Fat verse mature

[iccyman001]

I\'m sure these two items go hand and hand, but what makes a bull mature verse just being fat.

Here is my example...

Meet Mr. Fatty









It\'s very clear to me this guy has eaten well this year. He\'s stout and has a nice belly on him.

My question is what type of tells do you have to determine maturity.
I tried to bring things over from the whitetail world and I don\'t know if they are similar to elk or not.
I\'m guessing they are very similar, but I\'d like to hear what you guys look for..


What I notice....

- Fat belly
- Large body
- Stubbier/stalkier legs... not skinny little chicken legs like mine
- Lack of Brisket definition


I\'m guessing it\'s hard to determine a bulls age beyond a certain point, but is it fair to say this guy is older than 5?
My guess is that he is older than 5.



Thoughts?

 

[cohunter14]

My take, and take it for what it\'s worth because my aging process is typically \"legal? yes, boom\". But I don\'t know that this bull is that old. That belly isn\'t really sagging that much and he looks young and fit to me. I would guess more in the 3-4 range. You are in an area that clearly has good genetics, so I would think in another year or two he could be huge. I just don\'t see the sagging belly or the grey hair yet...he looks young and fit to me.

 

[iccyman001]

My take, and take it for what it\'s worth because my aging process is typically \"legal? yes, boom\". But I don\'t know that this bull is that old. That belly isn\'t really sagging that much and he looks young and fit to me. I would guess more in the 3-4 range. You are in an area that clearly has good genetics, so I would think in another year or two he could be huge. I just don\'t see the sagging belly or the grey hair yet...he looks young and fit to me.

Lol I like your aging process... it\'ll be very similar to mine this year! Legal elk that\'s not a calf?.. THWACK!

My goal for this year was to try to kill something older than 4 years old within the first week, whether it\'s a cow or a bull.
So I am just trying to get an idea what might constitute for a 4 year old plus!


To me the bull posted above looks like he was a brick crap house compared to others, but I do see what you mean with the belly.
I just figured his body was so big that it took away from how big his belly was.

 

[cohunter14]

To me the bull posted above looks like he was a brick crap house compared to others, but I do see what you mean with the belly.
I just figured his body was so big that it took away from how big his belly was.

Again, this is just my guess, but I think as bulls get older, they get more frail. He is definitely built like a brick crap house, which to me means he\'s still younger. Someone can go ahead and correct me now

 

[iccyman001]

To me the bull posted above looks like he was a brick crap house compared to others, but I do see what you mean with the belly.
I just figured his body was so big that it took away from how big his belly was.

Again, this is just my guess, but I think as bulls get older, they get more frail. He is definitely built like a brick crap house, which to me means he\'s still younger. Someone can go ahead and correct me now

I have some other fatty bulls. but they are twilight, last shooting light pics. Hard to tell the colors.

Let me see if I have some more daytime pics to compare! I\'m taking all info I can get!

 

[Ol' Arky]

I\'m old and fat both.... :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

But I\'m like Derek, ain\'t got a clue, but he does look to be young and not old and grizzled... Don\'t know about your area but in different areas age class and maturity can differ due to mortality rates I would guess...

Likewise, I would have shot the bull when I was hunting elk because wasn\'t a trophy elk hunter but if he gets another year or so and gets good nutrition he\'ll be a BIG OL\' GOOD UN like Derek said... :upthumb: :upthumb:

 

[iccyman001]

Yep, he will get shot if he comes out. I\'m not trying to trophy hunt for a rack, the first week id like to take something \"mature.\"


Being this close and still not being able to determine maturity I\'m just gonna shoot the first fat animal I see