John Plute’s World Record Elk

Measuring 442 3/8 points, this magnificent elk rack, known as the Plute Bull or the Dark Canyon Bull, was shot by Crested Butte resident John Plute in 1899 while hunting in the Dark Canyon of Anthracite Creek, 12 miles northwest of the town of Crested Butte. 

Like much of Crested Butte’s history, the story of John Plute and the Elk lives in the realm of oral history and legend. As the story goes, Plute was a bachelor, coal miner, and skilled hunter. He hunted for meat, which he traded for room and board, so he did not typically pack out antlers, knowing that no one would believe the size of this elk without evidence. Plute stored the rack in John Heuchemer’s shed for a number of years and around 1915, gave them to local saloon owner John Rozich to settle a bar tab. 

On March 19th, 1961, the Plute Bull was certified as the new typical world record holder. In 1971, Ed Rozman moved the rack into the Crested Butte Hardware Store, owned by Tony Mihelich (now the Crested Butte Museum). The rack hung there off and on for the next 25 years. During this time it traveled to annual Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation Conventions and other locations around the country. For a few years in the early 1980s, it hung in Rozman’s restaurant at the corner of 6th and Whiterock. In 1996, Ed Rozman and his son Roger moved the rack across the street to the former Stephanic’s General Store. 

Tony’ Mihelich passed away on Christmas Day, 1996, and the Crested Butte Hardware Store, affectionately known as Tony’s Conoco, was closed indefinitely. Stephanic’s also closed later that winter, so Ed and Roger Rozman placed it in storage and sought another location to display the rack. In the summer of 1997, the local Chamber of Commerce raised the funds to keep the rack in Crested Butte and placed it on display in the visitor center at the 4-way stop. 

In 2001, the Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum purchased and rehabilitated the former Tony’s Conoco building, turning it into the current location of the Museum. In the fall of 2015, Ed and Roger Rozman put the Plute Bull up for auction to fund Ed’s care in his later years. 

Matt Miles of Montrose purchased the rack and, to the relief of local residents, decided to keep the rack on public display in Crested Butte.

“Matt Miles first saw the antlers hanging in the Conoco when he was a kid. When he heard they were going up for auction 30 years later, he wanted to be a part of it. “I saw the auction notice, but as an elk hunter, if it’s not your antlers, it’s worthless as a personal trophy. But I got to thinking about it and was worried it could end up in some office in Dallas,” Miles told the Crested Butte News. “I felt it needed to stay in Crested Butte so decided to make a run on it and try to keep it in the public eye, as opposed to it disappearing. When the auction ended, Miles was the new owner of the Plute bull, having paid $121,000. True to his word, Miles didn’t hang the rack over his own fireplace. Today, anyone can see those antlers at the Crested Butte Museum, just a day’s ride from Dark Canyon.” (Exerpt from Boone & Crocket Club)

In April 2018, this historic treasure moved back to its former location in Tony’s Conoco, home of the town’s heritage museum and there it remained through 2024. 

In October of 2024, the Plute Bull Rack was removed from the Museum by its current owner, Matt Miles, and there is no known time for its return. We hope to be able to bring the Plute Bull Rack home soon.