Michigan Mammoth – A Hunter’s Trophy?

Was the erstwhile woolly mammoth, whose partial remains were recently unearthed an a Michigan farm, taken by hunters, or not? As a die-hard hunter myself, I’d like to think so.

But an article on the National Geographic site says “maybe not.”

In the absence of other lines of evidence such as cut marks on bones, there are other explanations for scattered elephant skeletons in the remnants of ancient lakes and bogs throughout the Midwest, such as the way bodies ‘blo[a]t and float’ before gradually falling apart. ‘We can’t truly evaluate it until it is adequately investigated and published.’

Apparently, our predecessors weren’t all that great at slaying huge critters like woolly mammoths. And why should they? Unless you have a whole slew of mouths to feed, it would be wasteful to kill such a big critter–unless, of course, it was a destructive nuisance.

…of 76 proposed Ice Age mammal kill sites, only 12 in the whole of North America suggest human hunting.

The mammoth bones were reportedly found near primitive tools and stones, and some say that missing bones suggest that hunters may have carried them home for groceries, but who really knows? No studies have been made of the remains as yet.

Still, it’s nice to think how it might have felt for a hairy old hunter to stay a mammoth. Kinda makes my deer trophies seem right puny.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.