The Best of 2006…Monster Elk!
Editor’s Note: I first started this as just a Blog post about the big bulls of 2006. However, it started turning into something more and I ended up saving it for an article for our Hunting Illustrated Best of 2006 issue (April/May 2007). I have posted the whole article here, but have added some bonus photos and links within the article that will expound on even more information, photos and video making it even more of an in depth look at the biggest bull elk of 2006.
The Best of 2006…Monster Elk!
We’re Talkin’ Big Bulls
By David King
After the 2005 hunting season, Arizona was riding high with their potential world record typical archery bull taken by Shawn Patterson, Utah had a new typical state record at 408 2/8 and Nevada quietly took home the honors of the largest non-typical elk scoring 415 net! There was a lot of excitement heading into the 2006 season, and I wondered just how the elk hunts would fair. Questions loomed in certain parts of the West as to how the drought would affect antler growth and the rut, as well as whether or not Utah could continue its amazing streak of record book bulls. The smoke has cleared, and for the most part many of the big bulls have been scored and brought to the forefront as the 2006 season rolled to an end.
Naturally, in years past, one would quickly ask the question when referring to the biggest bulls of the year, “So how did Arizona do?” Parts of Arizona were affected by the drought and the difficulty of heavy rains during the hunts. The northwest part of the state was affected the most and units 9 and 10 were hard-pressed to come up with bulls reaching the magical 400 mark. However, further south in the central part of the state where spring rains were better, some great archery bulls were taken. Friends and roommates BJ Sears and Joey Wyatt both connected on impressive 416-class non-typical archery bulls which will probably end up being the top archery bulls for the state. You will see more of these bulls later this year in Hunting Illustrated.
New Mexico has been struggling a bit as well with the drought, but has seemed to produce a few spectacular bulls the last couple of years. This year was no different as traditional archer Bill Clark arrowed a potential state record typical bull scoring 416 2/8 SCI. The official Pope and Young score is still pending. Jeff Sillivent, during the process of chasing a huge bull, ended up “settling” for a smaller bull. Jeff’s awesome archery bull surprisingly ended up officially scoring 415 gross and 403 7/8 net non-typical.
Jeff Sillivent with his 403 7/8 net non-typical New Mexico archery bull
Archery hunters were a force to be reckoned with in 2006 as even more amazing record book bull elk were taken. A pleasant surprise came out of Montana as a possible world record archery typical elk was taken in September. And no, this person is not named Chuck Adams. Seventy-five year old Walter Tate was hunting with Mark Baumeister of Mark’s Montana Trophy Hunts. Sitting in a ground blind over water, Walter was there at the right time as a monster 7×7 typical elk came in. Early green scores were putting the bull at 420 gross typical. After the sixty-day drying period, this bull officially scored 403 gross and 392 6/8 net P&Y. Another great elk was taken by bowhunter Steve Lamb from Wyoming on September 1st. Steve’s non-typical 7×7 bull could possibly go down as a state record with a score of 403 1/8 SCI and 394 2/8 net P&Y.
Steve Lamb with his Wyoming archery non-typical bull that scores 394 2/8 net P&Y
Nevada has a history of big bulls, but in the last few years the state has been plagued with a combination of drought and too many big bull tags being issued. Even with worry over the age class of the bulls going down, Nevada still produced some great bulls in 2006. The top bull from Nevada was a monster 430-class non-typical guided by Bull Ridge Guide Service.
Unfortunately, two scandals were the only news that came out of Idaho in regards to big bulls. The first scandal was an Internet spoof over a supposed Selway-Bitterroot 575 archery bull; and the second was over 100 escaped elk from a high-fence ranch. The escaped elk caused a firestorm of criticism over high-fenced hunting ranches while people searched high and low on the Internet trying to find out if the 575 Selway-Bitterroot archery elk was legit. Droves of visitors swamped our King’s Blog for answers. After all was said and done, the 575 archery elk from Idaho was actually a 560 rifle elk from a high-fence ranch in Quebec, Canada.
