Best States for the Biggest Elk

Using the most up-to-date data from the Boone and Crockett records, we compiled the entries from the last ten years to bring you the states (and counties) that give you the best shot at killing the bull of a lifetime.

Elk of any size are fascinating creatures. Sneak in close enough to hear the mews and chirps of cows and calves and call that a memory. Get between a herd bull and his harem, and you have a real hunting story. Being within earshot of a record-book bull is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for many of us. Sometimes, we get lucky and win the tag lottery. Other times, we burn 20 years' worth of points to hunt a trophy area. And some hunters pay top dollar to hunt the best areas for the biggest bulls. Regardless of your journey to the record books, it’s always an exciting ride.

The Boone and Crockett Club recognizes four distinct categories of elk: tule, Roosevelt’s, and non-typical and typical American elk. Roosevelt’s and tule elk are found only in western North America, and tule elk are found just in California. Typical and non-typical American elk are found across North America, including east of the Mississippi River.

The Best Elk State Overall

The Boone and Crockett Club records contain 2,536 elk entries, and we have records dating back to 1830. Taking the top spot for the state with the most overall entries is Arizona with 347 record-book entries, followed closely by California with 325, and Montana comes in third with 294. However, California should get an asterisk because only tule elk are found there. It also has a healthy population of Roosevelt’s elk. Take those two categories out of the picture, and the overall ranks for typical and non-typical entries include Arizona, Montana, and Utah—in that order.

Record-book entries for elk in the last decade (2013-2023) are soft compared to entries from 2003-2013. From 2013-2023, hunters entered 695 elk, with California edging out Arizona for the top spot. In the decade prior (2003-2013), hunters entered 851 elk, with Utah claiming the top spot over California, which came in second.

Using results from Big Game Records Live and the Top County Visualizer Tool, we analyzed the four elk categories for the past decade. Our online search tools allow you to plow through thousands of files to find the top-producing state for any big game category and the top-producing county. Let’s dive in.

The Special Judges Panel for the new World's Record Roosevelt's elk, from left to right: Victor Clark, John Capurro, Slade Sanborn, trophy owner Tim Carpenter, Tim Humes and Jeff Simons.

Best Roosevelt’s Elk State

Timothy Carpenter made outdoor news headlines when he killed a new World’s Record Roosevelt’s elk in 2023. Not surprisingly, he killed that bull in Humboldt County, California, the top county in the top state for Roosevelt’s. Humboldt accounts for 41 record-book Roosevelt’s elk entries for the past decade, making up more than half of California’s entries, which stands at 80. This northern California county is known for its Redwood groves and rural lifestyle compared to metro areas down south. To the north, on the border with Oregon, sits Del Norte County. It comes in second with 27 entries.

Rounding out the Roosevelt’s elk category is Oregon’s Douglas County with 10 entries, accounting for roughly a quarter of the state's 44 entries. This is followed by Washington with 12 and Alaska with 4 entries.

The Roosevelt’s elk category was established in 1979, with input from Pope and Young Club founder and Boone and Crockett Club member Glenn St. Charles. According to the Club’s scoring manual, Roosevelt’s elk range from Humboldt Country, California, then north along the West Coast into southern British Columbia and includes Kodiak Island in Alaska.

The Tule Elk State

It’s hardly fair that California holds two top spots for elk category entries because tule elk are only found in California. But don’t tell that to hunter Cory Smith who drove from North Dakota to shoot the biggest hunter-killed tule in the book in 2021.

These elk are named after the dense stands of a tall sedge that grows along freshwater wetlands. Market hunters reduced thriving populations of tule elk to roughly 30 animals by the mid-1870s. Today, populations have rebounded enough for a few rare opportunities to hunt them. There are around 5,700 tule elk throughout the state in 22 herds. Tule elk tags are not easy to draw, nor are they cheap. You can apply in the draw for the one non-resident elk permit—odds are less than one percent—or you can buy a guided hunt with a landowner tag, which runs on average $30,000.

So let’s say you do win the tag lottery or Powerball. You want to look toward Mendocino County, which has 11 of the 54 entries for tule elk. It’s followed by Solano County with 10, and Monterey County with nine.

