2 Cool Fishing Forum banner

New Wa. State Record Elk

17K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  kweber 
#1 ·
This is what $77,000.00 will get you! The guy payed $65K at auction for the tag and anohter $12K for the guides (Multiple)....

Evergreen State Bull November 6, 2008One look and you can see why rumors would fly. Dan Agnew took this outstanding 9x10 non-typical American elk from Washington State (not Oregon). The free-ranging bull (not pen raised) has been officially scored and is expected to be entered soon. The entry score is 436-2/8 net B&C and 446-4/8 gross B&C.

The current state record non-typical from Washington scores 421-7/8 and was taken from Kittitas County in 2003 by Jeffery G. Thorpe.

http://www.boone-crockett.org/news/...ews#watch4A7B66AD-7E62-4A9B-926A-DF52146BAC26

A Washington whopper
In Washington, hunter Dan Agnew reportedly knocked down a green-scored 449-gross, 436-net, non-typical Rocky Mountain elk. The current record is a 2003 bow-kill that measured 421 7/8.
Agnew also set another record by paying $65,000 for the eastside Governor's Tag, the highest ever in Washington. The bids rose because hunters knew this big bull was somewhere out there in Game Management Unit 162 in the state's southwest.
Agnew hired two local guides and shot the bull after a short hunt on Sept. 2.
"A lot of people have really given me a hard time because it sounds like I kind of showed up and shot him and went home, and that is kind of what happened," Agnew told the Spokesman-Review. "But that has never happened to me before. I've spent months looking for big elk and come home empty-handed."
Agnew is not new to big-game hunting. The Vancouver, Wash., hunter has several B&C bulls under his belt. One 410 elk, shot in Arizona in 2003, has the distinction of the longest main beam in B&C records: 66 3/8 inches.

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/hunting/news/story?id=3667132
 

Attachments

See less See more
5
#4 ·
How do you respect someone who has all this money to go and hunt an animal that many have seen and new where he was but could not shot it. I mean hiring two guides to go out and find him and come back and tell me where he is so I can go and shot him. Now that is one heck of a hunter. Maybe I am just jelious-LOL> If I had all that kind of money no telling what I would have done.
 
#5 ·
GWF, that's not what I get from the stuff I've read. He paid big bucks for a tag to get a CHANCE to take this big bull. The guides he hired knew the area and general patters of the herd (like most good guides do) and they went out with him...the elk wasn't pinned down...it was a guided hunt just like many go on for less money than that all over the state. It was a fair, free range hunt just like any other. The only difference is that he was hunting in a very exclusive area and paid for a VERY expensive tag. And, he lucked out that everything fell into place for him right off the bat and he didn't have to hunt real long and hard for him. I know and have read several guys on this board who have paid for a 7-10 day tag and lucked into a trophy bull on the first day. Are you knocking that too? Imagine the tag he paid for was $2500 and tell me you'd feel the same.

The elk didn't have a tag in its ear. It wasn't in a pen. It wasn't chosen and paid for in advance based on the Guaranteed harvest or the estimated score or anything like that.

I'm sorry for the rant but I just hate to see people raining on another guys parade. That is a HECK of a bull and I CAN respect that! The guy still had to go out there in the weather, stalk the animal as needed, and control his adrenaline long enough to make a good shot on an amazing animal. Can't you just smile, enjoy the animal and congratulate the hunter?
 
#6 ·
Actually I have a little more background on this and this circumstance, while it is a truly "free range" kill has some frustrating backstory.

1. This area of Washington is extremely rugged and hard to hunt and also extremely hard to get a tag for for a general firearms hunt. The State manages it very tightly as a "Trophy Elk" area.

2. This bull and one other have been hunted and watched closely for several years. Hunters have had them scouted and were waiting for a prime time to harvest them (Given the drawing of a tag for this area). So even though they are free range they have been patterned and monitored for quite some time.

3. The tag this "gentleman" purchased is referred to as the "Governor's Tag" and is sold at auction. Essentially, he heard about the elk, hired guides who knew of this elk, and then purchased a tag at acution that would guarantee him a shot at this elk BEFORE anyone else would have a shot this season. The governor's tag allows a modern firearm hunt in early September when no other hunters are allowed to hunt. Early archery season doesn't even start until Sept. 8th.

I am a little split on the situation honestly but when you consider also that this guy basically boarded a helicopter and flew 2 hours to eastern washington from Portland and then drove 45 minutes, got out of the car, walked a short distance and shot the elk, I would call it the "Most canned free range hunt" ever.
 
#8 ·
"one could go to Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia on 4 separate hunts for many multiple trophies. but that's JMO. perhaps he's already done all that."

Probably, he is the CEO of some large beverage company in Portland, Or. and holds some other big game records so obviously that is his thing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top