A gigantic bull elk, called “Split 5,” hailed as the king of the Estes Park, Colorado, herd, was reportedly legally killed by a hunter, leaving his fans mourning.
The bull was apparently shot during Colorado’s fall hunting season. After the news broke this week that Split 5 was gone, social media lit up with tributes to the legendary bull.
Wildlife photographer and hunter Shane Paul of Cheyenne was a close follower of the Split 5 bull, which was also called Atlas.
He frequently traveled to Colorado to watch and photograph Split 5.
He told Cowboy State Daily that he had mixed feelings about news of the bull’s death.
“As a hunter, if he was legally harvested, I’m 100% supportive of it. But it’s still hard for me, because he was so well-known,” he said.
A Colorado Elk Herd With Wyoming Roots
Split 5 was a dominant bull in elk herd that lives in and near Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado.
Each spring and fall, the herd migrates and essentially takes over the town of Estes Park.
The herd has Wyoming DNA. It descended from elk transplanted from Wyoming in the 1900s, when Colorado had almost no elk left.
“In 1916, Colorado imported 50 elk from Wyoming to re-establish dwindling herds,” according to Colorado Park and Wildlife (CPW).
“The elk were transported and released in Idaho Springs and the Greenhorn Mountains in Pueblo County. From these limited transplants, and through decades of trapping and relocation efforts by wildlife managers, elk populations have soared to the abundant herds for which Colorado is now famous,” according to CPW.
Colorado now has more elk than any other state with an estimated 280,000 to 300,000.
As in Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, hunting is forbidden inside Rocky Mountain National Park.
Paul said it’s thought Split 5 must have wandered outside the boundaries of the park and been shot during one of Colorado’s elk hunting seasons this fall.
Nobody is sure exactly when and where Split 5 was shot, or who the hunter was, Paul said.
And he doesn’t blame the hunter for laying low.
“Knowing how well-known Split 5 was, if I were the hunter I would never share pictures, because you’d become a public enemy,” he said.
What’s In The Name
“Split 5” refers to unusual growth in the bull’s antlers, Paul said. There was a split in the bull’s G5, or the fifth point branching off his main antler beams.
The bull’s size was truly remarkable.
“He had to have been a 400-class bull,” Paul said.
That’s a reference to the Boone and Crockett measuring system for big game trophies. A compilation of measurements, in inches, is taken from several points along the animal’s antlers, then the numbers are crunched into a final score.
Bulls in the 400-inch range are about as gigantic as elk can get naturally. Only captive animals that are fed artificial supplements get bigger than that.
The hunter that shot Split 5 didn’t get the full effect of the bull’s trophy potential Paul said.
This year, the bull’s antlers were broken off in a few places. It was “battle damage” from fights with other bulls during the elk rut, or mating season, he said.
‘Thank You, Split 5’
From a conservation point of view, Split 5’s death is hardly tragic, Paul said.
The bull was thought to be 13 years old, and elk rarely live past 15 in the wild, he said.
So, Split 5 was well past his prime and had already spread his superior genes, Paul said.
During the rut, it wasn’t unusual to see Split 5 with a harem of dozens of cow elk, so he must have countless offspring amid the Estes Park herd, Paul said.
One of Split 5’s favorite hangouts was a field in front of the Estes Park YMCA.
Paul recalls one time, he parked his Chevrolet Suburban in one of the last remaining pullouts at the YMCA, as a crowd had gathered to admire Split 5 and his harem.
His Suburban is custom-made to accommodate a wheelchair. Paul was in an UTV rollover crash during a 2021 hunting trip, which left him quadriplegic, with only limited use of his arms.
That hasn’t stopped him from continuing to enjoy hunting and wildlife photography.
That day in Estes Park, Split 5 decided to go for a walk, and ended up having to squeeze past Paul’s Suburban to get into some timber.
The bull’s antlers were so huge, they didn’t quite fit.
“I could hear them, the whole way down my Suburban, ‘clank, clank, clank’ against the glass,” he said.
Paul was worried Split 5 would shatter the glass, but he didn’t.
Instead, he left a single dent in the vehicle’s side.
As tribute to the bull, Paul plans to get a decal to place over the dent.
“The sticker can read, ‘Thank you, Split 5,’” he said.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
