This is a bit long but interesting reading. Be curious as to the outcome.
Record Ram or Illegal Kill?
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Talon J. Roberts Outdoor Life writer Andrew McKean first broke the story of this possible record-setting elk, shown here with Pat White, (right) and John Lewton, who stands trial next year for a series of hunting-related crimes. One would think the blogosphere would be buzzing with news of a possible record-book sheep in Montana. But when all is said and done, the spotlight may shift from the hunted to the hunter.
No one is pointing fingers at Pat White of Utah, who deserves credit for connecting with Montana’s next big headline maker. If the kill is legit, it might even set a new U.S. record. The problem — if there is one — is the person with White when he shot the bighorn in Dog Creek, west of the legendary Whiskey Ridge, a maze of gumbo knobs and cliffs that has produced several record-book sheep over the past decade. The companion on the hunt was John Lewton, a suspected poacher who knows that country like the back of his hand and has been involved in one way or another in at least nine big-ticket Governor’s Tag events.
Let’s be clear: For all we know, Lewton might have tagged along with White for the heck of it, and unless wildlife officers decide some laws were broken, we’re looking first at records that appear to be shattered.
Early indications are that White’s sheep will break a five-year state record held by Jim Weatherly, who shot a 204-7/8-inch ram in 1993. But he’s knocking hard on a U.S. record as well. Andrew McKean, who blogs regularly for
Outdoor Life, reported on Sept. 25, that White’s ram, shot on the south side of the Missouri River, stretches 205 inches, with 44-1/2 inch horns and bases that measure a whopping 16 inches. An official measurement will be taken after the mandatory 60-day drying period, but as McKean points out, sheep horns generally don’t shrink as much as deer or elk antlers do, so the final score shouldn’t change drastically.
According to McKean, White drew the only non-resident sheep tag for District 482, and reportedly backpacked some 10 miles to a remote drainage, where he found and shot the ram, then packed out its meat and cape.
Not much else is known about White’s trophy. That’s because news of the potential record breaker has been kept on the down low, maybe on purpose because it’s not yet clear what, if anything, to make of the involvement of John Lewton, a much written-about hunter, suspected of skirting numerous game laws. Montana Fish and Wildlife officials have stayed quiet about the latest potential record-breaker to emerge from their state. But there is little doubt that they are investigating the relationship between White and Lewton, and with good reason.
A Snowball’s Chance
To a hunter, scoring a bighorn sheep tag is kind of like winning the lottery. Actually, it’s more like a snowball’s chance in — well, you know — with odds hovering around half of 1 percent. And some people literally spend a fortune to buy a Governor’s Tag. Last February, the owner of a chain of sandwich shops in Champaign, Ill., got one at auction for $245,000. The highest price ever paid for a Montana wild sheep tag was $310,000 in 1994.
The permit holder is given statewide access to bighorns, and funds generated by those auctions are earmarked for conservation and management. This tag, given the quality of Montana’s trophy sheep hunting, regularly goes for more than $200,000.
Part of the value is the creature itself. Bighorn rams, are famous for their large, curled horns, a symbol of status and a weapon used in epic battles across the Rocky Mountains. Fighting for dominance or mating rights, males face
