300 Weatherby and waited for the bull to reach 150 yards. “We saw him close to 400 yards, so I put him in my scope and the damn thing didn’t even fit in there!”ĭhooghe shouldered his. “We’re all sitting there when up comes this thing,” Dhooghe says. The others were looking for 300- to 400-class bulls, so when they saw the record-sized bull step out, there was no question as to who would take the shot. The next day, he joined a group of four other folks for an afternoon elk drive, where the shooters lined up at the end of a patch of timber and the guides walked through the trees pushing the animals out. Brian Dhoogheĭhooghe shot his first bull (which scored 571 inches) during one of his first mornings on the ranch. It looks like something prehistoric, like, what the hell is that thing?” Brian Dhooghe's bull was given a green score of 648 and 4/8. I mean he’s awesome, but kind of freaky lookin’. And this thing is definitely not that,” Dhooghe says. “They had told us this potential record was walking around, but I wanted a nice, big, sexy-looking bull to mount on the wall. Most of these operations guarantee success. For example, Bull Basin, a high-fence operation in Colorado charges $15,900 for a 381- to 399-class bull. In most high-fence operations, the client chooses which species and size of animal they would like to shoot and then is charged accordingly. He told Dhooghe if they could find it, he could shoot that elk in addition to a mid-500’s bull, and he threw out a price that Dhooghe was willing to pay. The guide mentioned a record-class bull they had walking around the 10,000-acre ranch. He says he had originally paid to shoot a 500-inch bull (for context, the Boone & Crockett Club world-record nontypical elk, known as the famous Spider Bull, scored 478 5/8 inches), but then the head guide made him a deal he couldn’t pass up. The trip was initially booked in 2020, and after a two-year pandemic delay, Dhooghe went out to the ranch last Monday. His trip to Broadmouth Canyon Ranch was a 50th birthday present from his wife. “What the hell is that thing?”īrian Dhooghe never claimed his bull was wild or that he killed it “way out in the boon-toolies.” He says he didn’t travel to Idaho just to shoot a record-sized bull that he could brag about. Outdoor Life was also able to catch up with Dhooghe, who shared the story behind the giant bull. “Brian has been bringing stuff in forever. I took a picture of the rack,” Strode tells Outdoor Life, adding that he knew Dhooghe from processing some of his other animals over the years. But according to Kyle Strode, who works at Bay City Sausage and saw the rack in person, it’s real, alright. Some commenters on the Facebook post questioned if the animal was even real, and a few claimed the pictures were Photoshopped. So, it’s worth taking a closer look at these types of hunts-or shoots-and some of the animals they produce. But still, high-fence hunts are a multi-million dollar business in the U.S., and simply turning a blind eye, or leaving negative comments on a Facebook post, won’t change that. Outdoor Life, the Boone & Crockett Club, Pope & Young Club, National Deer Association, and other hunting organizations do not believe that taking animals behind a high fence qualifies as traditional fair chase. The majority of those comments are negative, as many took the opportunity to criticize the idea of shooting elk on a game preserve. The local game processor shared photos of the massive bull’s rack on Facebook, where they’ve generated upwards of a thousand comments. Brian Dhooghe harvested the bull from Broadmouth Canyon Ranch, and he brought the meat from the animal into Bay City Sausage in Aberdeen, Washington, to be processed last week. Brian DhoogheĪ freakishly huge bull elk that was killed on a high-fence ranch in southeastern Idaho could potentially set a new world record in Safari Club International’s Record Book. Brian Dhooghe with the giant elk he harvested at Broadmouth Canyon Ranch in southeastern Idaho.
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