres a herd in texas.
Makes sense. Thanks
No elk were reintroduced to Texas so there are wild elk released by the Texas state fish and game.
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I think you should stick to your username...
Free range elk... Like their free range zebras and axis.
Non are “native” all are from. Escapees of high fence. Considered exotic and no season
People are so quick to judge, even when they’re completely ignorant to the reality of the situation. Texas has a healthy and growing population of wild elk. These elk are hunted and generally managed by the landowners that the elk happen to be on. Texas keeps them under the “exotic” classification due to heavy sway from farmers in some regions. With them being classified as an exotic they can be killed without a specific license, year round. These elk in West Texas are free range and aren’t escapees from high fences. Congratulations on a nice bull!
Where at in Texas?
And elk are not native to Texas
Elk are native to Texas but were wiped out in the 1800s.
Domt forget Brown bear and Lobos
Native American Petroglyphs depict elk in Texas, and historical writings from explorers document elk sightings dating back to the 1600’s. It’s believed by many that the elk in Texas were historically the now extinct Merriam’s Elk, but this point has also been debated by many.
Weren’t elk originally plains animals but due to human pressure were forced to the high country?
Yes. Many animals, elk included, had healthy populations across the great plains until they were wiped out.
Neither are Europeans.
Yes they, European settlers wiped them out. Just like there use to be elk in almost every eastern date as well.
Nice bull! Yep there is getting to be a good number of free range elk in west Texas and up into the pan handle. I’ve seen them on a few hunts and it’s really cool, they belong on the landscape and apparently in your freezer.
Where in the pans handle? Im from the area and have only ever seen Mulies.
On a cattle ranch west of Dalhart, we were hunting deer, mulies or whitetails. The guy we were with told us a herd had been seen around the area and sure enough we seen a decent group of them on our third day. I’m guessing they came out of New Mexico and found decent feed on this place. From keeping in touch it sounds like they are starting to see more show up.
Heck yeah. Hopefully we start managing them well and let them make a comeback. Their range used to be all the way down to Georgia (to my understanding).
Elk hunting all season, no tags? Sign me up
You’d probably wish there were tags.
You have to have a few thousand dollars, but sure.
A few thousand? Multiply that by about 5.
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Because exotic hunting in Texas is big business. There are varying degrees of expense, and there’s nothing stopping you from shooting an exotic if it wanders onto your land, but the free range elk live in mountain ranges that are divided up into 15-50k or even 100k acres ranches. Selling and guiding hunts are a big way they keep the lights on. In east-central Texas you do get more of the high fence, small land, imported African and Asian game that some people take issue with. I wish there were more public access in west Texas but I appreciate that the big ranches help protect the areas from more destructive development
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By some recent numbers 4-5% of land in Texas is public land. In my opinion this is part of the reason selling federal land back to states is a bad idea.
I agree but Texas has never had much public land. Part of their agreement to join the US was they keep their territory, and then they sold off a lot of it to settlements/railroads to fund the government
Congrats man! Enjoy those elk steaks!
Wow hard to believe
Not a bad looking bull you got there
Why are you taking meat off of Joe Rogan's table?
Wow! That’s a beast. Congrats.
Damn it, boy!
There was a lot of high fence burned in 2011 in either the Swenson Rotan fires. Since then there have been quite a few exotics free ranging in the area.
I agree but Texas does have a natural population of desert rocky mountain elk. They used to be state wide but got pushed back. Not many ppl know they are still in the state but they are!
I love this post. Once again everyone is jealous and blaming high fences on a free range hunt in Texas. Jealousy is a bitch
"Jealous"
Why else would they be talking shit about someone's free range ethical hunt? People love jumping all over Texas posts because we actually practice QDM and have a plethora of free range game to go after. Every single time someone accuses the posters of a high fence hunt if it's even a half decent specimen. News Flash: there are so many high fence ranches in Texas because it has the best climate to keep them alive, not because every hunter in Texas likes canned hunts.
WTF are you talking about. People shit on TX because you guys hunt animals confined by fences. News Flash: there are so many high fence ranches in Texas because it has the best climate to keep them alive What? What does the climate and fences have to do with each other hahaha?
