World-Record Elk Testimony To Game Conservation Efforts

A hunter from Sacramento, Calif., killed what is believed to be a world record for tule elk - both in horn measurements and body weight - last month at the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area in central California.

The record animal attests to the success of California’s efforts to bring North American’s smallest elk species back from the brink of extinction. Money raised from hunting licenses and excise taxes on sporting equipment is financing the species’ comeback.

The hunter, Jack Sellers, was the successful bidder for one of two Governor’s Tule Elk Tags. He purchased his tag at the Sacramento Safari Club’s annual fund raising dinner with a bid of $18,001. All of the money goes directly to the Department of Fish and Game’s elk management program.

The program has brought tule elk numbers back from a population that may have been down to one pair of animals to its current level of more than 3,000 elk. Elk numbers are Capture and relocation programs that place elk back in native habitats occur almost annually, and the population is expected to top 10,000 by 2010.

Tule elk have large, majestic antlers, and often have multiple tines, well beyond the normal six-pointsper-side configuration of Rocky Mountain elk.

The unofficial measurements of Sellers’ bull gave it a rough score of 345 points, indicating this will be the largest tule elk ever taken by a hunter in modern times. It weighed 910 pounds.

Washington state hunter Brian Valentine, who paid $18,000 for his Governor’s tag at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s annual banquet in New Mexico, killed a bull that weighed 849 pounds and greenscored approximately 335 points.

Both the weight and antler measurements would have put it close to a world record had Sellers not killed the bigger bull.