The Elk of 2007

What State Produced the Biggest Bulls from 2007?
by David King

In the last couple of years, some tremendous animals have been taken by hunters all across the country. It seems that every year there is another whitetail that is pushing the 300-inch mark, continually altering the record book standings. This past year was no different as Helgie Eymundson shot a massive Alberta whitetail buck that has been green scored at 287 gross B&C. However, 2007 was not just the year for record whitetails. There was also the amazing story of Kyle Lopez and his 303 net non-typical mule deer from Colorado which made history as the largest buck taken in the last twenty years. This, in and of itself, is amazing; however, what makes the trophy even more outstanding is that Kyle Lopez is a mere fourteen years old. Many kids seemed to be getting into the act this year and showed that they could do as well, or better, than adults as far as record book animals are concerned. There is word of a young boy taking a great 200-class whitetail and, what about the crazy story of the five-year old boy from Maine shooting a 400-pound black bear?

These kids carried things over to big bull elk as well. With that, we begin the tale of fifteen-year old Cheyenne Moore. She drew a coveted either-sex permit in District 700, which skirts the southern Missouri Breaks in Montana. Her father had been putting in for that district for the past 29 years with no success. Cheyenne was determined to take a nice bull and even passed on a 320-class bull. Her patience paid off when they spotted a big bull and realized that there was an even bigger bull running with it. Cheyenne made true on her shooting and the big bull went down. The 7×7 typical rack has been scored at 401 SCI and she is waiting on the drying period to get an official Boone & Crockett score. Further south, Cheyenne wasn’t the only lucky teenager bagging a big bull. Fifteen-year old Dillon Sanders was hunting with his family in southwestern Colorado with just a general season tag in his pocket. Little did they know that there was a monster elk in the area that had possibly come over from the Utah border. Maintaining his composure like a pro, Dillon put down the monarch non-typical elk which has been green scored at 417 gross and 397 net B&C.

Of course, the kids didn’t get all of the action in 2007. Nevada seemed to kick things off early as the Governor Tag holder took a beautiful non-typical bull in the velvet that scored over 430 gross B&C. Also, fifteen-year old Cheyenne wasn’t the only one to connect on a trophy bull from Montana. Even though dry weather conditions made the early hunts very difficult, things picked up for an Indiana non-resident archery hunter. Fighting through the less-than-optimal conditions, hunter Tim Hite found a great bull with the help of Trophies West and connected on a pretty 7×7 typical bull. This bull has been roughed scored at 410 gross P&Y and has beautiful back tines. As the archery hunts started to heat up, many hunters were wondering if Arizona was going to get relief from the drought and if the big bulls had gotten enough water to put together a banner year. Though western Arizona is still hurting from the drought and many bulls had broken antlers, the state as a whole ended up with a very nice year. Many great bulls ranging from 400 to 410 gross were taken, with the top bull being the Wrongway bull. Mullins Guide Service had a great year as they produced two great 400-class bulls for their clients. Tucson resident Don Roach held out for the famed Wrongway bull and arrowed what is now the new #5 archery typical elk in the world with a score of 400 5/8 net P&Y. Don’s outstanding bull follows the great news of Shawn Patterson’s 2005 Arizona elk. Shawn’s elk is now the new world record typical archery bull with a score of 412 1/8 net P&Y. Arizona is riding high as they now hold claim to the world record typical and non-typical archery elk. However, before you start thinking that Arizona is the only hotspot for bull elk, look at what Utah produced in 2007!

There is no question that Utah is taking a little of the thunder away from Arizona as the premier state for monster bulls. Arizona residents don’t really mind that as they hope it eases the pain of trying to draw another tag in their home state. The 2006 season for Utah was the year of the 6×6 typical giants as new state records were broken in multiple weapon categories. The 2007 season will now go down as the year of the giant non-typical elk. The season started with a bang as a tremendous archery non-typical bull elk was taken by Jimmy Ryan. Guided by Team Mossback, Jimmy is now in the record books again, but this time as the hunter who holds claim to a pending #2 bull elk in the world for Pope & Young. The official score on this 7×6-point bull is 428 3/8 net non-typical P&Y with the gross score going over the 443 mark! This bull is now the largest non-typical bull for the state of Utah in any weapon. However, that status didn’t go unchallenged. Back in 2002, Jeff Diderickson put Utah on the map with the first 400-inch bull taken by a hunter. His state record bull scored 412 net non-typical B&C. Amazingly, through the years of incredible trophies, this bull still held the title of state record non-typical until 2007. Darrell Snedeger was hunting with family when he jumped a bull at close range. Before he knew what he was looking at, he had the bull on the ground. It wasn’t until then that he realized he had just shot the biggest elk he had ever seen. Darrell’s bull is now the new state record rifle bull elk with an official score of 434 1/8 gross and 423 0/8 net non-typical B&C. This puts it as the #2 overall elk for the state behind the Jimmy Ryan archery bull. This is just a summary of the many great bulls from Utah. There were other amazing archery bulls, including a possible 415 net non-typical and another 397 3/8 net bull taken by hunter Cory Meacham. Cory’s bull has sweeping 26-inch royal points. Even though the dry weather made for tough conditions, there was also a great late-season 7×8 elk taken that will net score over the 400 mark.

Utah definitely seems to be peaking. I don’t know how you can get any better and produce such amazing bulls in back to back years. How long can Utah hold this up? Can management continue to keep the age class where it needs to be to continually produce mega bulls? Some feel that Utah may be struggling in the next few years as many of these big mature bulls are being taken off the mountain. Only time will tell. Until then, we will enjoy this incredible year and see where the next mega bull will come from in 2008.

Tags: 2007, arizona, David King, elk, HI34, Montana, Nevada, utah

Related articles

• Wrongway and Ocho (1)
• The Hunt That Almost Wasn’t (0)
• The Hunt of a Lifetime (0)
• Wyatt Bull (0)
• Utah Sportsman Tag 2007 (0)