| Show where b ara are ic k the R record ee bord beitf mft m g ah 6 game ame heads H ea d s V r v q v VI ad 9 A RECORD 14 PRON A A RECORD 1 mooar 0 1 5 1 1 or ira V WORLD WOR LD RECORD ELK BIGHORN are EP A A by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HERES a big game hunt on at present unique in ID the annals of american sport it a case of a hunting party armed with high power rifles anti and all the other up to date equipment with which the modern nimrod supplies himself setting betting out on an expedition to the remote regions where may still be found the relatively few survivors of the millions 0 of buffalo moose elk deer antelope mountain sheep and mountain goat behr bear and mountain lion which once roamed this continent neither are these hunters going out with the avowed purpose of further decimating the numbers of american bis big game instead they are going out with believe it ot or hotl tape measures and pencil rad aid paper certainly not very deadly weapons and they will be concerned not with killing more big game but with animals that have already been killed which Is by way of saying that the purpose of this big game hunt built la Is to find out aut where are the worlds record big game heads who was the hunter who secured these trophies where were they secured who owns thera them now etc for four years the new york zoological society has carried on an active campaign to locate 0 o all the largest heads of american game during that time it has established the national collection of heads and horns and has brought together the finest collection of 0 these trop trophies bJes in the world housing them in a fine building dedicated to the vanishing big game ot of the world in december of last year it published a book called records of north american big game prepared by a committee composed of prentiss N gray editor kermit roosevelt madison grant IV redmond cross george harrlson harrison and 13 0 hubert litchfield in compiling this work more than questionnaires were sent out and the aid of more than sportsmen mu peum and owners of trophies was enlisted A standard method of measurement was developed and all measurements submitted for inclusion in the record were required to be made by one of the operating cooperating co museums or a representative sent senta a tite tive of the national collection of heads and horns from the several thousands measured 1 a total of trophies trop liles were selected for I inclusion in the record making it ft a veritable almanac de gotha of the monarchs of the plains and mountains the book was wag divided into 13 sections dealing with all varieties of bl big ganie gama on this continent and each section was edited by an authority on the species among them such nationally known scientists anti and sportsmen na as dr george bird grinnell grannell erne it Thor thompson upson seton dr 0 uart hart merriam Merr laia samuel merrill AI errill wilfred 11 II osgood 11 II E anthony madison grant E W nelson ma maj 11 A Gold goldman nian dr thomas barbour edmund seymour thierry mallet and 0 11 II townsend the society la Is now nov planning to issue another edition of the records to bring it up to date and during the coining year its oft lelal measurers measure rs will spend considerable tinie time in various carious parts ot of the coun country try especially in the rocky mountain states visiting every town to measure trophies we know that many tine fine trophies must exist tn in homes hotels and cares in thesul till towns or of the rocky Mount mountain aln states and we wish to locate and measure as many of them as ai los IOB sible says prentiss N only gray editor edito ot the 11 e orda it Is quite possible that among them we shall find some worlds records such heads head have a considerable monetary value and while we have no interest Inte iest in purchasing any heads bonds doubtless many persons who possess trophies large enough to be listed in the records would be glad to realize on them or at least to know that they are valuable those in charge of the records Ito cords have been obliged in the past and tills this holds good for the future also to accept measurements authenticated by recognized natural history museums or their own representatives representative tills this Is not it a reflection ou nil the honesty of the measurements measure menta of the owner of the trophy but they early discovered that some overzealous over zealous taxidermists con leered ild eroil lie it rood good practice and pleasing to their METHOD TOR FOR MEASURING clients to alter trophies in order to increase measurements they found that moose horns had bad been steamed or the skulls split and the spread thereby increased additional points had been glued to elk antlers anglers ant lers the climax was reached when they discovered one taxidermist who specialized in making record heads one product of his shop shoil a rocky Mount mountain aln bighorn had been built up of horns from three separate sheep sections were fitted cleverly together and the final product a worlds record was sold for a fancy price thus to have any real value every head listed in the records must be measured by me men T who know how and who can guard against such practices above Is shown the method of measuring elk heads and deer heads all measurements to be made with altha a steel tape the following rules are given to explain and supplement the diagrams shown above deer A length on outside curve curre measured along the main beam from the base of the bu burr rr to the end of the most distant point 13 circumference of main beam taken midway between the basal snag and the first fork 0 0 circumference of burr D greatest spread measured between perpendiculars ulars at extreme width of horns at right angles to the center line of the skull points no point shall be counted unless it protrudes at least one inch ner remarks narks state whether the trophy has any characteristics which depart from the normal for this species elk A length on outside curve measured along the main beam from the base of the burr to the tip of the most distant point on the main beam B circumference midway between bez and trez C circumference of burr 1 D greatest spread measurement between perpendiculars nt at right angles