Here's a short portion of an article I wrote about the Shipsey bull in 1998. -TONY
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How big is it?
First, lets look at some of the top bulls to put Shipsey?s in perspective.
The Ninth Edition of the SCI Record Book, published in January 1998, shows the largest Rocky Mountain typical elk as a 6x6 bull killed in 1993 by Jean Luc Mendler near Trinidad, Colorado. It scored 407-6/8. The book lists a 7x8, killed in the White Mountains of Arizona in 1995 by Hyland Erikson, as the number one non-typical elk. Total score -- an impressive 415 points.
B&C still lists the 7X8, John Plute bull, taken in 1899 from Dark Canyon, Colorado as it's typical world-record. It scored 442 3/8 points and is on display in a tiny hardware store/gas station in downtown Crested Butte, Colorado. The main spread was 45 4/8, and the right and left main beams measured 55 5/8 and 59 5/8 respectively. The second largest typical, scoring 441 6/8, hangs in the Jackson Hole Museum. No one knows who killed this 7X8 bull, however.
Jumping up to the more modern records of bulls killed this century reveals no surprise; it's a stunning 7X7 trophy from Arizona?s Gila County -- or more accurately, from the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Killed by James C. Littleton in 1985, this elk scored 421 4/8 points, ranking it #3 in the B&C listings as of the 1995 update. The inside spread was 39 inches, and the main beams measured 55 4/8 and 58 2/8.
The CURRENT (emphasized!) B&C world-record non-typical, shot by James R. Berry in 1961, grew up near Gilbert Plains, Manitoba. The 9x9 antlers totaled 447-1/8 and had a spread measurement of 39 7/8 inches. The right beam was 54 1/8 and the left was 52 5/8.
Now here?s the scoop on Shipsey?s pending, non-typical world-record.
The inside spread between the main beams was 42 inches, and the right and left main beams measured 61 1/8 and 56 4/8. The gross score was an astounding 502 6/8. After the 15 6/8 in differences were subtracted, the overall score came to an incredible 487 points -- more than yardstick bigger than the above current listed record! And if this bull had been scored as a typical, it still would have added up to an impressive 418 6/8 points.
