Posted: 8/30/05
Elk shot here in 1964 has new home
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Lowell Benekeís face lit up as he looked at the elk head mounted on the wall of Nick Frankís basement on August 24.
It was a happy reunion for Beneke, 69, and the animal that he shot on Saturday, November 14, 1964.
What makes the story unique is that Beneke, then 28, shot the 14-year-old elk on Eulis Ballentineís farm in Winnebago Valley, 12 miles south of Caledonia.
Elk are unheard of in southeastern Minnesota now, and that was perhaps even more the case in 1964, when deer were not nearly as numerous as they are today. The animals, once native to Minnesota were eliminated by hunters in the latter part of the 19th century. The only surviving herd of elk was released in Beltrami County in 1935. Descendants of that herd are still in the northern part of the state.
To make Benekeís hunt even more dramatic, he ran out of shells after wounding the animal. ìHe took after me,î Beneke recalled. He clubbed it over the head with his 12-gauge Savage shotgun. The blow bent the barrel and broke the stock. Beneke said his brother finally finished the animal off, although a Caledonia Argus article from November 18, 1964, stated that Beneke killed the animal with his knife.
Nick Frank had the broken gun, in two pieces, for Beneke to see last week too.
Beneke at first thought the huge animal with the 5-point rack was a white-tail deer. It weighed 450 pounds field dressed, according to the old newspaper article. Beneke says now it was 550 pounds. He and some family members dragged it a mile to his truck, not an easy thing to do. As they did this, they speculated that it was a mule deer.
They took it to Howard ìJuniorî Hauser, who ran a tavern and hotel on Main Street in Caledonia where Main Attractions is now located. Hauser and Lyle Becker immediately identified it as an elk. Many people viewed the elk there. Bill Betz, the city police officer, even parked his squad car in the intersection that night and shined his lights on it so that they could clean it up.
Beneke then took the animal to the Eitzen locker plant, where many people came to view it. It received local newspaper coverage. (Minneapolis newspaper columnist Ron Schara even wrote a column about it in about 1984.)
Local Minnesota Department of Natural Resources game warden, Phil Ham and another big game specialist heard about the elk and confiscated it, since there was no season on it. Beneke did not get a ticket, but the only meat he got from the kill was the heart and liver.
Junior Hauser eventually was able to retrieve the antlers from the DNR, with the help of the Caledonia Rod and Gun Club. They were mounted and hung in his bar for many years.
Eventually the full mount made their way to a granary on the Hauser farm. Thatís where Nick Frank comes in. He married Juniorís granddaughter, Janet Koch. ìIt hung out there,î Nick said of the mount. ìThe hide was decayed and the horns were white.î
Nick got the idea to have the rack rejuvenated and remounted while on an elk hunt in 2001 in Wyoming. His friend, Dan Gran, shot a 5x5 elk, Dan just wanted the antlers, so Nick asked if he could cape it out. Dan said yes, so Nick did that, salted it down, and brought it out.
He wasnít even sure he could do anything with it,but Frank took it to a local taxidermist, who put the two animals together. It took about four years from start to finish to get it all together, Frank said.
He is glad that the elk is now together for all his friends and relations to enjoy.
Caledonia Argus
314 West Lincoln St.
P.O. Box 227
Caledonia, MN 55921-0227
507/724-3475
E-Mail: editor.argus@ecm-inc.com