Okay, you talked me into it! I'll tell you what I think, although I really don't know. What I've got is really speculative circumstantial type stuff, but at the least I do think it warrants investigating by somebody outside Pope and Young.

First, world record elk do not normally come from the state of MT, they come from AZ. Look at the top 20 bow kills in P & Y.

Second, Adams' first bull was killed right at the time that MT voters outlawed game farming. Prior to that, elk farming had become a huge industry, we had a major farm just down the road. These guys were producing 400 bulls like popcorn, then selling them to whoever could pay to come "hunt" them. Now, in a flash, these game farm guys' investment has gone out the window, bulls that were worth thousands of bucks are now worth diddly. Do you think in that environment maybe a guy could buy a big bull for cheap?

So, Chuck Adams kills a new world record bull in that environment, with the help of a guide. Now, when the first article on the hunt appears, Adams goes through this whole song and dance about how the guide DOESN'T WANT HIS NAME MENTIONED. Apparently he's real publicity-shy. For me that's the final straw. I know some bozo will jump up here to defend the guide yada yada. Here's what I say: go talk to 20 guides and ask them how many would try to hide their identity after they led a hunter to a new world record of any kind. I've been doing just this for years since Adams' first kill. I still haven't personally met a guide who doesn't basically guffaw at the whole question. "What, are you kiddin' me?" is the typical response, profanity excluded.

I think, again of course I can't know, that Chuck Adams'bulls in MT have a game farm pedigree. Whether they are bought straight off the farm, or they slip through a "hole" in the fence and Adams just happens to be on the other side, or some guy is doing some midnight "genetic sweetening" on the local wild elk herd, it all seems too fishy to me. I've been close to looking up a good investigative reporter a time or two, but the trail is already cold on the first kill, and I'm not sure I want to stir up the trouble.