Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting I saw the Spider Bull in person!!

At the time this all unfolded various people posted links to photos that had been previously captured of this bull - mostly during the summer months.
I'm sure the bull was very nocturnal as Moss stated but there was plenty of daylight photos of him on different hunting forums, including one of him wandering past some camping trailers.

Within a very short time after the kill Mossback had the website up with the sponsors and logo featuring the unique rack. It was clear it had all been prepared in advance. It didn't appear that there was ever a question about the what the final outcome would be.

Al Klassen is the guy who shot the elk in the Yukon.....he snapped this pic of me....we hunted up there 58 days that year.

OK...this is getting ridiculous!!!

Do you ever stop and take time out to eat?....or do you just hunt..???

And I thought I had BTDT.........


Ingwe

Sorry....I've got a thing for dall sheep.....grin!

No hijack intended....

I also saw the bull at cabelas, in person its surprising how small it looks, the height and spread may even be less than my 324 bull. if you look at the pictures keep in mind the hunter is sitting back as far away as he can from the rack, I agree the other 400 class bulls in the cabelas trophy room look alot better and bigger, this rack isn't that big it just has measurable points going everywhere.

I Love it!

Ingwe

Those are some very nice sheep there, scenarshooter. I'd love to hunt them someday before I'm too damn old...if my knees will let me. I don't figure too many of those critters come easy for anyone. There is, for me, a direct relationship between effort involved and the feeling of accomplishment/satisfaction one has after it's all over. I reckon a guy's gotta be pretty high after killing one of those white beauties. Hope to find out for myself one of these days.

I aggree, butt ugly and a sorry world record.
It really is too bad Utah doen't have wolves as this frankenelk would have been served up long befre he was a "spider" anything.
Says a lot about the need for preditors to clean-up the jean pool.

Just because people don't like the hunter or the method it doesn't take away from the animal.

Real Elk live with wolves.

Some of the DWR have speculated to me that the total cost was probably in the $600K range...

Flinch,

I would have to agree. As I was looking at the bull last February in SLC at the EXPO, I was talking with a friend. We were debating the Wall of Elk that Mossback was displaying. We both agreed that there were several other bulls on that wall we would have gladly killed, before the Spider bull. I especially liked the big Typical 6 points that have made central Utah famous.

FH

Monroe Mountain has always been a special draw hunt, but with the taking of this bull, "Special Draw" takes on a whole new meaning. I hunted the Escalante Mountains for several years, unguided but was able to draw for Monroe Mountain.

I agree it's an ugly bull. I'd much prefer a lower-scoring typical 6x6 on my wall. That being said, I find it strange that the guy is being criticized for hunting techniques that are commonplace in Africa. Let the wealthy enjoy their money. It means nothing to me. Trophies are in the eye of the beholder. Where I hunt, ANY legal bull is a trophy.

JV

The spider bull is the world record nontypical Rocky Mountain bull--I keep forgetting that B&C has a nontypical catagory for RM elk now......

The typical record is still that Arizona bull that was killed in the late 60's, and discovered 10 years ago or so......

Casey

I drew "THE" tag a couple of years ago for Wasatch Mountains. Patterned a 400 bull like crazy. He lived in the worst country you could imagine. I did everything right one evening, started to draw back on him at 25 yards and a twig cracked under my boot. I sat down and cried. I got on the bull 3 days later again. He was tough to get on due to the steep terrain and extremely thick brush and poor wind conditions. He and his 29 cows were coming up the trail towards me at 400 yards, right on schedule. The wind was finally right and all was well. I was going nuts waiting for him to herd his cows along. Suddenly a rifle shot rang out with the "thwack" that comes shortly after it. Yup, he got poached right out from under me. I never caught the guy and try as I may, couldn't locate the dead bull. I cried a lot that day. I had one day left to hunt, so called in and wacked a nice 5x6 bull. No huge trophy, but with a bow, it is a dang nice bull. I had passed up tons of bigger bulls during the season. I was so fixated on that big bull. I knew I could get him and would have. You just don't see them that often. Then the next night I had 2 350 class 6 point bulls come in on my water hole. Uggg...my luck totally sucks! Flinch

Flinch and others,

My good friend and his brother finally drew Monroe tags this year. Only 16 years of putting in. Anyway, Mike was in bulls the entire time and had a BLAST. He ended up killing a 350 5 point bull on the last night, but had passed on bulls pushing 385 hoping for that elusive 400 point bull. His brother killed a bull around 380.

He keeps telling me to "not settle". I have 9 points going into this next draw and find myself willing to "settle" for a different hunt. I know I could draw several tags for archery, but shoot, for a once in a lifetime hunt, I think I should have my rifle with me. Decisions, Decisions.

Sorry about your bull being poached Flinch. I think I read that story before. Still what JV said about any legal bull, seems so true here in the general seasons too.

FH