How many days did it take to kill your most recent elk?

How many hunting days did you invest before harvesting your most recent elk?


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Last year I killed this spike on day 5 of a 7 day rifle season. The heat and bright moon made it super hard. The only branch antlered bull we saw was a few miles away and we only knew he was there because a mule deer hunter spotted him for us with a big swaro spotter. Absolutely thought I was eating my tag.

My previous 3 elk were all killed on opening mornings.
 

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Struck out in ‘21 & ‘22.

Killed this bull on day 3 (9/4/23).

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I voted 5, but that's not really a fair assessment. I hunted 4 days in WY in an area that turned out to be a dud. Tag was inexpensive, and it was a good time, so no harm no foul. I then shot my last elk in SD on the very first morning. Even that isn't really fair because I had a decent amount of experience in the black hills prior to this, plus the day scouting before I could shoot one, which may or may not count as a day hunting. I didn't show up one day to a new area and shoot an elk on opening morning by accident is what I'm trying to say.
 
I marked day 3 for just this season. If I went back previous years with my bow it probably would have been more like day 89. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while.
 
5 years of close calls, misses, and 2 non-fatal hits before I was able to seal the deal this year.

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I think the area and season matter too (but I know there's no way to construct a poll like that here). In my regular haunt, probably 80% of the animals taken during Rifle 1 are done day 1, and 80% of the rest day 2. (We keep notes of the shots we hear from other hunters.) But archery or rifle 2 are a totally different story - day 5 is probably more typical.
 
I didn't kill it. But I called it in and the hunter killed it. Opening morning at 0950. 2 weeks ago.

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Day 5 this year, bow hunting. Day 3 last year rifle hunting.
 
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2 days this year. 3 last year. 14 the year before that. I had some serious grind seasons early on. 23 days one year. Lucky to have some of the best elk country in the world in my backyard.


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This year, 17 days solo in CO. Have never hunted that hard in my life. Spent the first 13 days in a unit with 0 action, jumped to a new unit for the last few days and was into elk every morning and evening.
 
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