Minnesota Gets New Record Elk, Hunter Gets Rare Choice of Category
OutdoorHub Reporters 12.16.13
OutdoorHub reported on the massive elk taken by Minnesota hunter Brad Penas back in September, and last week the elk was finally scored by a Boone and Crockett measurer. Randy Dufault made the rack official with a score of 393-2/8, below the initial green score of 404. While it is not surprising for measurements to go down after the mandatory 60-day drying period, what came after was unexpected. Usually, the distinctions between typical and non-typical racks are clear-cut. Penas was offered the rare opportunity to choose which category he wanted to submit his trophy to.
“It is very rare that a trophy will make it into both categories. When it happens, it’s usually up to the hunter how they want to enter it,” Justin Spring, Boone and Crockett’s assistant director of big game records, told OutdoorHub. “It’s not common at all.”
Penas previously expressed some concerns about how the rack will be measured due to the one of the tines on its left side, which extends 13 inches from the main beam.
“When we first did the math we came up with 404 points and at that point, a lot of elk hunters thought we were kidding,” Penas told OutdoorHub at the time. “[When] you hit 400 points, that’s a very large animal.”
Penas estimated that the score would be knocked down to 391 for the wayward tine, a number that is not too far from the final score. Either way, his elk is destined for the record books, but Spring said that the decision Penas made would impact his ranking.
“In this case, if I remember correctly, if he went non-typical, it would be 28th of all time,” Spring said. “Whereas if he went typical it would be 120th. So it is to his advantage in terms of rank to go non-typical.”
However, in terms of the Minnesota state record, Penas could take the number one all-time typical or number-two non-typical, losing to a rack that was found in 2010 and measured a shocking 458-4/8. Ironically, it was the rack that caused the elk’s death. The elk tripped while trying to climb over a fence and had gotten its antlers stuck in the soft mud. Unable to pull free, the animal was later found by a passerby.
Although found racks are not counted under the hunter-taken category, Boone and Crockett still includes them in its big game records. Forum News Service reported that Penas shot his elk a mere three miles from where the 2010 rack was found.
According to Spring, Penas decided to go with non-typical.
“It’s what I would do if it was my elk,” Spring added.
The elk will likely be entered into Boone and Crockett’s record books sometime over the next several weeks. You can read our original story and interview with Brad Penas here.