to the center line of the skull points on each side no point shall be counted unless it protrudes at least two inches remarks state ii whether hether the trophy lifts has any characteristics which depart from the normal for this species Sli similar allar charts have been devised for other species of big game and the national collection of heads and horns Is asking ashing anyone who has a trophy that exceeds the following measurements mule deer length on an outside curve 26 whit whitetail tail deer length on outside curve 2 bison length on outside curve 14 elk wapiti i length to on outside curve 54 31 noose se spread pea 66 56 sheep length on oa front curve 39 goat coat length on an front curve 10 giray bear length of 0 skull 12 black bear length of skull 12 mountain lion length of f skull kull 1 7 to submit the record of his trophy for inclusion in the official records and also to learn how it rates with the worlds record heads incidentally there Is a patriotic angle to this unique big game hunt for many of the tae record american trop trophies ble are owned in england rather than in this country this Is true of the worlds record mule muleteer deer which blitch was killed hilled in wyoming but which Is now cow owned by an englishman the largest elk head in the world was killed in wyoming and Is today hanging in a castle at horsham england it has a length on the longst ost horn born of 0 t inches a spread of 52 inches with seven points on one antler and sli air on the other twenty four of the alie 40 worlds record elk bonds are owned by englishmen and only 10 are owned by americans it Is interesting to note that this sort of thing has been going on for three centuries the first collection of 0 american big game trophies of which we have record was made by queen dupen eliza beth during the sixteenth century her officials in the transatlantic col colonies onles were commissioned tv to send back to angland the finest specimens obtainable in the new world As a result five great moose heads were shipped chipped to england and found a place of honor in the great hall of hampton llan ipton court palace over the dais where a succession of sovereigns has dined on state occasions occasion the pres present e nt day visitor will recognize them with son some e difficulty for the officers of the queens household evidently had bad little faith falth in tho the taxidermist f a AP ECORD their time and no scruples against n nature al t ure f talc a k ing the horns were affixed to carved wood wooden replica of cervus claphus the european red deer the game animal with which the english wood bood carvers of ct the day were most another american trophy owned by british royalty Is a magnificent pair of moose horns which wa was s presented to the prince of 0 wales walea later king edward VII during his visit to america in the seventies the weight of the dried skull and horns la Is said to have been 50 56 pounds and the antlers anglers had a spread of 70 inches in 1698 1898 an american trophy exhibition was held in london and among the exhibits there was an elk head bead shown by A L tullock esq which had lleen been killed in montana in 1883 of this trophy it has been written most judges give the palm in beauty to this superb 20 point head bead its size and points have been exceeded but its massive beams beam perfect symmetry and wonderful pear lings are so far unrivalled As early as titled englishmen were coming to this country for big game hunting and in an article which appeared inthe in the june 1894 issue of the old cosmopolitan magazine under the title of famous hunting parties ot 0 f the plains col IV F cody buffalo bill tells of some of them as follows the first great hunter who came to this country in search of big game of whom w horn I 1 have knowledge was sir george gore I 1 was a boy at fort leavenworth in 1853 1833 when he be arrived there from london and fitted out his expedition at that time buffalo elk deer and antelope were so nuat numerous erous upon the plains and all through the rocky mountain region that we ne frontiersmen were naturally somewhat surprised to find that an lish gentleman would come all the way across the ocean and make the tedious journey from the seaboard to the frontier with no other end in view lew than the chase sir john watts garland was another great english huntsman ile he came over oer here about 1809 at different points on the plains and la in the mountains lie established camps and built cabins to which lie he would return regularly about once every two years in his absence his horses and dogs were left at these camps in charge of oc men employed for that purpose the third of the great hunters whom I 1 have known was lord adair who Is now the earl ot of dunraven Dun raven owner of the famous valkyrie lie ha came with doctor kingsley it brother of charles Hing hindsley sley the well known author and arrived at fort mcpherson on the platte river about eighteen miles from the town of north platte lord adair was the first of these visiting sportsmen ports men that I 1 remember to have had a military escort garland and gore provided their own later he be purchased a hunting park of his own being interested only in sport such hunters as sir george gore and sir john garland were willing to stay in the field long enough to get really good heads they had a better chance than the present day hunter to find n record head bead because the herds of elk had not been so badly shot up or their winter range so restricted that it was necessary to winter feed them good heads were common as the animals were stronger strong pr and more rugged the englishman knew the value of record heads and he carried back his own trophies plus the lie best heads lie could purchase for resale at home therefore today the collections of game trophies trop liles in england contain the very best examples c of our american big biff game but in tha words word of sponsors of the present big ganie game hunt now being conducted under the auspices of the new york zoological 80 society clety we want to return the record of both elk and deer to the united states tind and it Is probable that in some attic or home in the rocky mountain states the worlds record enn can be found Q bv b western union |
