Note: These elk are NOT free ranging. It is an enclosed hunting area. I met Keith while attending the Kansas State Fair several years ago. He raises elk, because he loves elk. If you love elk meat, but do not have the time or the ability to hunt in a free ranging elk area, then this may be something you are interested in.
I spoke with Keith McQueen recently and he has 12 cows that can be taken this year.
$500 for a single hunter for a cow or if a group of four is each taking a cow the cost would be $450 per cow.
He has basically discounted his bulls to 1/2 price. These prices will be substantially lower than Game Ranch prices.
His place is North of Hutchinson, KS. If you decide to come, contact me and I will do my best
to be there at least part of the time.
This is a guaranteed hunt. This is the same place where my daughter shot the bull and where another gentlemen who has hunted for some time, surprisingly allowed my son Erik to shoot his elk for him. I went home to get the 260 Rem. MOA for the man to use it himself and instead he asked if Erik would do the honors.
Keith's phone numbers are below or you can contact me and I would be glad to help in any way. This is a good situation to use either a revolver or a SP for elk. Bows are fine also.

Keith McQueen
NOTE: New Number 620-669-7774

Ernie's
Home 620-662-3669
Office 620-662-3923

Ernie I may be interested.

Even though the hunt is on private land I assume you still have to have a Kansas non-resident hunting license on top of the $500.00 cow fee, any idea what they are running now ?

I believe Kan. at one time had a special / low cost non-resident two, three or seven day license for pheasant hunting, do they have the same thing for big game that you know of ?

How many acres does the hunting take place on ?

I think I read at one time Okla. and Kan. had a feud going on over not allowing hunters from each others states to hunt, that disagreement ever get settled ?

Is there help available (cost ?) for getting the animal dressed and cut up into ice chest size pieces for the trip back home ?

Does Keith have any season dates ?

Thanks.....Ike

These are private animals on private land. You will not need a license like you would in TX if you hunted exotic game. These elk are considered like cattle, therefore there is no season either. Keith will help you getting the animal cutup. I tore muscles and tendons in my right wrist last winter and can't be of much help in that department. He has a frontloader on a tractor that helps also. I can't remember the acreage the elk are on , but I wouldn't consider it big. I will have to ask. Times would likely be from September forward through January.

Thanks for the info Ernie, I've got a couple other questions so I sent you a email to the email address you have listed here in your profile.

Ike

Email has been recieved and responded too.

xphunter,
I am sorry but this is not hunting it is almost like shooting fish in a barrel. it is just shooting an elk and not hunting in any shape or form. as you stated it is no different then shooting cattle. ranch like this and "hunters" that go to them this give true hunters a bad name. People say and think of lots of ways to justify a canned hunt but it really is not hunting. in the end the animal really did not have a sporting chance to escape and live another season

i don't think xphunter is trying to say this is anything about hunting. i got the impression that it is for filling your freezer with plenty of nutritious food at a reasonable price. people here do the same thing with pigs and cows to fill their freezers. they just hire someone else to kill the animal and they end up with a freezer full of meat(or several full freezers ) that will feed their families for a while. what's the difference? i see the "hunt" going as follows... show up, shoot elk cow after half hour, butcher said cow, head home with much meat for freezer. what's wrong with that? nobody is saying it's a hunt. he has a certain number of cows that need to be culled and this is one way to do it. rancher is happy...herd kept in check. "hunter" is happy...freezer full of what may be the best meat on earth next to bison. nobody loses. if i wanted to go on a "real" hunt for trophy whatever, this wouldn't be my choice either. but don't belittle or mock someone else for wanting to feed their family. it does no one any justice.

i'm with the bis.........don't see nuthin wrong with cullin the mans herd and fillin yer freezer. not to mention havin a lil fun with your handgun for a cheaper price than a lot of people can afford anyhow.

