Any discussion regarding the biggest elk can take on several meanings. One could be talking about animal body size. In the wild, it could be difficult to find and measure the biggest elk out there. Very often, for trophy elk especially, it's the size and spread of the antlers that finds its way into the record books.
Species is therefore a factor. If we're talking about body size, the Roosevelt elk (also called the Olympic elk) takes the prize, while the Rocky Mountain elk will lay claim to the largest antler or rack size. The official recorder of record sizes for big game is the Boone and Crockett Club. The BCC has specific rules for taking measurements to apply for a record. They also have what is called a "fair-chase hunting" clause. You don't just shoot a trophy-sized bull elk that has been grown on an elk ranch, and kept in a pasture, and expect to claim a record. The fair-chase hunting clause means that you actually killed the animal in the wild, after a fair and legal hunt.
What is now considered to be the world's record for the biggest elk ever taken in the wild, is for a bull elk killed in a Utah hunt in January, 2009. The elk was taken on public land and was credited with a score, which rewards antler size, of 478-5/8 inches. There was an elk killed in Idaho that supposedly scored 502 2/8 but for whatever reason, the Boone and Crockett Club did not recognize this. Up until 2009, the BCC record was 465 2/8, for a bull elk shot in British Columbia in 1994. Montana has had several record-sized elk harvested, the largest scoring 429 1/8. New Mexico and Arizona are the states regarded as the best choices for hunting trophy elk.
Still, when we're talking about pounds of meat, the Roosevelt is indeed the biggest elk. The species was hunted nearly to extinction by the beginning of the 20th century, with only a handful of the animals still in existence at that time. President Theodore Roosevelt played a leading role in first saving, and then reinstating, the species, which numbers over 100,000 animals today. Oregon has biggest elk population as far as Roosevelt elk are concerned, with Washington second. A bull Roosevelt elk will normally tip the scales at around 700 pounds, but males weighing in at 1,300 pounds are not that uncommon.
If you want to go after the world's biggest elk, you have some choices. If it's rack size you're after, you'll want to hunt the Rocky Mountain Species. As we've noted, Arizona and New Mexico are supposedly the places to go for trophy animals, yet the record-setting animals have been taken in states north of there. If it's body weight that's important, Washington or Oregon might be your destination, as it will be Roosevelt elk you'll be hunting. The Roosevelt elk has also been introduced in Alaska, and supposedly some of the larger Roosevelt elk are to be found in our 49th state. So, it's not really all that simple. To get the biggest elk, you might just have to find someone who thinks they may have seen it.
