Rompola Buck Update

[Plebe]

That's not a dragon. I'm assuming that if we wanted to see that buck and lay hands on it, we could. Unlike the rompola buck.

But people saw the Rompola buck and laid hands on it as well as the horns. It's just the garage is locked, and folks want to know if the deer is really a dragon. That's what makes it fun.

I wonder if Milo travels around with the real rack...or a copy?

 

[Plebe]

Never held them myself, and as far as I know “the” buck has never been confirmed that Mitch did taxidermy on it (could be that I just don’t know, I’m not a Rompola scholar) but many of the people who have allegedly seen/touched the buck have said no, it doesn’t pass muster. As far as I can tell, the only people who have definitely touched the rack and allege it to be completely real are the ones who actually had something to do with its scoring. Fishy? at least. Convenient? maybe. Conspiracy? fun to entertain. I’m super moderate on it but if those racks/pics look weird to my relatively inexperienced eyes, then I’d have to assume the real things were either WAY more convincing somehow (camera adds 15 pounds to the ears kinda thing maybe?) OR more likely IMHO, there are poor mounts and inside players and secretive half-truths.

Can you point me in the direction of the many naysayers who saw and handled the buck?

 

[HaunSolo]

Here's a picture of the Rompola buck with his testimony for the Buck Fever Synthetics.

I mean this dude had everything to gain if he proved his buck was legit. He obviously was chasing records and he would have the number one buck in the world and all the money and sponsorships that come with it.

I think Rompola did something fishy and when he started getting scrutinized hard about it he backed off into obscurity rather than have people find out what he did.

 

[DelaWhere_Arrow]

Can you point me in the direction of the many naysayers who saw and handled the buck?

Probably not, but like I said, I’m a moderate at best. I can’t actually qualify that particular point without doing homework I have neither the time nor the energy to do, but let me rephrase it this way: from the coverage I’ve seen and heard, people such as the D&DH guys, John E, stuff I’ve seen on threads and such (always suspect), it sounds like some people who may or may not have been around “the” buck but did not get to be physically present for the scoring seem to think it’s BS.
TBF, I’m likely reading FAR into things that really go in one ear and out the other, background podcasts and articles while I change diapers and make sandwiches, do house work, etc. I’m not bullish on anything and I certainly don’t care enough to qualify my perception of peoples’ opinions who have chosen to share them and are clearly bitter enough to complain on Generic Hunting Radio or in Generic Hunting Periodical.

 

[Weldabeast]

Everyone always references the "shady past" of this guy....what did he do that tarnishes his street credit so bad

 

[Nutterbuster]

Supposedly the Rompola buck burnt up in a house fire.

@Plebe, THAT'S what a dragon looks like!

 

[Swampwalker]

Here's a picture of the Rompola buck with his testimony for the Buck Fever Synthetics.

I mean this dude had everything to gain if he proved his buck was legit. He obviously was chasing records and he would have the number one buck in the world and all the money and sponsorships that come with it.

I think Rompola did something fishy and when he started getting scrutinized hard about it he backed off into obscurity rather than have people find out what he did.
View attachment 81360

I think you're probably right. Though I'm far from convinced it had anything to do with his possible record deer. I remember when he did the advertisement for Hawgs Ltd.

 

[Noonespecial]

“The Rompola Story” a time the hunting industry went woke. Fake a deers rack, claim it to be real, hold it to no accountability, breaks all the old records and gets put on the front page of several outdoor magazines. Hey I identify the buck I shot as the new world record. Dang it all started here! Lol

 

[Plebe]

as bad of a taxidermist as i see in his pictures, theres no way in hell he could have faked anything.

It is bad, right. But probably close to average back then.

I think it's important to consider this buck was shot in 1998. In the mid 2000s, I was just able to get dial up in Grand Traverse. Word of Milo Hanson's 1992 world record typical was by telephone and magazines. Cell phone cameras and trail cameras were not a thing. More like, film and fotomats. Camcorders were only slightly better than Clark Griswold's JVC. Va Va Voom!

Through increased information sharing and advancements in equipment and materials, the "average" taxidermist is able to put out a far better product today than in 1998. (Although there is still a fair bit of awful work).

Keeping that in mind there are some possibilities:
1. taxidermy was so archaic at the time that no one would think to look for signs of a fugazi
2. a Buffalo Bill quality skin suit was a red-heron for Mitch's savant talents in antler manufacture and/or alteration
3. Mitch had an accomplice who actually was a savant, with skills 10-15 years ahead of his/her time
4. everyone who saw and handled the deer was too excited to notice obvious things of concern, or too unsavvy
5. a combination of factors
6. the rack was legit

Splitting and altering a skull plate to achieve a wider spread, that would have been at Mitch's skill level. Swapping racks on a dead deer and sewing it up for a photo, sure. Staining and painting shed antlers, antler repair with epoxy putty, he could probably dabble. Constructing, molding, and casting a polymer rack of WR size, probably not. Constructing, molding, and casting a convincing polymer rack of the right weight, density, and porosity, very doubtful. But lets say yes.

So, the working hypothesis is Mitch used some or all of these skills for a little charade. Except he's obviously so poor at it that his ruse is plain to everyone who sees his bucks, except those who do so in person...

Which leaves us at:
7. Those validating his bucks with first hand accounts are conspirators, fools, (or heavens, victims to threats of silence).
or
6 again.

Nothing is off the table, lol.

