king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

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 6x6 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
offi cial score on this 7x6-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 fi rst 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 rifl e
bull elk with an offi cial score of 434 1/8
gross and 424 7/8 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 416 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 7x8 elk taken that
will net score over the 400 mark.
Utah defi nitely 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.
5ELK5 February/March 23
PHOTO: GREG WILSON