Thought I would give an update on the official score of the Anthony Avalos bull elk. Anthony took this great elk in 2004 by drawing a coveted lottery tag on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. We featured Anthony’s incredible bull elk in our April/May 2005 “Best of 2004″ issue of Hunting Illustrated. We also featured this bull in our new 2006 King’s Bull Elk Calendar.
The score that we had previously published was the green un-official score of 444 4/8 gross B&C. I just found out the official score on the bull which came in at 452-7/8 gross and 422 7/8 net non-typical B&C. This score puts him in the top 20 all-time. What a great bull!
November 8th, 2005
I had the opportunity to travel up to Northern Utah yesterday and visit with Zane Bassett and see first hand the great bull elk he took this year. The elk was taken in Southeastern Utah with a muzzleloader. The elk has some great character, especially the points coming off from the royals. This bull is very heavy and the palmation he carries around the fourth and fifth points is something you don’t see very often. Zane’s great muzzleloader elk has the potential to be one of the top bulls taken in the state of Utah. Unfortunately I didn’t have the time to put the tape to it myself, but did have a chance to take some quick measurements. Unbelievably, these antlers have only a 32-inch inside spread. If he carried more of a normal 38 to 40-inch inside spread he would walk away as a new state record. He will still probably be the new Muzzleloader State Record Non-typical.
This bull has been green scored by quite a few different people. None of them official scorers. The problem is the huge palmation coming off from the fourth and fifth points. This makes for some tough scoring and there is a judgement call on what tine will be considered the main beam on the left side. So far, early green scores have put this bull around 425 to 430 gross and 405 to 415 net non-typical. I will keep you posted on the outcome.
This photo shows the mass and palmation these antlers carry. You could probably hold a cup of water in that deep hole.
Where are more pictures you ask? You will see more of this great bull in an upcoming issue of Hunting Illustrated and a future King’s Bull Elk Calendar.
November 4th, 2005
Something crazy just happened within the Bowtech company - the producer of the popular archery bows. This is kind of confusing, but let me see if I can get this straight. For those of you familiar with the archery industry, there is the “Martin” girl. She is the girl in all of the Martin bow advertisements. Ususally she is wearing something that gets attention (if you know what I mean) while holding a Martin bow.
Well, to add to the drama, Kevin Strother, Vice President and Co-Founder of Bowtech,(yes, a competitor of Martin) has married the “Martin” girl (sorry, I do not know her name). This apparently has caused some problems at Bowtech and the President of BowTech has fired Kevin Strother.
Kevin just posted some heated feelings about this on a popular archery message board. Click Here to read his comments about Bowtech and him being fired.
November 3rd, 2005
Due to the great interest there has been on the post about the 502 Idaho Elk (see post here), there has been some inquiries and questions arising in regards to information that I have included within that post. I will probably do a couple of different posts that will go into more detail and hopefully help answer some questions. The first post I am doing in reference to that article is about the Mike Shipsey bull. I will do another post shortly that will help explain the SCI scoring system and any confusion about SCI bull elk (and can there be fair chase bulls in SCI).
I mentioned the Shipsey bull in the post since it ties in as the only other 500 point bull taken by a hunter (that is known). This bull was not taken on a high fence ranch, but on the San Carlos Apache Reservation. I did a post in our King’s Members Only Web Site back in May of 2003 about the Shipsey bull. I thought I would include some excerpts from that post from two and half years ago about what I know about the Shipsey Bull. I really have no other information to add since that time.
Is the 502 Gross Shipsey Bull the World Record Elk? -posted 05/8/03
This elk has been going around the Internet for years and keeps people wondering if this is a real elk, and if so does it really gross over 500 points. There is not a whole lot known about this elk and there is a mystery and a question mark that hangs over this monster bull. Is this the biggest elk ever taken by a hunter? Yes, I believe it is. Is it really the world’s record? No, it is not and has not been declared any official world record.
What do we know about this bull?
Back in 1998, We (King’s Outdoor World) were contacted by Mike Shipsey and Shirley Hayward and expressed interest in having his elk featured in our King’s Bull Elk Calendar. Mike had just killed a monster bull elk from the San Carlos Apache Reservation in Arizona. This 11×10 point bull was scored at 502 6/8 gross and an amazing 487 0/8 net non-typical B&C. It was forecasted as the new pending world record and would shatter the current world’s record non-typical elk (currently 465 2/8). This would be the first bull elk on record that was taken by a hunter that gross scores over 500 points.
Unfortunately we could not come to equal terms with Mr. Shipsey and we decided not feature this bull in our King’s Bull Elk Calendar.
What has happened since and why are we not hearing more about this elk?
Since that time things have been fairly quiet about this bull outside of rumors and speculation. Why is this bull not recognized by Boone & Crockett? I contacted Jack Reneau at Boone & Crockett regarding this elk in August of 2001 after the 24th annual Awards Banquet to see if the Shipsey Bull was indeed accepted and officially panel scored. This was Jack’s statement to me:
“The non-typical American elk that was taken by Mike Shipsey and is currently owned by Shirley Hayward is not accepted entry in the Club’s Awards Program.”