The Best Non-typical (Biggest) Elk State

For those of us hunting east of California and the Cascades, we have our eyes set on good old-fashioned Rocky Mountain elk—the Club calls them American elk. Around the turn of the 20th century, elk of all stripes were nearly wiped off the North American continent because of market hunting. Thanks to game laws and conservation efforts by early Club members, elk are thriving, with huntable populations of elk from Arizona to Pennsylvania.

Speaking of Arizona, if you want to kill the biggest elk, go there but bring your checkbook—it’s going to cost you. Arizona is the top non-typical elk state with 39 entries from 2013-2023, thanks to the White Mountain Apache Reservation (13) and the San Carlos Reservation with nine entries. Trophy hunts on either reservation run into the tens of thousands of dollars, plus there’s typically a waitlist.

The two states tied for second place are Montana and Pennsylvania, each with 16 entries. Big elk in Montana makes sense, but Pennsylvania? Since 2010, Pennsylvania’s elk harvest numbers have been increasing steadily. Hunters killed 40 elk in 2010. By 2022, that number climbed to 131, including 55 bulls. All of their non-typical entries, including this 455-point beast, have been entered since 2013!

One last place that deserves a mention is White Pine County, Nevada, which boasts 12 of the state’s 15 entries from the past decade. We feel okay talking about unit 131 because it’s hardly a secret. Even with 25 points, your odds of drawing are less than .70 percent. The good news is that bulls are 350+ with a 63 percent success rate. Is that enough of a silver lining?

Sue A. Kinney took this non-typical American elk in White Pine County, Nevada in 2015. It holds the state record for non-typical elk at 434-6/8 points.

The Best Typical Elk State

Typical elk are a sight to behold with their clean lines and near-perfect symmetry. Out of all the Boone and Crockett Club entries for typical elk, Montana (242 entries) reigns supreme, followed by Arizona (226) and Utah (219). Narrowed to the last decade (2013-2023), it’s a tie between Montana and Utah, each with 54 entries. Think about that for a minute. Roughly 25 percent of all entries from both states happened in the past decade. If you go back another decade to 2003, the entries balloon even more. Utah has 171 entries, and Montana has 127. Are more hunters killing bigger elk? Are more hunters entering their elk? Are fish and game managers managing for bigger elk? Perhaps it’s a combination of all those factors.

Here’s a fun fact: None of the top-producing counties for typical elk are in Montana or Utah. The crown for most entries from any one county goes to, once again, White Pine County, Nevada, with 25 behemoth entries from the past decade. Arizona’s sprawling Coconino County, encompassing 16 percent of the state’s land mass, has 16 entries. Wyoming’s Park County follows that with 15 entries.

In 2016, youth hunter Hannah R. Helmer harvested this state-record non-typical American elk in Sioux County, Nebraska. It scores 426-7/8 points.

The Up and Comers

At the 31st Big Game Awards Judges Panel, Duane Kramer's 2020 non-typical elk is confirmed as the sixth largest non-typical in the Boone and Crockett records.

Most hunters consider elk a beast of the Rocky Mountains, complete with quaking aspen, mountain peaks, and alpine meadows. However, we will likely see more entries from east of the Rockies. We noted earlier that Pennsylvania is quickly becoming a powerhouse for non-typical entries, tying Montana. Pennsylvania even has seven typical entries from the past decade. As the herd and its popularity grow, we’ll likely see more out of the Keystone State.

Nebraska is another state to watch. With around 3,000 elk, the state issued 150 bull elk permits for the 2023 season. In the past decade, hunters have entered 17 trophies, most being typicals. And finally, Virginia is the newest of the newcomers. The state made headlines after Austin Prieskorn killed a massive 413-7/8 point non-typical in the state’s first modern-day elk hunt.

If there is one takeaway from this record-book breakdown, it’s that elk are thriving. There are around one million elk in North America today. That’s a far cry from the estimated 10 million that roamed the continent before Europeans arrived en masse, but it’s better than the 100,000 or so that were left at the turn of the 20th century. With continued conservation efforts to improve habitat for elk and other wildlife, the record books should see more and more entries every fall.

If you’re interested in other big game categories like pronghorn, moose, whitetails, mule deer, and others, consider a subscription to Big Game Records LIVE and dive down the records rabbit hole. A little research could pay off with a record-book whopper of your own.

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