A record year for "RECORD-BOOK" ELK at White Mountain

The results are in, and . . . it doesn’t get much better than this! With the conclusion of the 2001 season, the White Mountain Apache Tribe’s world-renowned trophy elk hunting program is poised to set a new single-season record for the greatest number of bull elk to be eligible for entry into the Boone & Crockett Record Book. Based on unofficial ‘green’ scores of elk taken during this year’s trophy hunt, a total of 10 clients harvested Rocky Mountain Bull Elk having antlers that exceeded the minimum scores needed to qualify them for entry into the B & C Record Book. White Mountain’s previous single-season record for the greatest number of bulls that qualified for record-book status was 8 during the 1998 season.

The Tribe’s Wildlife & Outdoor Recreation Division provides fully-outfitted, guided trophy elk hunts out of three separate camps on the 1.6 million acre Fort Apache Indian Reservation during the mid-September to early October time-frame, which coincides with the peak of the elk rut. In 2001, each of the three hunt camps produced bulls qualifying for the record-book, with 8 bulls surpassing the mythical 400-point range. Of the ten B & C caliber, bulls taken during this year’s trophy hunt, five each were in the "Typical" and "Non-Typical" categories.

The Maverick Elk Camp in the southeast portion of the Fort Apache Indian Reservation was the big winner in 2001, with 8 hunters taking bulls that unofficially surpassed B & C record-book scoring plateaus. The Sunrise Camp in the northeast, and the Cibecue Camp in the western section of the Reservation each produced bulls that exceeded B & C record-book minimums.

According to Tribal biologists, overall results of the White Mountain Apache 2001 trophy elk season reflect a camp-wide average "gross" B & C score for all bulls harvested of a phenomenal 370 points! Hunter success was also near all-time highs, reaching a total of 90% for all three camps combined. While improved relative to results from prior, drought-affected seasons at White Mountain, the 2001 Trophy Hunt Season results continue to reflect the strong tradition of the White Mountain Trophy Hunting Program.

Since the inception of the program in the late 1970's, the Tribe’s Wildlife & Outdoor Recreation Division has guided clients to over 100 Rocky Mountain bull elk that now reside in the B & C record books, more than any other entity of comparable size in the world.