I was recently on Hiway 90 east of Alpine and looked over and saw a big bull elk 50 yds off the hiway in a low fence area. Couldn't believe my eyes. Still in velvet but going to be a big one. Anyone know of the elk around there?

Google Longfellow Ranch. They had a herd estimated at close or over 1000 hd on free range ranchland at one time. Escalera Ranch in Pecos County has a large growing herd also.

West tx elk population has been growing steadly since re-introduction in 1930's


Tx, NM and AZ use to be home to the merriam elk, they are now extinct. The TX, AZ, and NM introduced rocky mountian elk at about same time.

Merriam elk actually had bigger horns then the rocky mountian elk, its thought that AZ might a had a select few left that cross bred with the introduce rocky mountain and that's why they have the gaints.

Texas is just like Indian Res and don't qualify or BC because we don't have a season although we use to many moons ago

I actually bought a ranch that shared a 4.5 mile border with the Longfellow back I'n the day. Had no idea about the elk until I saw mesquites torn up about 7 feet off the ground. Killed a 368 off it before I sold it.

There are in fact elk all over the big bend area now.

Picture of that beast?

There were some on the place I hunted out of Fort Davis. Didn't see any big ones, but there were plenty there.

I won't be near my computer til next week. Will post pics then.

My dad cowboyed on several ranches in the 60s and 70s that had elk. One in particular was in Kent I remember Polaroid pics of him feeding cows alfalfa or cake and the elk would be in the backround.

Yep, they are there. Hunted mulies on a part of the Cerf ranch several years back and bumped into a herd with a big bull in it. Outfitter I was with offered it to me for a pretty fair price and I passed. He proceeded to shoot the bull after I passed. Was a 360 class I later learned . . . Shoulda shot that one

Mulie Mike sells hunts to shoot these very elk.

Good heard southwest of Sheffield even

and they are truly fun hunts. Ive been on them

I do remember driving past lots of Goodfellow ranch land. It just surprised me to see a free range elk next to a Texas hiway. Never thought.

Which side? East side by any chance?

I hunted near bakersfield for several years and we were starting to get them there.

A friend of my wife has some land in alpine and they have to kill all they see. The elk tear up all the feeders the way they talk about it.

Well I can vouch for the Elk being in that general vicinity. Harvested a cow myself outside of VanHorn no less! Absolutely awesome table fare!

There are some big bulls running around in this country. Seen them as far west as Sierra Blanca.

I wonder how it will effect the deer population. In Utah where I work often they tell me that if the Elk population is up then the mule deer population is down and visa versa.

Where I hunt in western Pecos County our deer numbers are seeming to trend down as the elk numbers rise. We have been in a drought for several years. Elk numbers went from 3-4 the first year to close to 20 last year. They eat way more than a deer at a much higher browse level also. What they don't eat the bulls might destory. We have cut our buck harvest way back since we started on the lease compared to what they used to take off it. Our buck numbers we see have dropped to half of what we used to see the first year. We are hoping it is due to drought and not the elk but I am worried. The LO is not wanting to kill any elk at this point to grow the herd. We have also started seeing more aoudad during this same time frame. Their numbers increasing is bad deal. Cattle numbers have remained the same during this time frame and they are not overstocked.

Nope, the south side actually. Hwy 90 separated us. The southern tip of Pecos Co. Beautiful country.

This bruiser was taken near Alpine a few years ago -

^^^^ read the story on him. Too bad it couldn't go into the books he is a beast.

Hole in the ear. Regardless stud typical, bull dreams are made about.

Hole or no hole dought B/C would of allowed it since we have no season any more

Looks like he is missing mass, height and length......

joke

he is sweet I want me one of those

I was on a lease 4 years ago about 8 miles from Sheffield. The first morning hunting on the lease I had a elk bugling in the canyon behind me. At the time I just didn't believe what I was hearing. Being from Mississippi, I didn't expect to go deer hunting and hear elk ha ha. Talked with some locals from Sheffield and they said they saw elk all the time.