# World Re ord Elk Picture Taken With a Bow



## nodakoutdoors.com

Supposedly taken in Alpine, TX with a bow.

Wow! 

[siteimg]2845[/siteimg]


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## tumblebuck

Texas? Hmmm....I smell "high fence."


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## nodakoutdoors.com

It was supposedly taken in free range.


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## djleye

Tumble, that is the first thing I thought of too. Especially when I saw that post on the picture. Huge animal though!!!! Wow!!!


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## wirehairman

Can't dig up any info on this specific elk but found this tidbit on the website for the Boss Ranch (o/g) near Alpine, where you can purchase an elk hunt for the affordable price of $8500+.



> Strong elk herds in West Texas offer excellent hunting opportunities. The elk are all free range and there are no game fences. These elk travel through the Glass Mountains of West Texas.


Last I heard, Kevin Reid has the pending SCI world record (http://blog.kingsoutdoorworld.com/2005/10/18/amazing-502-world-record-bull-elk/), and Shawn Patterson has the pending P&Y record (http://www.mcclendon-elk-hunts.com/html/shawn_patterson_2005.html).


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## nodakoutdoors.com

I can't say I can argue with you. The info I was sent was from a reliable source so I'm going off of that. I'd like to find an article to back up the specifics.


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## fishless

sept/oct 2005 bugle mag. pg.88 Texas est elk pop 1500 wild/free ranging mostly on private ranches in NW corner of state. No regulated season hunters must obtain land owners permission and have valid texas hunting license.


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## tomuch

Good source says it was shot on the cf ranch. High fence on two sides, bluffs on other two sides, animals are unable to roam. The smell of high fence, really strong here.


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## Sasha and Abby

Tamie... the smile gives it away - along with the lack of sweat.


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## Powder

This is from B & C:

Texas Bull 
November 15, 2005 
This bull has been getting a lot of play over the Internet, and rightfully so. Here's what we know:

The bull is believed to be taken by a bow hunter in Texas.
It has yet to be entered into B&C or Pope & Young, so no entry or due diligence has been initiated
Texas Parks and Wildlife Dept. does not consider elk a game animal*
Elk are not native to Texas and are considered an Exotic (I would delete this one, as elk are native to Texas in the Guadalupe Mountains.)
There is no management plan for elk in Texas
There is no hunting season for elk in Texas*
There is no elk license required to hunt elk in Texas* (Hunters do have to have a state hunting license, but there is no elk license or tag.)

*All requirements for entry and acceptance in the B&C Records Program

http://www.boone-crockett.org/news/trop ... ?area=news


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## Ryan.Anderson

High fence or not, it still sounds like it was shot on a ranch. Thats like releasing a zoo animal into the wild and hunting it calling it fair chase.


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## rowdie

Powder's post says it all. The ranch probalbly has a rate on hunts based on size of the rack you shoot. I wonder how much this guy paid? At least he used his bow.


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## Fossilman

Texas,yuppers high fence hunting,but what a great animal...........


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## deadringer

I hunt elk in Colorado and Montana and I would be hard pressed to beleive that this a fair chase hunt, just an opinion. I have seen some really big animals taken and yet to hear of a big elk taken in Texas....
Somehow it just does not seem right that this size of elk would be in the western part of Texas. 
Just my opinion.


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## deadringer

Sorry, I meant in a fair chase hunt not on a ranch that you pay for the hunt according to the size of the animal you kill.


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## Fossilman

World-class elk in Texas?
Trophy bull sparks classification debate on state's elk population

By Mark England,Lone Star Outdoor News

Ronnie Urbanczyk of Spring Branch, Texas, shot a mammoth elk with a bow near Alpine (TX) in October - a potential world-class trophy topping an estimated 454 Boone and Crockett points - but don't look for it in the record books.

The Boone and Crockett Club doesn't record elk taken from Texas, given their status as a non-game animal and lack of a hunting season.

But even without the official recognition, the animal was impressive enough to spur Internet chat and guarantee the elk received celebrity status via photos e-mailed nationwide.

Urbanczyk was at the sprawling CF Ranch, which covers more than 150 square miles of terrain ranging from rolling grassland to rocky hillsides, to hunt antelope when he saw some impressive elk. The ranch advertises its elk hunts starting at $7,000.

"These guys at the ranch had a ton of good-looking elk," said Urbanczyk, who owns Urban Concrete in San Antonio. "We worked out a deal. Two days later, I caught one going to a water trough on top of the mountain. He was 26 yards away. I shot him with a bow. I had to chase him and shoot him three more times. He was a big animal. When we got through quartering him and backpacked him out, it was about one in the morning. It was a challenge. He was a tremendous bull."

The decision by Boone and Crockett officials surprised him, Urbanczyk said.
"I kinda thought they would accept it," he said. "They should. We have a bunch of free-ranging elk in Texas. We just don't have a season on them."

A Boone and Crockett records official said allowing the recording of elk from Texas isn't in keeping with the organization's philosophy. He added that an elk born inside a high-fence area and released would not qualify for a Boone and Crockett record anyway, according to the official.

The largest typical elk recorded by the organization was taken in 1968 in Arizona's White Moun-tains at a score of 442 5/8 points.

Boone and Crockett's rejection of what would have been the biggest elk on record disturbs some Texans.

"What hurts is that so many are behind a high fence in Texas," said Walt Isenhour, the Texas state chairman for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. "Boone and Crockett must think that they're all behind a high fence." Isenhour, on a hunting trip of his own, actually ran into Urbanczyk while he was hauling the giant elk home.

"I've been around the elk foundation the last 16 years," Isenhour said. "I go to Missoula (Mont.) quite often. I don't know of a typical Rocky Mountain elk that outscores it. These elk aren't hunted with intensity they are in the mountain states. Not many know these free-ranging elk even exist in Texas."

But the hunt exposed an uncertainty related to the evolving management of game. How do you classify an animal born behind a high fence and then released onto a range?

David King, who publishes Hunting Illustrated and tracks trophy animals, said he had doubts the giant elk was a true free-range elk because of its size.

"You just don't see many free-ranging elk of that stature," King said.

King said he talked to guide Chris Chopelas, who led Urbanczyk's hunt. Chopelas told him that a hole was found in the elk's ear where a tag would go. He also said CF Ranch had released some ranch bulls some seven years before, King said.

Chopelas did not return phone calls seeking comment by deadline.

Classifying such a kill is difficult, King said. Groups such as Boone and Crockett only record trophy animals they deem shot under fair-chase conditions.

"It's a unique situation: releasing a high-fence bull on a free range and seven years later it's shot," King said. "What do you do?"

For his part, King questions recording such kills. "What it comes down to is it's not even a generation removed from the farm," King said. Urbanczyk, though, sees the kill as legitimate.

"A lot of people are raising whitetails and turning them loose, introducing new genetics into the species," he said. "It's hard for me to see that it's OK on one side and not OK on the other side. The introduction of new genetics is everywhere. I don't think that's a good argument."

For more information contact Darlene Sanchez at Lone Star Outdoor News at 214-361-2276.
__________________


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## 4590

I read this thread with interest. Seems as soon as a HUGE elk bull is shot now everyone just figures it has to be a ranch raised bull. Does anyone recognize what that means? We producers of elk must be doing something right. Thanks for the complement guys.


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## honkbuster3

WOW  Thats huge. He was lucky to take that bull. I smell something fishy though


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