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Minnesota Biggun

This is a pretty cool. The bro said years ago some elk escaped from an elk farm and he use to go over and look for them. I guess the gene pool is pretty strong in that area. Didn't know Minnesota had enough elk to hunt...much less August hunts.

Hunting Published 2 hours ago Minnesota hunter's bull elk deemed second-largest ever shot in state Hunter had reportedly been tracking herd 'for weeks'

No bull here.

A Minnesota hunter has broken a state record after shooting a giant bull elk, as it has since been declared the second-largest ever harvested in the North Star State.

The Boone and Crockett Club has formally recognized Lacey Lupien's massive bull elk, shot near her Lancaster home over the summer, as the second-largest Minnesota elk in the books, the Star Tribune reports. North America’s oldest wildlife conservation group (founded by Theodore Roosevelt in 1887) certified that Lupien’s prize had a 7-by-8 rack, with a net score of 367 2/8, according to WCCO.

On Aug. 6, the nurse was on the lookout in a neighbor's box stand when the bull elk emerged from the woods. The Tribune reports that the animal looked familiar, as the hunter, her husband and children had been tracking a herd near their Kittson County home "for weeks."

Lupien was able to shoot the elk from 250 yards away, and it dropped soon after.

“We heard it crash into the woods,’’ the hunter recalled. “It was so exciting.’’ Notably, Lupien received one of just 44 elk tags distributed through the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ license lottery this year. Now, she and her family have three freezers full of meat to last through the winter.

The Boone and Crockett Club was contacted for further comment on the impressive take.

https://www.foxnews.com/great-outdoors/minnesota-hunter-bull-elk-state-record

I'm amazed at the big bulls that have been taken in MN in the past decade or so.

Manitoba elk herd cross back and forth from Canada and NW MN. Not relative to escaped pen elk.

I used to deer hunt in that area. Setting on stand one afternoon and I could hear cow elk mewing - herd of 15 came through the thick stuff about 150 yards away. Pretty cool.

Another nice one a few days earlier

Easy load

The bro said the escape happened circa 2004. I'll try to find out more on it.

There have been elk in limited numbers in Minnesota for many few years, but the herd has been increasing and expanding in a couple primary areas due to migration from neighboring herds and areas. I tend to believe that the size of the elk being taken recently (the one photographed is hardly the only monster) is related to limited hunting pressure and quality feed from agriculture. It is a once in a lifetime tag and there are few tags issued annually. Based on my own observations over the past several years, it seems that the herds are expanding into new areas and could be growing. This includes getting a young branch antlered bull on trail camera this fall 40-50 miles from the nearest herd and last summer seeing a spike bull and mature cow 70 miles from the nearest herd on multiple occasions. It will be interesting to see how they progress over the next decade(s).

FWIW, elk are native to Minnesota historically. I know someone who has found sheds off of bulls that have to date hundreds of years (dug out out from under tree roots in a swamp with shovel and saw after seeing a tine poking out). Based on the size of these sheds, I would suggest the good genetics have long been present in the region.

From the bro....

"Game farm in Hallock 25 m south. Herd went north and mixed in with group in Canada. They move back and forth across border."

I did a little looking around as I was getting curious. I read some articles saying over 425 deer and elk have escaped Minnesota game farms. I found a power point talking about the elk in northern MN. This was one of the slides which jives with what the bro was saying. I guess when the folks are seeing "wild" elk with ear tags or holes....that's a clue they escaped from the elk farms.

The Minnesota Elk Breeders Association has a power point saying some of their members are growing elk over 500 inches in SCI. Imagine one of those escaping to the wilds.

That same herd of elk runs up into MB. I’ve for some hunting land with trail cam pics of elk that way, unfortunately we can’t hunt that herd - no season.

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