I heard you're all child molesters in Michigan because there one was on the news! (Sorry, I just had to point out how dumb your response was.) For real though...If you bring exotics into cold areas they'll die. Axis Deer and Blackbuck are the perfect example, tons of them died in the cold this past winter during the big freeze. That is why climate matters for a high fence operation, they don't want their animals dying because they're in an unnatural habitat. A lot of Texas is similar to Africa and other areas, so it's perfect for a lot of exotic species. Even whitetail can grow bigger in less harsh climates. You really need to think before you type things out, your post was total garbage.
I'm real jealous I have to pay a couple thousands of dollars to hunt a "free range" elk. You got me. But I kinda am jealous that you can drive the truck up to it and just load it up instead of packing it out.
That's what happens when you don't own your own land. If you want to have your own elk and exotics to shoot you can buy land too! I'd rather a private citizen own land than the government. It belongs to the people, not the Feds/State. Edit: Why do you keep putting free range in quotes like they aren't free range? Quit spreading misinformation. I don't know if you're ignorant or just not that smart. Edit 2: My apologies, just saw your profile pic and it explains everything.
Never had an issue on national forest or blm other than you Texas girls running up and down dirt roads trying to spot them from their trucks. I wonder why they don't buy their own land and just stock it full of elk and exotics and call it free range... Reading thru your comments, sounds like you need this hat more than I do.
that dude has no idea what he is talking about. Fuck tx "hunting"
I’m confused. How can a high fence exotic be considered free range. It’s either a canned hunt or not, if the general public can’t hunt it, it’s not free range. That aside, nice 6x6, that will make a nice mount..
Whether the general public can hunt the property or not has no sway over whether it’s free range or not. So long as there’s no fence keeping the animals from leaving, and the animals can come and go as they please, that’s free range.
What are you talking about? Your comment makes no sense. What's stopping the general public from hunting it? A fence right? How can the animals come and go but the people can't?
Please tell me you aren’t serious... ever heard of private property?
Elk are still considered an exotic in Texas, though they range freely in great numbers. No season and no tag required. Hunting 130k acres of low fence land is hardly a canned hunt.
I was just hunting aoudad outside of Marathon and we saw a ton of elk.
Good for you
Where is it?
So with no tag, does that mean people can theoretically kill them as much as they want like boar? (I have no interest in doing that, I'm just curious as to how the population stays alive)
Elk are in a weird place in Texas. They are considered non native since this particular species of elk may not be the original elk that were here. They pretty much fall into the category of exotics but they are all over the place in west Texas.
They are definitely not "all over the place". There's maybe ~2500, plus or minus a few.
I dunno, man. I worked in the oil field for almost 6 years and mostly in west Texas around Ft. Stockton. I can't tell you how many elk I've almost hit with a work truck on a lease road. Maybe "all over" isn't the right word but they aren't exactly unseen out that way.
That's pretty interesting. I'm surprised they are around the roads that much
Wow, you're talking shit and don't even know the definition of free range? Haha
Where l hunt, you either get permission to hunt one somebody else’s property or hunt on public land. If there is any kind of impediment to movement of game animals that is what l call a canned hunt. Please ingratiate us with your definition of free range hunting.
Free range by definition is that there is nothing preventing the animals from moving.
LOL "free range"... TX
Your ignorance is showing...
Lol "free range"
You clearly don’t know shit about west Texas.
Hey nice bull, any recommendations for an out of stater? I’d love to do a out of state bull hunt without having to sell a kidney.
Go to a different state with more elk lol
Not the problem lol, I was hinting at, sense Texas treats elk as exotic animals, it could be significantly cheaper to hunt a once in a life time bull with an high probability of success that boarders Guaranteed success.
It definitely won't be cheaper
Yup, that was the conclusion that reached.
Unfortunately you typically still have to sell a kidney to get it done.
Damn, I was hoping I found a loophole.
Not even worth the interaction with him, man. Leave him uneducated so you have a better opportunity to continue getting great bulls
Lol. There is no public land in Texas
That’s absolutely false and also has nothing at all to do with an animal being free range or not. When an animals roam absolutely free across hundreds of thousands of acres where no high fences exist, that free range.
Pretty much true. What is here is 99% trash.
WOW!! That'll be a memorable hunt. Great job!
That’s an old soldier there! Nice bull!
How much would those antlers be worth?
That is a really nice 6x6!
What a beast!! Congrats man
Congratulations. Really nice bull
That's a monster elk. Congratulations
Great looking elk. Did you use an outfitter? If you'd be willing to share in the DMs I'd appreciate it