As hunters, we all want to shoot the big one. We would all love to be in Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young. One lucky man has topped all of that. He has shot the biggest elk. Ever. Not just a record, but a new WORLD record. And it only cost him $150,000. That's not a misprint.
Dennis Austad of Ammon paid that amount for a Governor's tag in the Monroe Mountains in Utah. He shot it with a rifle after hunting for 13 days. It has been dubbed the "spider bull" because of it's rack. The mandatory drying period is over and the offical Boone and Crockett score is in. Its final score is 478 5/8 non typical, points, which is 13 inches larger than the previous record.
The bull has 9 points on its left antler and 14 on the right. The base circumference on one of its antler was mjore than nine inches. Its gross score was 499 3/8 but after subtraction, it was reduced to 478 5/8.
The previous world record was a bull found dead and frozen in Upper Arrow Lake, Bristish Columbia, in 1994. For a hunter killed record, the previous score was 450 6/8 points taken in 1998 in Apache County, Arizona, by Alan Hamberlin.
Boone and Crockett records must be an animal that was taken by "fair chase". Some of these hunting refuges that are fenced in are not worthy of Boone and Crockett, and we can all be thankful of that. A fenced in animal cannot be considered a record, or we could all break into zoos around the country and fire away. That very thing happened in the Boise Zoo years ago when some moron broke in and shot "Bucky", the large mule deer that was kept there.
So congrads go out to Denny Austad. But if it takes $150,000, I guess I'll never hold any records. My poor little bull that is mounted in my house only scored 281 6/8. I know what you want....a picture of this monster. I haven't figured out how to put pictures on our new blog site, so if you click on the following link, it will take you to the idahostatesman article I used to write this blog. It has picture on it. Photo
