This thing is huge.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/hunting/news/story?id=3667063

One expensive shot!

Actually it has been certified as the new World Record by the Boone and Crocket Club. It was taken on public land...

WOW, I can't imagine.

Its a nice bull paid for by big bucks. The average poor man hunting with bow or muzzleloader and hunting hard to find bull is one who I feel sorry for. Seems today the rich are getting all the good hunting spots and most don't even know how to hunt someone has to point what to shoot and when.

awesome animal...to bad it was shot by a guy that paid six figures for a tag so he could hunt anywhere and use anything!if he paid that for a tag...wonder what the outfitter made???

It's a good thing he bought that tag when he did, I was just about to sell my house, truck, wife's truck, ATV, and Harley to buy that tag....Dangit...He beat me to the punch....LOL

when I was in the hospital my young and pretty physical thereapist and I got to talking and I found out she is from New Mexico and her father is the ranch Manager at Chama which if any of you are into elk hunting you know it's a place of big dollars and bigger bulls. She told me her dad took her hunting a lot as a little girl but over the years it had become strictly a business and he no longer hunts for fun. She told me his main reason for this is the rich egotistical hunters that Chama draws and she said especially the eastereners, now it's just a job to him and I thought that was one of the saddest things I'd heard in a long time, to live around that quality of elk and mule deer hunting but give it up because you get burned out by pompas asses with money between their ears instead of a brain. It is the same way in oregon though, we have several once in a lifetime hunts for California and Rocky Mountain Bighorn and Rocky Mountain Goats but every year there are a few of these coveted tags sold through auctions with the price tag normally going over 6 figures while the rest of us turn in our draw applications and for these tags there is no preference point system so most of us will never draw a tag. It reminds me of Europe where only the rich get to hunt. I have nothing against people with deep pockets until they use them to buy favor to get around the system the rest of us have to deal with, this is why I made the comment that the requirements for Hangun Hunter of the Year award should have to be animals taken fair chase without guides on public land, that's the only way to make sure that money isn't making the difference.

Thats an amazing animal!

What does that have to do with anything?

Or are you just bragging!

Let's just say if I were single I'd been chasing her down, I mean after all being pretty and educated was just icing on the cake, having a father in law that manages one of the premier monster elk havens in the country would have been enough.

Impressive headgear for sure!!!!

No pictures of the therapist? Does hiring scouts to find your animal make you a hunter or a shooter? I know your answers already. I used to live out west & those hunts are an attrocity. Now I'm an easterner Rod so don't hold it against me. Special opportunity due to wealth! Does anybody believe that money really makes it to public coffers for public benefit? He'll get credit but hardly deserves it. A hard hunt is when you put all the work in heart & soul. Then go home empty handed. What was hard about waiting in camp? A lumpy pillow?

Tig,

Have you seen pictures of Rod's therapist? Sorry, couldn't resist!

I don't hold anything against anyone, I just hate to see what should be so basic becoming so money oriented.

I couldn't get any pics of the therapist, wife would have shot me and had my head on the wall.

Welcome to America.

The dilemma is that in many parts of the country there is virtually no public land to hunt on and as guests in areas outside of our home state, and in other countries, there is no choice but to hunt with a guide.

Heated topic! Either way it results in the buying and selling of public resources, with the "public" left out of the profit chain.

I'm not trying to stir the pot but the public is in the loop with private land. Like Gary said there are many sides to this issue, here is just a small example. My uncle owns 350 acres here in NY. He pays $6,700.00 a year in County, State and School Taxs. He never had kids. So for the last 50+ years he has been paying dearly to keep that land and not getting back much in return. So if he did want to limit the hunting or take money for the "hunting rights" I don't blame him a bit. I do realize that other states are alot cheaper or have no land taxes, but some of the more communist states will take you for a ride.

I also would like to think the outfitter in that area would be spending some of the "big price tag" money localy.

I do have to agree that buying the "big one" with deep pockets is not right. A lottery type system is a fair way of issuing tags across the board. Then again I don't have a lucky horseshoe when it comes to stuff like that so maybe I should rethink that. LOL<LOL

I agree completely with charging, I am a capitalist completely but there is a break over point where it starts getting ridiculous and the avg guy doesn't have a chance.

I have no problem w/guides getting work. Hiring multiple guides to do it for you is not hunting. Your just a shooter & lazy. Thats an ethics problem. Very poor ethics at that. Auctioning public tags that the public never sees a benefit for is just wrong! Lottery is the only fair way to go. Wealth makes you wealthy. Not special!

Certainly a guy has the right to hire as many guides as he wants. Many hunters probably consider him a weasel for doing so but there's nothing illegal about that.

But again, that elk belonged to the taxpayers of the state. It was a public resource that was sold out from under normal hunters. What's next? Rich people drive on paved interstates while the middle class drivers are confined to gravel? And I don't think anyone over the age of 14 believes that all of that tag money made it to the right place.

The heck with the Elk, I'm all hot and bothered over the therapist!!! LOL

Let's just say--- I know how to do my homework, hunt hard, and kill a mature Bull Elk. Planning, practicing and dreaming-- That's the fun part of the hunt. I will NEVER EVER pay for a high dollar hunt--not when there is much free access land out there to hunt. Heck, if you grow some cahunas and read some maps, you can still go where you might not see another hunter. Pick out a Wilderness area, learn orienteering, buy some gear, back-packing or even horse packing and go it alone. The rewards can't be expressed here. That's my therapy!!! You'd be surprized what you can do on a budget!! AND, you did yourself or with friends.

Good point Gerry.

You kind of get a guy to thinking,dreaming to Gerry

Yeah cottonstalk, I got tired of dreaming and started doing. I was tired of reading and watching and limiting my hunting to local deer and squirrel safari's!! I get together with some friends, we share the gear and cost and go to Colorado, Arkansas, Virginia, NY (yuck), Maryland, and just do it. Actually the time is the big factor-not enough to do it all. I leave the dreaming to do work when I need a break. Maybe it's not Africa or Alaska but CO is a true Wilderness experience. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have gone with Gary for a big Cape Buffalo, or to Alaska for a big Bear or Moose, but that aint happening soon. I do dream of them and quench my hunger with Elk, Deer, Turkey and Bear. I'd like to consider myself a hunter and not just a shooter-Heck, for me the fun is beating it at it's own game on its ground and terms. Go for it!

I agree that these 6 digit tags are unfair to the rest of us. There is no animal worth it and it is just a money hunt. I believe in guides. I wouldn't hunt back east with out one because I don't know where to hunt and I would only have a few days to hunt. But I wouldn't pay for anything but an over the counter tag or controlled hunt tag where everyone pays the same. But then again I'm not rich so maybe if I was I would think differently, but I doubt I would.

Personally I think these auctioned off "governor tags" should have their own record book. Mostly because of the rules that go with them. It's unfair advantage to the rest of the hunting community whom are looking for that type of "trophy" that have to hunt within the normal regulations and boundries.


Dave