Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008

No bull: Vancouver man bags large elk

By Eric Barker, Lewiston tribune

Dan Agnew invested time and gobs of money for the chance to bag what is sure to be a new Washington state record bull elk.

Last winter he saw a picture of the bull's sheds and a video of the animal. He'd talked to another hunter, a friend of his, who tried to bag the big 9-by-10 non-typical last fall.

He learned the bull was secretive, elusive and lived in tough country characterized by tall ridges and deep, timbered draws -- the kind hunters call holes, where an animal could literally disappear.

So when Agnew, a trophy elk hunter from Vancouver, set out in September to hunt the monster bull in game management unit 162 near Dayton, he was prepared to spend lots of time.

Agnew, who purchased a special governor's tag for more than $65,000 at auction for the privilege, wasn't prepared for the way the hunt played out.

"I took enough gear to last a month and had the shortest, easiest hunt I've ever been on," he said. "Less than an hour after we left camp, we saw the bull on an open ridge top and, a short stalk later, the bull was down."

Agnew used a guide who had scouted the bull before he arrived. Its general location was known, but the bull hadn't been showing itself and it hadn't been hanging out in the open.

"They had seen him a couple of times, and each time he was a long way off and a long way down in the hole."

But on that morning the bull was high on the ridge. After a short stalk, Agnew took a shot from about 250 yards with his .30-378 Weatherby. He saw the bull buckle and knew he hit it.

But the animal didn't fall. The bull had about 20 cows with him and the cows became nervous and headed for the bottom of the draw. The bull followed, but lagged behind. Agnew took a second shot that killed it.

It has a gross green score of 449 and a net score of 436 on the Boone and Crockett scoring system. If that score doesn't drop significantly after the antlers dry, it will be a state record. The current record for non-typical bulls was set in 2003 by Jeff Thorpe, who killed a bull in Kittitas County that scored 4217/8.

Word and pictures of Agnew's bull are spreading via e-mail and hunting chat rooms across the Internet.

"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," he said. "But that has never happened to me before. I've spent months looking for big elk and come home empty handed."

Agnew is a trophy hunter and proud of it.

"It's my hobby and my passion," he said. "I've killed one bull that is bigger than this one, in Arizona, and had my share of success over the years."

He decided to bid on the Washington governor's tag for the east side of the state, auctioned at the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Banquet in Reno, just so he could hunt this bull.

Bidding was intense and he ended up paying $65,000 for the tag, which allows its holder to hunt elk with any weapon from Sept. 1 to Dec. 1 in any unit on the east side of the state where branch-antlered bulls can be hunted.

"We had some pictures of the sheds in the booth at the convention and it piqued some interest," said Pat Fowler, district wildlife biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. "We had some video at the presentation, and I think that is what really got their interest."

The east side governor's tag had been selling for about $20,000 in recent years. But last year it jumped to $47,000, largely because of this bull. Agnew said he was happy to pay such a high price, not only for the opportunity to hunt but also to help restore elk habitat.

Agnew, 62, is co-owner of Mount Hood Beverage Co., a beer and wine distributor.

"I've been a supporter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation for many years. One-hundred percent of the money goes to restoration and enhancement of elk habitat. That is very important to me and gives me a fun way to support something I really believe in."

Fowler said it's not the only big one out there. He said there is video of a bull with an 8-by-8 rack that is as large as the one Agnew shot.

"We have managed our elk herd to be very careful to maintain our age structure," he said. "When you maintain age structure for fully mature bulls, you are going to have some large bulls out there."