Shoot me down: RIfle v bow

[The Hedgehog]

I'll go as fart to say it's WAY easier with archery, odds are WAY higher to kill a big boy.

Most avid elk hunters that I know who are hunting the same general locations, annually, and hunt both rifle and archery season with equivalent effort, have WAY more big elk bone in the rafters taken with archery, than with rifle.

 

[Joe Hulburt]

Here on the Oregon Coast it appears much easier to kill a big old mature Roosevelt bull with a rifle. I base this off the fact that the "any bull" rifle season is only 4 days compared to 30 with a bow yet far and away the majority of the mature bulls die in rifle season and fairly often by hunters who are not very serious about hunting elk.

By rifle season the old bulls are really hungry and they make more mistakes due to hunger than they do because of romance. It seems like many of the really big bulls don't get all that rut crazed, they are more methodical in their reproduction getting it done without a lot of fanfare. Sure a lot of 3 or 4 year old "nice" bulls get stupid but the truly big ones do not. That is here anyhow!

 

[LopeHunter]

Archery is very effective if water sources are limited during the rut. AZ hunts over water tanks yield some giants. In that scenario, archery will have a high harvest rate.

If you compare harvest rates, you can compare archery vs. firearm for the same unit and year. Some states provide information on branched bulls so you could parse the data a bit more as attempt to compare quality of bulls taken by weapon.

 

[kmf]

During the rut elk are generally easy to find and I can easily get within 150 yards with my bow. In fact mature bulls will often stand in the open during archery season...150 yards away...

 

[hank4elk]

Reality.With the longer season,bow.Throw in the rut,bow.
I don't hunt w/bow.
All things equal,rifle.

 

[L. I. Yankee]

I'm 0-2 chasing elk with my bow so I'm going with easier with a rifle but what do I know. I would think if you got far enough back away from most people you could find elk. They are big animals and need to eat. If you find the food I would think you would find the elk. Please correct me if my thinking is incorrect.....