Aaron Cox with his new Utah state record archery typical elk scoring 404 5/8 gross and 391 net P&Y
After the excitement and letdown of the Quebec high-fenced bull, things started to get interesting as Utah slowly began trickling out one 400-class bull after the other. In the end, the results were almost bloated. How could it be? Estimates put the Utah tally of bull elk gross scoring 400 points and over at approximately twenty and counting! And records were being broken left and right. When the smoke cleared, out of the six state records possible for typical and non-typical in the category of archery, muzzleloader and rifle, four of the six were broken. The excitement started early as Aaron Cox arrowed a new state record, archery typical bull elk scoring 404 5/8 gross and 391 net P&Y, beating the old record by a mere half an inch. The muzzleloader season got things going in a big way as both the typical and non-typical records were broken not once, but twice each. Greg Holman knocked down a monster bull that still scored 423 5/8 gross and 403 2/8 net with a broken third point that would have pushed it to 420 net if intact.
Greg Holman took this Utah state record non-typical muzzleloader bull in 2006 scoring 423 5/8 gross and 403 2/8 net B&C
However, not to be outdone, Doug Degelbeck was hunting public land with his seven-year-old son and smoked what he thought was a nice trophy bull. After the official score came in, Doug was sitting not only on a new state record typical bull, but the world record muzzleloader as well. Doug’s bull beat the old record by over 14 inches with a score of 417 7/8 gross and 412 7/8 net. How could there be more you ask? Well, there was, as the Utah state record typical bull taken in 2005, and scoring 408 4/8, was not only beat once in 2006, but twice, and even a third time. Including Doug Degelbeck’s 6×6 typical, Denny Austad took another 400-inch elk. Denny’s bull is a beautiful 6×6 bull that scored 411 3/8 net B&C. But the big news came during the late-season hunt as Ron Skoronski was hunting in eastern Utah with Team Mossback and came home with not only the new state record, but the new #4 bull in the world. Ron’s amazing bull is the largest 6×6 point bull ever taken and officially scores 434 7/8 gross and 428 6/8 net typical B&C.
Doug Degelbeck and his world record typical muzzleloader bull elk scoring an amazing 417 7/8 gross and 412 7/8 net
The West produced some great elk in 2006, and the record books will have plenty of updates, but did the West stake claim to the biggest bull of 2006? There is no question Ron Skoronski’s bull is one of the greatest in history, but there is another bull out there that might be overlooked. John Shirk decided to put in for the $10 raffle in the Pennsylvania elk hunt. Elk had been transplanted back in the early 1900’s, but hunting was closed down from 1931 until 2001 to build up the herd. With over 19,000 people putting in for just fifteen bull and 25 cow permits, draw odds for the 2006 Pennsylvania elk hunt made the draw in any of the western states seem like a walk in the park. John got lucky and drew one of the bull tags. Paying the $25 resident license fee, John hired Jeff and Janet of Hicks Run Outfitters who spotted a huge elk the day before the season started and actually got some video footage of the tremendous bull that they shared with John. John couldn’t believe the excitement and thrill of possibly seeing this beautiful elk in the wild the next day. It took until midday on the opener for John and the guides to find the big elk again. After a good chase and a few shots with his Remington .30-06, John put down the monster 10×11-point elk.
John Shirk (right) next to his 457 4/8 gross and 442 7/8 net B&C Fair Chase Pennsylvania bull elk
After riding high of the excitement claiming a world class animal, things turned for the worse. That evening while riding in the van back to camp, Jeff swerved to miss a darting whitetail deer. Losing control trying to miss the deer, the van turned over and pinned John’s arm crushing his wrist, broke a finger and caused a pretty serious concussion. What an eventful day! John endured for the next sixty-days waiting for the mandatory drying period where his fair chase Pennsylvania elk made it into the record books in a big way. John’s bull was officially measured by Boone and Crockett and scored an amazing 457 4/8 gross and 442 7/8 net non-typical and is the new #7 all-time. The elk was also aged at 12 years old. Not to be outdone, Kentucky also claimed a new state record elk as well in 2006.
Strange things happened in 2006. Big bulls were everywhere. We can only hope for rain this spring and big bulls this fall. It also looks like the West has some competition. If the West doesn’t keep producing large bulls, the elk from the East may be on the verge of taking over the record books.
2 comments May 23rd, 2007
