At the 31st Big Game Awards Judges Panel, California gained a new state record while an Oregon hunter gave the Beaver State its second-best Rosie ever. Read all about them here.
The Roosevelt’s elk category in the Boone and Crockett records was established in 1979 with input from Pope and Young founder and Boone and Crockett Club member Glenn St. Charles. This subspecies of elk has thicker, shorter antlers and large trophies will develop crown points. The category boundary runs along the Pacific Coast just north of Vancouver, British Columbia down to Northern California. As you can see with these recent entries, it’s a good time to be a hunter in Roosevelt’s elk country.
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To kill a big bull—a really big bull—a hunter has to resist the urge to shoot the first 8×8 that he sees on opening morning. Few hunters possess that kind of discipline. For Aaron Langslet, he had a little more than discipline; he had a buddy who sent him a picture of this brute you see here, which helped him contain his bull fever. Early in his hunt, Langslet ran into a guide who was looking for the same bull. Who would find the bull first? Time was of the essence. On the fourth day of the hunt, Langslet and his brother were chasing bugles in the fog, and eventually they found what they were looking for. Langslet made a slow stalk to the edge of some willows. Once he was less than 100 yards away, he took a shot with his .300 Win Mag and killed the third largest Roosevelt’s elk ever, which also happens to be California’s new state record.
The bull had been nicknamed “Mega” by the hunters lucky enough to have ever caught a glimpse of this massive bull in the thick forests of western Oregon. Matthew Collver and his girlfriend started the 2021 season bowhunting together, but the hunting had been tough and tensions ran high. The turning point happened when Collver’s quiver and all of his arrows were snatched by the jungle sometime during their hike. After that, the couple decided to hunt solo on the last day. As you can see, sometimes a little time apart is a good thing. With his bow, Collver shot Mega at 60 yards, and it piled up a short distance away. The bull ranks as the number six Roosevelt’s elk of all-time and sits at the number two spot for Oregon overall.
Lawrence Ward recalls that when he was just 11 years old, his hunting camp held four generations of hunters, which included his great-grandmother. Hunting is in his blood, and he learned early on the joys of hunting with family and friends. When he drew a Roosevelt’s elk tag for California in 2021, he started scouting immediately, enlisting those friends and family in the process. At the local building supply store, he ran into Guy Hooper, his local Boone and Crockett Official Measurer, who gave him some tips on how to field judge Roosevelt’s elk. Ward scouted for 30 days and set out numerous game cameras. The day before the season started, he and his wife went to check one of his cameras only to discover a huge bull—this bull—had wandered into the valley. Ward quickly called his friend Dale who joined him on opening day. With his grandfather’s old Winchester .30-06, Ward found that bull and made a solid shot. The elk is now officially the third largest California Roosevelt’s elk and the number eight overall.
