South Dakota man sets world archery mark with bighorn ram kill

Clayton Miller was notified Jan. 24 that the massive sheep he brought down Oct. 30, 2018 was certified as the world's largest. Miller's kill in Pennington County, South Dakota, measured 209⅛ inches, breaking by nearly 10 inches the 1998 mark set by Todd Kirk, the Journal reported.

"I couldn't believe it when I got the phone call that my name had been drawn for the first and only Bighorn Sheep unit in the Badlands of South Dakota! I have been dreaming of the opportunity to draw a tag like this since I started applying religiously at the age of 12," Clayton Miller said in a statement released on the Pope and Young website. "I went into this hunt knowing that there were some spectacular animals in the area, but it was beyond my wildest dream that I would be after the new Pope and Young Club World Record."

Miller's ram is also the largest bighorn sheep scored in South Dakota, regardless of weapon, the Journal reported. Scott Vander Meulen held the record for the ram he shot in 2000 with a gun that scored 191¾ inches.

The ram will be on display at the Pope and Young Club Convention in Omaha, Nebraska, in April, the Black Hills Pioneer reported.