on a "real hunt".........ya walk out n shoot an elk or deer, that simple. it's not very hard to do on whitetail.....fence or not(around here these days anyway). it's not like a free roaming animal stands a big chance either against these powerful weapons....... with me behind the trigger anyhow. LOL

ooops! i jinxed myself

well..........i "guarantee" i can go out n shoot a WILD whitetail deer in pretty short order. n...i'd see nuthin wrong with lettin my son shoot it for me

just differing opinions i reckon

yep......we have LOTS o deer nowadays(it ain't because i'm SO good ). wasn't always the case though. back in the day, i'd hunt for days on end without seeing much to shoot. of course back then, we weren't allowed any does. i only hunt the gun season with handgun now(used to hunt with bow n muzzle loaders also). i can take all the deer i want in those few days.


i still see nuthin wrong with that particular hunt and i know ernie is a good man with good intentions.
as far as anti-hunters.....don't see much of that type around here. as far as i'm concerned, they ain't right in the head
they oughta be sent back in "daniel boone time"..........let em see what they found to eat or starve. i kinnda doubt em being vegetarians for long then.

there is lil exotic game farm or two around here i reckon, although i've never been to one. they are fenced in.......and there for the taking by hunters.

oh well.........to each his own

I am sure the Anti's love seeing us hunters fighting against each other about these issues. To each his own, they hate no less for the manner in wich the game is harvested, just that it is harvested.

we's not be fightin..........we jis discusin

Quote:

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To each his own, they hate no less for the manner in wich the game is harvested, just that it is harvested.

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i'd say thats about right on fer them kinds.

I spoke at length with Ernie on the telephone mid last week about this and as he will attest to I initially had negative feelings about the whole idea but after pondering the subject a few days I'm starting to see the plus side of the whole idea and might possibly go.

I think what bothered me the most was the idea in my head that I was going to hunt a wild pinned up "Majestic Elk" on a game farm. Well the truth of the matter is that these elk are not the wild free ranging magnificent looking animals we see on wildlife shows or on the front of outdoor magazines, from what I gather they are born and raised in captivity and are actually little more than common bovines.

The last time I went halves on a side of butchered beef it ran about $1.69 per pound with the average side being right at 300 lbs. ($507.00 for just a side) and after figuring in the roughly 30% cut and trim loss (fat & bone) you end up with aprox 210 lbs of useable meat......with the Kansas elk hunt you get the "whole" animal for $500.00 and it's elk meat not beef.

Now I'm sure someone is thinking, "I wonder if Ike got a call from a local farmer offering him a "whole" butcherd beef for $500.00 if he'd come out and shoot a lowly steer standing in a pasture also ?"......yep.

With my back the way it is now I'll never get to go on a free ranging / wild elk hunt where a week treking through the mountains is the norm but for $500.00 I'll get 'X' pounds of farm raised elk meat to enjoy and I'll get the pleasure of harvesting the animal myself.

Will there be any bragging rights or long detailed hunting stories justified on the hunt after the harvest ?......none other than making comments about the gun, caliber and load used, the range the animal was taken, shot placement and bullet performance etc.

For those not in favor of the elk hunt remember that stores, mail order houses (Cabela's for one) and restaurants now sell and serve what we as hunters would traditionaly term wild game meat such as....farm raised deer, rabbit, quail, phesant, bison, and elk etc.

Ike

I'd be interested in going. Lets see if we can get a small group together.

amen ike. that's what i mean about it being for the food. i would not feel right if i went out killed the new B&C #1 on this farm in half an hour, hung it on the wall, and started bragging about my skill as the almighty hunter. i have a problem with that. as far as what the anti hunters think of this...it doesn't matter; they won't like any way we hunt fence/no fence , fair chase/ no fair chase, handgun/rifle/bow/dart gun/laser gun/bowie knife. to them it doesn't matter. and i don't care what they think. i'm not going change what i love to do for some tree-hugging, bunny-kissing, thumb-sucking moron because he doesn't want to be a participant in the food chain. sorry! ....man i feel better now

Iffin I did not have another lil'one coming in early October........I'd be there!! Bad timing on my part I guess. I love the taste of elk meat. I've taken a cow with a bow (when I was 14 years old!) and a bull with a gun in 2000. The cow tasted much better than the post rut bull. But I plan on going muley or elk in 2006 so I guess I can wait another year for fresh elk vittles!!

