Raghorn Express

[Caseknife]

5.5? Someone lost the genetic lottery

That or drought

 

[tjones]

It takes special dedication to hunt just a raghorn every year.

 

[TrumpkinTheDwarf]

My definition of raghorn is any bull with a rack small enough to cut up for random projects... or dog chew toys. That would include some smaller 5x5's and 6x6's.

 

[BuzzH]

2021 edition:

2022 edition:

 

[rwc101]

Everyone's raghorns are bigger than my only bull.

 

[tjones]

Now we're rolling.

 

[BuzzH]

Does a velvet spike in November count?

One of the best eating elk I've ever shot.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Brothers Wyo archery bull from a few years ago. He calls it a 6 point, but we all really know what it is.


Nephews Wyo bull from a few years ago.

 

[TheTone]

It takes special dedication to hunt just a raghorn every year.

or just hunting areas where mature bulls simply don’t exist. My home unit doesn’t even have an adult bull objective

 

[rmyoung1]

I like this definition, but I think raghorns may exist well beyond two-and-half year olds. This bull was a small 5 x 6, and my impression was it is arguably a raghorn. The lab aged it at 5.5 years old.

View attachment 246183

No way, brother. That’s a monster. Pull up a seat back there by your pack and retake that picture. You’ll see

 

[GrantK]

No way, brother. That’s a monster. Pull up a seat back there by your pack and retake that picture. You’ll see

Just like so...

 

[RyGuy]

My definition of raghorn is any bull with a rack small enough to cut up for random projects... or dog chew toys. That would include some smaller 5x5's and 6x6's.
View attachment 246186

Rag horns hold a special place in my heart. I’m gonna have to shoot a whole lot more of em before I start giving their antlers to the dogs!

 

[MTGomer]

 

[TOGIE]

i like to have my own definitions, makes the world confusing: but in colorado i like to think of raghorns as a not legal bull.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

 

[Bambistew]

I like this definition, but I think raghorns may exist well beyond two-and-half year olds. This bull was a small 5 x 6, and my impression was it is arguably a raghorn. The lab aged it at 5.5 years old.

View attachment 246183

I'm going to start saving teeth out of animals I shoot to get them aged. I would have never guessed that bull was 5. I shot a couple 5 points that I'm sure were 4-6? years old, they just didn't grow a 6th. Big bodied, heavy antlers, etc.

I believe I've shot bulls with 3 or 4 points and I'm sure they were 1.5yo. Tiny body, young bulls. I don't think all bulls are spikes their first year either.

A raghorn (or brush head as I've heard them called) to me is any small bull with with funky shaped antlers, not well defined/symmetrical points. Pretty much anything less than 6points unless the 6 point is a dink. Spikes with a few extras are still spikes.

 

[Nameless Range]

I'm going to start saving teeth out of animals I shoot to get them aged. I would have never guessed that bull was 5. I shot a couple 5 points that I'm sure were 4-6? years old, they just didn't grow a 6th. Big bodied, heavy antlers, etc.

I believe I've shot bulls with 3 or 4 points and I'm sure they were 1.5yo. Tiny body, young bulls. I don't think all bulls are spikes their first year either.

A raghorn (or brush head as I've heard them called) to me is any small bull with with funky shaped antlers, not well defined/symmetrical points. Pretty much anything less than 6points unless the 6 point is a dink. Spikes with a few extras are still spikes.

I need to do it more. The age of an animal is one of the most interesting statistics about them in my opinion.

I once wondered about the Elkhorns and other trophy units in Montana, that allow spike harvest on a general tag but have a very limited pool of “trophy” bull permits. I asked the biologist about what would happen if so much general tag pressure occurred in the Elkhorns that nearly all the spikes got harvested and how that would affect the trophy bulls. He pointed me to a study, that I can’t seem to find right now, that showed that a certain percentage of 1.5 year old bull elk have more than a spike, and so would be outside of the general tag harvest. I remember it being a surprisingly high percentage and I wanna say it was like 20 but that might be way off.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

I'm going to start saving teeth out of animals I shoot to get them aged.

Same.

Also not sure if anyone has run into this before, but the antlers on that first bull are 4x as heavy (weight) as the second bull. Second bulls are normal weight the first are just ridiculously heavy. Not sure if it was just a super old bull or if it's totally unrelated.

 

[jvanhoy]

Raghorn (noun): A two-and-half year old bull elk sporting his second set of antlers, typically containing four (occasionally three) points on each side.
I kept hammering all week but only saw two cows, a spike, and a raghorn.

(adjective): Relating to a two-and-a-half year old bull elk.
I’d love to hold out for a six-point but I’ve heard you can’t eat anthers, so I’ll gladly take a ride on the raghorn express if given the chance.

Nailed it!

 

[The Hedgehog]

The opener got me thinking of an old thread on HT. Me being lazy I didn’t look for the old one.


This thread is dedicated to MT FWP’s favorite elk, the elusive raghorn. Post them up.





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What number unit?