Wildlife biologist and hunting guide Tim Carpenter rarely gets a day to hunt for himself. So when he got a tip about a big bull from a friend who knew he had the tag, Tim wasted no time locating the big Roosevelt’s elk. Carpenter killed the bull on September 21, 2023. No stranger to big elk, Carpenter has multiple Roosevelt’s elk in the records, including a 2011 bull that scored 398-1/8 points. “It is very rewarding to be part of any successful Roosevelt’s elk hunt,” Carpenter says.“It is that much more rewarding when we are able to take animals that are mature—or even past their prime—and are Boone and Crockett animals.”

Roosevelt’s elk are one of three subspecies of North American elk for which the Boone and Crockett Club keeps records. Named after Club founder Theodore Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s elk are found exclusively in the Pacific Northwest, ranging from northern California up through British Columbia’s mainland and into Alaska.

They are the biggest elk subspecies, with bulls weighing as much as 1,100 pounds. You might assume Carpenter’s bull would have had a huge body because it sports a world’s record rack, but that wasn’t the case. “You’d think that packing antlers around like that, it would be beefier,” Carpenter says. “The elk’s body was the average size of a mature Roosevelt’s bull, and his antlers still dwarfed his body. It was probably from a combination of great genetics, perfect environmental conditions, and lots of late rain providing great forage for finishing out antler growth.”