I'm still hoping to go to KYODE's place and hunt deer in November.

don't get me wrong, I can care less if you are going to the ranch to just shoot an Elk for food, that is up to you.
I do care about people calling this a HUNT, this is shooting an animal not hunting the animal. because that is what it is.

If a farmer asked me to shoot a cow (or any other animal he raised) I will be happy to but I will call it slaughtering it and not hunting it because that is what it really is

RickyP,
I did use the word hunt. It surely wasn't intended to offend you or anyone else. I pretty much used it without thinking. I don't have a problem with "shoot" or "shooting."

I remember a time when the only thing I considered "hunting" was spot-n-stalk hunting or still hunting and anyone who used a guide, horses, 4-wheeler, or a stand was just lazy. I have mellowed some since then
As far as shooting fish in a barrel, as I told Ike, they may be raised elk but they can be much harder to hunt than a lot of stand hunting off a wheat field or near a feeder.
As far as teaching my children what hunting wild game is versus game ranch animals, my daughter hunted deer for three years without ever seeing one and now in the last three years she has been fortunate enough to take 3 deer (2 does & a buck). She fully understands the difference between hunting/shooting enclosed game versus game on private or public land. The same goes for my son. Once the cow was spotted it took him around thirty minutes to manuever around for a shot and then it was a sitting shot using shooting sticks at 75 yards with a rear grip MOA Maximum. Still shooting, but much more difficult shooting than prone or most stand hunting.
The guys that have come to this I have enjoyed meeting and being with and look forward to meeting more guys in the future.
I didn't intend for this to become an issue with anyone, but rather an opportunity for those interested.

You know Xp's first few sentences sums it up pretty well. The Elk are NOT free ranging and the lack of ability to hunt free rangin elk. I too do not like "guaranteed hunts". There is always something lacking in the experience. I do think it is a good way to teach a young hunter how to be patient and control some of the excitement of a hunt. It allows a beginner to take an animal without the risk of losing it. It will reward him/her for a good shot and teaches them what to do if a poor shot happens, without losing the animal. I think the gentlemen that had hunted for years (it was not said he was there hunting just that he was there to take an elk) was allowing Eric to learn a little bit about taking an animal and the responsibility of doing so. I have lost an animal or two during a hunt and it is not an easy thing to swallow, it still haunts me and it could be devastating to a beginning hunter. I see this type of area as a place to allow people who are beginners or do not have the ability to attempt a physically more demanding hunt to take an animal. It is not for everybody. Rick, you are right it is not what I would call a hunt but I also think XP (he goes on some pretty strenuous hunts in the high country of CO) was just relaying information.
By the way I to hunt the great state of KY as does KYODE. The deer are more than thick on the property we hunt, we have allowed parents adjoining our area to bring their kids in to hunt for does. It is a great way for them to get started hunting, it is not fenced but we do have the ability to show and pick out the deer to be taken and provide all of the help in recovering their first trophies. Some people think this is not a fair chase but it sure does bring in several youth each year to our great sport of hunting.
Done it again , got on a soapbox. We need to stick together on our hunting issues whether we totally aree or not. I saw the same dissentation on compounds/recurves/crossbows years ago and it is not good for our sport.
nmhunter

Well, I called Keith yesterday and found the number I listed was not correct.

Here is the correct one: (620) 669-7774

My numbers listed in the orginal post are correct.

I see absolutely no problem with harvesting meat this way. The elk has to die for me to eat it. I'd rather shoot and butcher it myself than to have someone else do it for me like a slaughterhouse.

Is it hunting? Who cares??? As long as you don't brag about how hard you worked for the trophy, I don't see any problem with getting/killing your elk this way and sure wish I could afford the trip!!!

I'm cash short due to cost overruns incurred in remodeling this house...

$bob$

Ernie what would you estimate the weight to be on the above two pictured elk ?

Ike

Well, now you are testing my memory (that's not good). I can't even remember how much meat we got from the locker on the bull. I do believe Keith could give you a good idea though.

Ernie...what time of the fall can this harvest be conducted?? I'm thinking I may get the wife to "allow" me to go iffin it's later in the year...she's due October 7th with the next "lil'Bowers." So iffin the trip could be done in late December I may be able to go.

That should be fine. Just need to confirm times with Keith.