This story is a bunch of bull
Posted: Thursday, Oct 05, 2006 - 11:23:40 pm PDT
By MIKE McLEAN
Photo by Sam Coulter
Contrary to e-mail descriptions of this bull as a new world record from Idaho, it was actually harvested at a game farm in Canada by Lou McMurray of California, right, with guide Tony Barber.
Reported record Idaho elk was shot in Canada in fenced area
Staff writer
COEUR d'ALENE -- The story circulating with an e-mail photo of a ginormous elk is quite a load of bull.
"This elk was killed with a bow in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness" of North Central Idaho, the caption says. "He green-scored at 575 inches and should net out at about 530 nontypical."
That would make it the biggest bull elk ever taken with any kind of weapon.
The world record score for a nontypical elk taken by fair chase is 450 6/8 inches for a bull harvested in Arizona. The Idaho record is nontypical 430 4/8 inches taken in Latah County in 1977. Nontypical means one antler doesn't closely match the other.
The bull in the photo apparently is real. The story that comes with it isn't.
The description with the e-mail photo was immediately greeted with skepticism by Idaho wildlife experts.
"The 79-inch spread and all of the measurements are too big for a wild elk," said Jim Hayden, regional wildlife biologist for Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
He said more than 40,000 elk have been measured in the Panhandle Region and none scored close to 500 inches.
"There is no way anything up here could have produced that elk," he said.
Just to the south of the Panhandle Region, the Selway-Bitterroot habitat simply doesn't provide enough nutrition for an elk to get that large, he said.
"This is a domestic elk that was fed high-quality protein and selectively bred from other large bulls," he said.
As it turns out, the elk in the photo isn't from Idaho or even the United States. As big as it is, it doesn't qualify for a score in the leading hunting record book.
Mark Hatfield, one of the official scorekeepers with Boone and Crockett Club in Missoula, said the elk came from a fenced game farm in Canada.
Tony Barber, manager and guide at Laurentian Wildlife Estate near Arundel, Quebec, confirmed the elk came from his private reserve.
He said the Manitoban elk -- the largest elk species -- had a 12x10 rack.
Barber said the free-range animal had no supplemental feed and its massive size was due to "pure genetics."
He said he has picked up shed antlers from the elk that scored more than 500 inches four consecutive years.
"People thought I was crazy," he said. "But then it measured even bigger."
He said the elk was difficult to find on the 1,000 acre fenced estate in the Laurentian Mountains.
Trophy elk hunts at the estate start at $4,900, according to the business' Web site.
Hunting purists don't consider the taking of an elk from a fenced area as fair chase.
"It would not be eligible for our records," Hatfield said.
Posted: Thursday, Oct 05, 2006 - 11:23:40 pm PDT
By MIKE McLEAN
Photo by Sam Coulter
Contrary to e-mail descriptions of this bull as a new world record from Idaho, it was actually harvested at a game farm in Canada by Lou McMurray of California, right, with guide Tony Barber.
Reported record Idaho elk was shot in Canada in fenced area
Staff writer
COEUR d'ALENE -- The story circulating with an e-mail photo of a ginormous elk is quite a load of bull.
"This elk was killed with a bow in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness" of North Central Idaho, the caption says. "He green-scored at 575 inches and should net out at about 530 nontypical."
That would make it the biggest bull elk ever taken with any kind of weapon.
The world record score for a nontypical elk taken by fair chase is 450 6/8 inches for a bull harvested in Arizona. The Idaho record is nontypical 430 4/8 inches taken in Latah County in 1977. Nontypical means one antler doesn't closely match the other.
The bull in the photo apparently is real. The story that comes with it isn't.
The description with the e-mail photo was immediately greeted with skepticism by Idaho wildlife experts.
"The 79-inch spread and all of the measurements are too big for a wild elk," said Jim Hayden, regional wildlife biologist for Idaho Department of Fish and Game.
He said more than 40,000 elk have been measured in the Panhandle Region and none scored close to 500 inches.
"There is no way anything up here could have produced that elk," he said.
Just to the south of the Panhandle Region, the Selway-Bitterroot habitat simply doesn't provide enough nutrition for an elk to get that large, he said.
"This is a domestic elk that was fed high-quality protein and selectively bred from other large bulls," he said.
As it turns out, the elk in the photo isn't from Idaho or even the United States. As big as it is, it doesn't qualify for a score in the leading hunting record book.
Mark Hatfield, one of the official scorekeepers with Boone and Crockett Club in Missoula, said the elk came from a fenced game farm in Canada.
Tony Barber, manager and guide at Laurentian Wildlife Estate near Arundel, Quebec, confirmed the elk came from his private reserve.
He said the Manitoban elk -- the largest elk species -- had a 12x10 rack.
Barber said the free-range animal had no supplemental feed and its massive size was due to "pure genetics."
He said he has picked up shed antlers from the elk that scored more than 500 inches four consecutive years.
"People thought I was crazy," he said. "But then it measured even bigger."
He said the elk was difficult to find on the 1,000 acre fenced estate in the Laurentian Mountains.
Trophy elk hunts at the estate start at $4,900, according to the business' Web site.
Hunting purists don't consider the taking of an elk from a fenced area as fair chase.
"It would not be eligible for our records," Hatfield said.
