05/23/2017
MOUNT FROM MASSIVE, ILLEGALLY KILLED ELK FINDS NEW HOME
After touring the country as part of a traveling display, the mount made from a giant, illegally killed Pennsylvania bull elk has come home to Clearfield County.
Representatives from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation at a recent ceremony in Clearfield, Pa. presented the mount of the now-famous “Historic Pennsylvania Poaching Bull” to Clearfield County District Attorney William A. Shaw Jr., who prosecuted the poachers responsible for the unlawful killing.
Because of the historic significance of the elk, Shaw made arrangements for the trophy to be on permanent display at the Clearfield County Historical Society, where it is available for public viewing.
Killed unlawfully in a 2014 poaching spree near Karthaus, Pa., the bull is one of the largest on record in Pennsylvania. Its official Boone & Crockett measurements of 432 7/8 inches would rank as Pennsylvania’s third-largest bull elk ever, had it been lawfully harvested.
The mount is so big, in fact, the historical society had to do some remodeling before putting the bull on display, said the organization’s vice president Susan Williams.
“We completely remodeled a room to house it, and we have a number of artifacts of historic importance on display alongside it,” Williams said.
The 10- by 9-point bull was mounted courtesy of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which last year included the mount in its traveling Great Elk Tour display, which made 24 stops in 20 states. In Pennsylvania, the tour stopped at the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg in February 2016, and in Benezette, Elk County, at the height of the September bugling season.
Information Courtesy of Email Updates from Pennsylvania Game Commission www.pgc.pa.gov