No reasons were giving even after inquiring specifically about this issue to Boone & Crockett. Only Boone & Crockett knows and has the right to refuse or accept any entry it wants to maintain the integrity of their record books. Maybe the Shipsey Bull will go down as another world class animal that is not in the record books. I will not go and entertain the rumors about this bull, but only have stated what I do know. That is usually where people go wrong is when they start talking about something they don’t know, and base their own knowledge off of unknown claims. I have my own conclusion as to what happened, but that is not for posting here for the world to see and speculate upon.
How did this elk get so big?
There are a couple of factors as to why this bull got so big. The year Mr. Shipsey killed this elk was a good year for moisture on the Reservation and rich habitat for antler growth was present. Also, this bull peaked in his prime of life and hit full potential when Mr. Shipsey was fortunate enough to harvest such a magnificent animal. There are reports that 2-3 sets of sheds were found from this bull. None of them come close to the 500 point mark, but strong 400-plus sheds. Another fortunate thing is that this bull did not brake off any points. This could have affected the final net score dramatically when a bull of this size brakes a point or two off during the rut. All points were intact and tine length was incredible. I have heard that this bull was killed September 22, 1997 in the Dry Lake Unit. The bottom line - this bull peaked at its prime and Mr. Shipsey was the fortunate hunter to take him.
Where can I see this elk in person?
There have been a total of seven replicas made of this bull from what I understand. Back in October of 2001 there were still two of them left and they were selling for about $4,000. The San Carlos Fish and Game does have one of these replicas of the elk in their office. If you are down that way you can check it out.
Two San Carlos Tribal Members holding the huge rack taken by Mike Shipsey
11×10 point, 502 6/8 gross, 487 net non-typical
San Carlos Apache Reservation, Arizona 1997
November 3rd, 2005
Montana FWPD regional office manager Fred Schultz holding the potential state record mule deer rack that was confiscated from Kelly Frank’s home.
David Letterman Scandal turns up Potential Montana State Record Muley
Originally featured in the Nov/Dec 2005 issue of Hunting Illustrated
In a strange twist of events involving Montana resident Kelly Frank, Montana Law enforcement authorities have uncovered the rack of a Mule Deer that could possibly be the new Montana state record typical mule deer.
Kelly Frank, who has been charged with plotting to kidnap the infant son of CBS talk show host David Letterman and his nanny in hopes of getting a $5 million ransom and overcharging for some work he performed at the ranch, has now been sentenced for the possession of an illegally taken game animal.
While law enforcement authorities were executing a search warrant on Frank’s home, they found a huge set of mule deer antlers that will rival the current state record. Acting on a tip from an informer that Frank had killed the deer last winter during the closed season, the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Department (FWPD) game wardens confiscated the antlers.
At his court hearing, Frank pleaded guilty to possessing the antlers, but said although he didn’t personally shoot the buck, he knew it had been illegally killed. In exchange for guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped charges of solicitation to kidnap. Frank received a 10-year sentence on the theft charge and a 5-year sentence on the wildlife charge and was ordered to pay Letterman’s ranch $1,500 and $8,000 to the state.
According to the Montana FWPD, the buck was officially measured for the compensation phase of the lawsuit against the poacher and officially scores 207 7/8 B&C which tops the current state record typical mule deer that was killed in 1983 and scores 205 3/8 B&C. After contacting the Boone & Crockett Club, it is possible that the buck will be accepted as the new state record if it is listed as a “pick up” with ownership going to the Montana State agency ensuring that no credit be given to the poacher.
I didn’t have all the room I wanted to in the magazine to include more information about this story. One question has come up as to how can this buck be entered into the Boone and Crockett record books since it was poached and not taken by Fair Chase standards? That is a good question, but after contacting B&C, they wanted to make sure that the following was elaborated upon to help people understand how this could happen. This is from their response:
“Basically, as ludicrous as it sounds, it obviously wasn’t the deer’s fault it was poached. Some legitimate sportsman was possibly robbed of the opportunity of taking this trophy himself. However, since it was confiscated, the Montana Dept. of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks is the legitimate owner of this trophy and holds it in trust for all the hunters of Montana. It should be recognized for the conservation efforts it represents of legitimate, Montana sportsmen.”
Therefore, what this means is the poacher could not get this buck entered in the books. However, since the antlers have been confiscated and is now in possesion of the Montana Department of Fish and Wildlife, they have the option to enter it into the books as a “pick up”, with credit going to the Fish and Game. No mention or credit will be given to the poacher.
I also tried to get more information about the buck from the Montana Dept. of Fish and Game. I asked the following questions: How wide is the buck? What is the gross score? What is the Montana FWPD going to do with the antlers? Are you going to submit the score sheet to B&C for official entry into the books? However, all answers were either a “no comment” or “don’t know at this time”.
So what did we learn from all of this? A buck was taken illegally in Montana. It was confiscated by the Montana FWPD. It scores 207 7/8 net typical B&C. It exceeds the current state record. If the Montana FWPD decides to enter the buck into Boone & Crockett (B&C) as a “pick up”, they will accept the buck. The buck has not been submitted to B&C at this time.
I guess we will wait and see what the Montana FWPD decides to do with this great potential state record typical mule deer rack.
UPDATE: (01/23/05) This buck has been submitted and accepted by Boone and Crocket with a score of 207 7/8 net typical. It is classified as a pick up and owner is MT Dept. Fish, Wildl., & Parks with a date of 2004. This buck is now officially the Montana state record typical mule deer.
November 1st, 2005
