What a catch.
A man from Tyrone got quite a bit more than he was expecting when he was out fishing on Wednesday.
Raymond McElroy was fishing in Lough Neagh when he pulled in something a little bit bigger than a trout…
McElroy caught an elk’s skull believed to be at least 10,000 years old in his net.
Image via Ardboe Heritage.
It’s bloody huge.
And if you’re wondering whether it was tough to pull something so huge out of the water, it certainly was.
Speaking to Belfast Live, McElroy said: “It came up in the net on the side of the boat. I thought it was a bit of black oak to begin with.
“I was shocked to begin with when I got it over the side and saw the skull and antlers.”
The skull was found in a similar area to where a jawbone from an elk was found in 2014, so it is believed that it is from the same creature.
It is believed that the huge deer became extinct in Ireland roughly 10,000 years ago due to a change in climates.
It might not have been the best of weekends for Tyrone, but this is an absolutely brilliant thing to uncover.
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