The Lost 7E Bull story Update

[EagleEye]

Hey guys met up with Steve Chappell at the ISE show. He was able to purchase his antlers back from Game and Fish at the auction for the min bid of 300 bucks.If you had not read the MM post or the one I put on here he lost this bull in sept archery hunt I ended up finding on our cow hunt. But he finally gets to take the rack home. It was very cool to meet him and his family and take some pics. Check out the post on MM for the whole story. What a blessing. Here is a pic we took at the expo.

[bonecollector]

Good news to hear he finally got to take home his rack. Too bad he had to pay that much for it.

[nohoch]

Nice. I was wondering how that was going to turn out. Stinks it still cost him $300, but I guess that's better than not ending up with them.

[CouesWhitetail]

Good to know he got them back finally! Thanks for the followup!

[tjhunt2]

I talked with game&fish at length about Steve's situation and he explain it very clear that all game belongs to game&fish dead or alive. He informed me I was only allowed to pick up sheds that aren't attached to a skull. I don't totally agree with it but that's what was said to me. I was so happy to hear Steve got his antlers back.

 

TJ

[bonecollector]

I thought all wildlife belonged to the state not the g&f?

[Millhouse]

Any ideas what would have happened to the antlers if no one would have bought them?

[DesertBull]

They put a $300 minimum bid on them? What a load of crap. He should have been able to buy them for $1 if no one else wanted them.

 

Antler tax

[308Nut]

That is beyond awesome!! Not so much that he had to pay 300 bucks for them but for the fact that at least he got the trophy that he deserved.

[elkaholic]

ok Steve - no more guess the score - what did your bull score - Gary

[loco4coues]

"I thought all wildlife belonged to the state not the g&f?"

 

+1

[hunterlee]

Well, I guess another good thing that came from this messy situation is that steve will have one heck of a story to tell people when they see these beauties hanging up on his wall.

[elkster9]

Great to hear the antlers were returned to the owner, unfortunately they had to be purchased. I, like the others, think this could have been handled differently. Nice looking Bull!

[Dick]

Unfortunately, like in most all situations, a few ruin it for all. The reasons for Game&Fish making the changes to claiming head sheds etc: was because of illegal take. Poachers would shoot a trophy critter, hide it, cover it with brush or whatever, and later go back and retrieve the head, antlers or whatever. Then they could sell them and collect $1.000's in some cases.

The law now allows someone who finds a dead critter to report it to G&F, they will examine the animal and if they find no evidence that it was shot and it was believed to have died from natural causes, then the finder can claim it. If there is evidence that it was shot then it belongs to the state, in this case G&F as they have been given jurisdiction on managing wildlife in AZ.

A friend found a huge bull buffalo on the Kaibab last year while Buffalo hunting. He contacted G&F, the next day an officer met him at the site, spent a long time with metal detector and physical examination of the animal looking for evidence that it might have been shot. He could not find anything and my friend now has a great trophy on his wall.

When the value of antlers becomes so great, there are people that will stop at nothing to make a buck. We all pay the consequences.

I believe the $300 in minumum bid, otherwise it would have gone on display somewhere or been used by Game and Fish in some manner.

[dusty]

I believe it cost the G@F alot more than 300$ in bad publicity.Just poor judgment period.