“Typical scores subtract non-typical points.” (Learn more about how elk and other big game are scored by listening to this week’s Beaver State Podcast with Penninger.)Īccording to David Morris of Northwest Big Game, this record setting bull is often mixed up with another one of the same name (both are named after William H Taft who served as U.S. “In fairly rare cases, an animal meets minimum qualifications for both typical and non-typical categories for the species,” said Penninger. This bull is ranked even higher in the non-typical category-it’s the #3 state record with an official score of 411 0/8. The top 10 for typical Rocky Mountain elk still includes “Taft,” a Wallowa Lake bull that was scored at 391 4/8 for a typical Rocky Mountain elk in 1930. After that, antler scores drop into the high 300s. With this Catherine Creek elk, the top four Rocky Mountain elk will all score higher than 400. The bull had the longest main beam of any bull anywhere for a long time, he says. This bull was displayed in the John Day Elks Lodge until it was lost in a fire when the building burned down, according to Penninger. Until now, the second largest was a bull taken in Grant County by Jim Sproul with antlers measuring 401 1/8. The #1 Rocky Mountain elk was a 418 2/8 bull taken in Crook County in 1942 or earlier and attributed to Hugh Evans. The last time an elk with typical antlers scoring higher than 400 was found or harvested was 1984 by Randy Ryerse in Crook County, an elk now bumped to the #4 record with a 400 0/8 score. (In Oregon, due to poaching concerns, it is unlawful to possess or transport found dead game mammals or their parts, except for naturally shed antlers or certain parts when salvaging roadkill.) Northwest Big Game Records is one organization that keeps records of game animals including both those that are harvested by hunters and those that are found dead. ODFW does not track trophy records but will be submitting the score to Northwest Big Game Records for official placement.
“This bull is testament that age, good genetics, and high-quality habitat can produce truly world class elk,” he said. “Bull elk of this caliber are incredibly rare in Oregon but it’s great to see that they are still around,” said Penninger, who described the antlers as “jawdropping.” (An animal must undergo a minimum of 60-day drying period before it is officially scored as skulls and antlers will shrink some after their first “green” score immediately after harvest or pick-up.) Mark Penninger, a certified scorer for Northwest Big Game Records Inc, officially scored the elk in early November after waiting the required 60 days. The bull’s skull and antlers were found by a cone collecting crew on private timberland in the Catherine Creek Unit during the summer and turned in to ODFW. LA GRANDE, Ore.-The antlers of a Union County bull elk have been officially scored at 406 6/8 which would make it the second place record for a typical Rocky Mountain elk in Oregon. From the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife:
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