Kentucky Cow Elk

[EKYRanger]

I was blessed to kill this cow elk Saturday in Pike county, Kentucky. .300 win mag TC Encore and Federal 180 grain Accubonds. Going to be some good eating this winter.

[muskyman73]

Man that is awesome. I hope to get an elk, cow or bull sometime in my lifetime. Nice job. Hard work pays off.

[EKYRanger]

Thanks muskyman. Elk hunting is a lot of fun but I’m worried about our herd.

[572 Fitter]

Good eating there....Congrats

[RANGER487]

Congrats

[AdamB]

Awesome!! Congrats!!

[Roddy]

Thanks muskyman. Elk hunting is a lot of fun but I’m worried about our herd.

Why are you worried about the herd?

[RTex]

I was blessed to kill this cow elk Saturday in Pike county, Kentucky. .300 win mag TC Encore and Federal 180 grain Accubonds. Going to be some good eating this winter.

good meat
how far was the shot? did she run at all? I had bad experience with accubonds in a 7mag not knocking down whitetail at 150ish range

[EKYRanger]

good meat
how far was the shot? did she run at all? I had bad experience with accubonds in a 7mag not knocking down whitetail at 150ish range

60/70 yards. She ran maybe 30 yards and was done. I’ve killed elk before with Hornady Superformance 180 grain SST but got to over thinking it and tried a bunch of different loads finally settling on the Federal Premium Accubonds. They shoot great thru my Encore with 1:10 twist rate. The Accubonds did everything I could have asked of them. But you know if seen deer shot perfectly behind the shoulder with various calibers and premium bullets that have went close to 100 yards. There’s always anomalies and outliers with everything. Accubonds are a time and game proven bullet. I wouldn’t let one bad experience turn me off to them.

[EKYRanger]

Why are you worried about the herd?

Where to begin. Just let me list the concerns and keep in mind that I live in elk country and know a lot of folks who’ve hunted them, spend time around them, and care about them. No particular order here: lack of mining means lack of fresh reclaim grass for browse, also no guards patrolling property to restrict access for poachers, poaching itself, wild horses and wild cattle overgrazing the habitat, trapping and relocation of elk to other states, to much hunting pressure/taking to many animals from a declining herd, bowhunters wounding multiple bulls, predation of calves from bears, less calves in the herd causing poor recruitment, lack of good browse overall, “brain worm” disease, and KDFWR (and I support them 100% but question them re elk) not willing to publicly admit there’s an issue. We need to stop hunting for a few years and cut back on tags. I’m afraid this won’t happen though as the elk program generates to much money. I love the elk, and I support KDFWR but something needs to be done.

[EKYRanger]

Just wanted to add that more bulls than cows were killed this year for the 2nd year in a row. That’s not a good thing given how more cow tags are awarded than bull tags. Tells you about the difficulty of finding elk.

[Roddy]

Where to begin. Just let me list the concerns and keep in mind that I live in elk country and know a lot of folks who’ve hunted them, spend time around them, and care about them. No particular order here: lack of mining means lack of fresh reclaim grass for browse, also no guards patrolling property to restrict access for poachers, poaching itself, wild horses and wild cattle overgrazing the habitat, trapping and relocation of elk to other states, to much hunting pressure/taking to many animals from a declining herd, bowhunters wounding multiple bulls, predation of calves from bears, less calves in the herd causing poor recruitment, lack of good browse overall, “brain worm” disease, and KDFWR (and I support them 100% but question them re elk) not willing to publicly admit there’s an issue. We need to stop hunting for a few years and cut back on tags. I’m afraid this won’t happen though as the elk program generates to much money. I love the elk, and I support KDFWR but something needs to be done.

Unless I am mistaken the elk relocated to other states came from over by me. I know the ones sent to TN did. I saw some of them, loaded up. I wasn't aware of the other issues.

[EKYRanger]

Unless I am mistaken the elk relocated to other states came from over by me. I know the ones sent to TN did. I saw some of them, loaded up. I wasn't aware of the other issues.

Where do you live? I know that they took elk from Martin, Bell, and Knott counties. Others as well but I’m not sure which ones.

[Roddy]

I live in West KY, they take elk From the pen in LBL. All the surplus is export for stocking.