A giant of an elk taken in Utah breaks record with its antlers

[MountainDon]

This ole boy's gotta have some real neck muscles!!   

From the Salt Lake Tribune
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_11380830

It's official.

A behemoth male elk dubbed the "Spider bull," taken by a hunter on Monroe Mountain in central Utah last fall, carried the largest antler rack ever recorded by the Boone and Crockett (B&C) Club and has been recognized as the new world record for a nontypical American elk.



The antlers did more than land at the top of the record books - they also proved to be points of contention among hunters.

The final measurements -- 478 5/8 -- shattered the existing record of 465 2/8 taken from a bull found frozen in a lake in British Columbia in 1994. The points based on a combination of measurements from the antlers.

Doyle Moss, head guide for Utah-based MossBack Guides and Outfitters, led hunter Dennis Austad of Ammon, Idaho, to the bull.

"We all knew he was a special bull, but the reality of just how big he was really set in when we walked up to him," Moss said.

A quick measurement by Moss in the field turned up a gross score of more than 500 points. And that's when the controversy started.

Online hunting forums buzzed with rumors that the bull had escaped from an elk farming ranch or a hunting preserve. Columnists from national hunting magazines joined the fray and criticized the program that allowed Austad to bid and win a $150,000 elk conservation permit to hunt anywhere in the state for several months.

Money from the permit program funds conservation projects around the state. More than $17 million has been raised by the program in the last 12 years, $2.9 million of it in 2008.

But investigations by the state of Utah and B&C confirmed the animal was wild, was taken on public land, and was killed legally, which qualified it for the record.

"We are confident it was not a farmed elk," said Terry Menlove, director of the animal industry division of the Utah Department of Agriculture. "We keep an inventory and there were no missing animals and it had none of the required

Moss can understand why some people figure the bull must have escaped from a breeding facility. He first heard about the bull when friend e-mailed him some pictures.

"Even I questioned how he could be so big," Moss said. "There had never been a bull killed on that mountain that scored 400 inches. It was kind of shocking."

Moss says anybody who spent time trying to find the bull during hunting season will confirm it was born in the wild.

"After seeing him disappear like he did during the hunts it is easy to see how he could have survived the last couple of years," Moss said. "He was very nocturnal. We would see him the last few minutes of light before dark and at first light, but that was it."

Jim Karpowitz, director of the DWR, uses that point to counter the argument that only a hunter with the means to pay $150,000 for a permit and guide fees could take such a trophy.

"All the other permitted hunters - archery, rifle and most of the muzzleloaders - had a crack at that bull," Karpowitz said. "A lot of other people knew it was there and they all looked for it."

Austad hunted with MossBack guides for 12 days in early September before leaving due to other obligations. He managed one shot at the "Spider bull" during that time. A Mossback guide spotted the bull, alive and well, on Sept. 28, two days before Austad was scheduled to return. Early on Sept. 30, Austad dropped the bull with one shot from a rifle he designed himself.

Karpowitz was impressed with the bull, but said it has never been the agency's goal to produce a world record.

"Our objective is to maintain healthy population of elk and provide a diversity of hunting opportunities," he said. "It's exciting that we produced the largest elk ever known in the wild and an indication of the high quality elk program we have in Utah."



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

IT'S NO BULL

    The first public viewing of the new Boone and Crockett Club world record nontypical elk will be at the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo, Feb. 5-8, at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City. The mount will be at the Mossback Outfitters booth. Visit http://www.huntexpo.com for more information.


    To see a video of the elk, taken by guide Doyle Moss, visit his Web site.

[StinkerBell]

I hope the meat is used.

[glenn kangiser]

Nope - its fresh meat.

[diyfrank]

What a monster...

[tesa]

good lord!

my husband is gonna freak

that's the biggest elk i've ever seen

why did they have to shoot him?

before i get flammed, husband hunts, i like the idea of providing for our family, i'm far from a vegetarian, and not
a member of peta, but it would be nice to see him in the wild, fathering a whole new generation of monsters

i was watching some hunting show the other day, and they were stalking a bunch of wild turkeys, then one of the
hunters spots this beautiful white turkey, and says "wow, look at that, i bet its been 20 years since i've seen
a white turkey in the wild" and shot him

i just thought it sort of sad, now it might be 20 more years before his sons see one

i, personally dont' hunt, but i'd like to think my family could do without that turkey dinner if it ment shooting
something so rare

tesa

[NM_Shooter]

I hope the meat is used.

hiya Stinker...

The meat is always used, whether consumed by humans or coyotes.

Tesa, Elk are beautiful animals, and no where near extinct.  Conservation programs have re-introduced elk herds into areas where they were eliminated, and also introduced into areas where they have never been.  The herds are thriving, and the overwhelming financial support to promote and preserve these herds comes from hunters.   

Many hunters want to have an opportunity to harvest an animal like that.  That particular elk was a prime, healthy animal, and I'm sure distributed plenty of DNA.  He'll never grow old, sick, and have his guts torn out by coyotes while still breathing. 

The fact that we can still harvest world record animals, is a tribute to the hunter-conservation programs (like Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation) that work so well.  Eliminate the hunters, and the finances that they provide for these programs, and animals like that are very unlikely to ever exist again.

-f-

[tesa]

you know, i never really thought of it like that

i do know that hunters provide lots of money to programs that support conservation

which i think it great

husband doesn't really eat fish, so he always practices catch and release

and i guess your right on another account, i'm sure he's made many babies

he was beautiful, and husband only had two words to say when i showed him the photos

"holy crap"

tesa

[Whitlock]

$150,000 dollars for a tag and another $100,000 for team mossyoak to find the elk for him.

[tesa]

150K?? man, thats alot of money for a rack

but what a story to tell the grandkids

tesa

[NM_Shooter]

Money can get you one heck of a hunt...

Check these yahoos out:

http://www.ranchobellasrocas.net/

-f-

[MountainDon]

Here's a few photos of another very large elk. This one in Colorado. The hunt on a private ranch cost the guy $127,000.   







thanks to redoverfarm for this.

[Whitlock]

Wow!!   

But $127,000 and in a fence

I think this one might be bigger green score 575.

http://blog.kingsoutdoorworld.com/2006/10/03/the-biggest-elk-575-archery-bull/

[NM_Shooter]

What a joke that Safari Club International maintains "world records" for a "high fence class". 

If you fence them in, protect them, and feed them steroids for their entire life, you are going to grow some freaks. 

I think I'll go to bass pro and fish for a world record bass.   

[Redoverfarm]

Frank I thought they got that at Blok while you were away. 

[NM_Shooter]

Frank I thought they got that at Blok while you were away. 

yeah.  Probably some 14 year old kid with a .22

-f-

[Redoverfarm]

If it was he made a pretty good shot. 

[considerations]

I think that Utah bull's mama was playing with the bison, getta load of that shoulder hump.  Gravy Train!