Ryan and Josie Muirhead of Roseau, Minnesota, display the massive rack of a bull elk in East Grand Forks, Minnesota on Dec. 28. Ryan was hunting deer with a muzzleloader in Kittson County in northern Minnesota on Dec. 12 when he and a couple of buddies came across the bull lying on its back with its antlers mired in the mud after tripping while crossing a fence. Muirhead and seven others managed to free the elk, but it died two days later. The rack was green-scored at 456 1/2 inches. If the score holds to become official after the mandatory 60-day drying period, it will become the No. 5-ranked elk rack in the world.

A hunter aims his rifle as the sun sets behind him near in the eastern German city of Sieversdorf on November 20, 2010.