It's probably little known to most Americans but NZ received a gift (from TR if memory serves me correct) of several elk in the early 1900s.
They went on to produce some of the world's biggest elk until Red deer spread through and effectively took over (a red stag will always beat an elk being more nimble).
NZ would often compare their biggest to what was observed in the states, I dont think it went the other way as much though. Thats not to say the biggest of the biggest don't exist in America. Someone picked up what they believed to be the world's longest elk cast/shed at the time in NZ being (again from memory) around 65" long. Dont have a pic of it handy though.
This is an example of what used to exist completely free ranging in this part if the world.
On a side note, from then and to this day in the pacific we score deer with the Norman Douglas system as shown above. That's why any free range "record" scored in SCI should be viewed with scepticism. It's effectively removing all locally shot animals. Great example is Jim Shockeys record Australian archery hog deer from a few years back. It's an ok one no doubt but there have been many bigger.
They went on to produce some of the world's biggest elk until Red deer spread through and effectively took over (a red stag will always beat an elk being more nimble).
NZ would often compare their biggest to what was observed in the states, I dont think it went the other way as much though. Thats not to say the biggest of the biggest don't exist in America. Someone picked up what they believed to be the world's longest elk cast/shed at the time in NZ being (again from memory) around 65" long. Dont have a pic of it handy though.
This is an example of what used to exist completely free ranging in this part if the world.
On a side note, from then and to this day in the pacific we score deer with the Norman Douglas system as shown above. That's why any free range "record" scored in SCI should be viewed with scepticism. It's effectively removing all locally shot animals. Great example is Jim Shockeys record Australian archery hog deer from a few years back. It's an ok one no doubt but there have been many bigger.