 

[thedutchtouch]

Everyone always references the "shady past" of this guy....what did he do that tarnishes his street credit so bad

From what I've read he was arrested for mail fraud while a postal worker and arrested for filming up women's dresses with a camera on a stick. Apparently he was a B+C scorer until this incident, they dropped him after he got charged for the dress thing and he holds a grudge as a result/grudge factors into the not wanting it scored etc. That's secondhand, I didn't fact check much further because ultimately it's all just stories at this point. He's either lying or he isn't, but so what? I really don't get it. He refuses to jump through hoops to make it official, so it's just a story, take it on faith, or don't. I don't. But I honestly couldn't tell you where any of the other world record bucks were shot, by who, their score etc, just not my thing.

In my opinion we can all move on knowing that we still have roughly zero chance ever shooting a buck like that because it's either super rare or not real, so the accomplishments of another hunter that kinda wants attention kinda doesn't... Doesn't matter to me. If the mount resurfaces and gets x-rayed, great, there's the answer, but until that point it's a bunch of people telling stories about something that may or may not have happened years ago. Counterpoint opinion- great off-season topic, keep it going lol.

 

[Plebe]

@Plebe, THAT'S what a dragon looks like!

Must be real then, no heatless-flames

 

[HaunSolo]

It is bad, right. But probably close to average back then.

I think it's important to consider this buck was shot in 1998. In the mid 2000s, I was just able to get dial up in Grand Traverse. Word of Milo Hanson's 1992 world record typical was by telephone and magazines. Cell phone cameras and trail cameras were not a thing. More like, film and fotomats. Camcorders were only slightly better than Clark Griswold's JVC. Va Va Voom!

Through increased information sharing and advancements in equipment and materials, the "average" taxidermist is able to put out a far better product today than in 1998. (Although there is still a fair bit of awful work).

Keeping that in mind there are some possibilities:
1. taxidermy was so archaic at the time that no one would think to look for signs of a fugazi
2. a Buffalo Bill quality skin suit was a red-heron for Mitch's savant talents in antler manufacture and/or alteration
3. Mitch had an accomplice who actually was a savant, with skills 10-15 years ahead of his/her time
4. everyone who saw and handled the deer was too excited to notice obvious things of concern, or too unsavvy
5. a combination of factors
6. the rack was legit

Splitting and altering a skull plate to achieve a wider spread, that would have been at Mitch's skill level. Swapping racks on a dead deer and sewing it up for a photo, sure. Staining and painting shed antlers, antler repair with epoxy putty, he could probably dabble. Constructing, molding, and casting a polymer rack of WR size, probably not. Constructing, molding, and casting a convincing polymer rack of the right weight, density, and porosity, very doubtful. But lets say yes.

So, the working hypothesis is Mitch used some or all of these skills for a little charade. Except he's obviously so poor at it that his ruse is plain to everyone who sees his bucks, except those who do so in person...

Which leaves us at:
7. Those validating his bucks with first hand accounts are conspirators, fools, (or heavens, victims to threats of silence).
or
6 again.

Nothing is off the table, lol.

Nick Davis from North Carolina faked his 200"+ deer in 2015 by screwing on a set of sheds from a Pennsylvania buck onto a three point deer he had shot. It was crude and was caught by conservation officers. Davis ended up facing charges.

Wayne Long from New York shot his 200"+ deer on a deer farm and then moved it to a different county where he claimed he shot the buck. He ended up receiving a ticket.

North American Whitetail did a whole series on buck hoaxes. In one article, they show a picture of a 240"+ deer from a guy named Steven Mullins who claimed he had killed the buck in Manitoba. It turns out, the rack was completely synthetic and made in New Mexico. Mullins took the synthetic rack and put it on a skull plate and put a cape on it. The picture of his rack appears to be from the late 80's early 90's.

According to the article, synthetic materials for repairing racks started being widely popularized in the 80's.

Maybe Rompola's deer was a free range monster. Maybe he shot it at a farm and claimed it somewhere else. Maybe he took the sheds of a high fence deer and put it on a free range buck and his buddies who came over to see it were so in awe that they didn't approach it from a skeptical perspective. Maybe he made a synthetic rack. I don't know. But none of it adds up - especially for a guy who had everything to gain by killing the world's largest typical buck.

 

[GCTerpfan]

arrested for filming up women's dresses with a camera on a stick.

Haven’t heard that one and I’m struggling to believe it. How was that accomplished with 1998 tech? A VHS camcorder duct taped to a broom handle?

 

[thedutchtouch]

Haven’t heard that one and I’m struggling to believe it. How was that accomplished with 1998 tech? A VHS camcorder duct taped to a broom handle?

I'm just copying what I've read, which can be dangerous, dunno. It does seem a heck of a lot harder to accomplish in the 90s than with all the hidden camera crap we have today. (No I'm not trying to turn this into another game camera thread lol) I can't remember if this was "rompola shady past" or "rompola dress stick" but it's repeated in most results (details below the titles). Looks like it was at a cherry/music festival so probably taking advantage of distracted crowds/passing the camera off as filming the stage is my uneducated guess

 

[BackSpasm]

I find the whole situation pretty interesting and personally, I think there is NO WAY that it is legit for a number of reasons. However, the top ones I have are:

1. the multitude of freaky wide crazy looking bucks (which are basically unheard of in that area according to the expert in the OP's article) he was able to knock down as he was probably honing his fakery craft and building confidence that he could get away with a giant. Look at Eberhart who is an actual killer and the bucks he has shot on the wall. I don't see anything like those consistent wide typical frames that ole mitchy was putting up. When have you ever seen "genetics" so strong that every big buck looks just alike?

2. The fact that the rack burnt up in a housefire, when has that ever happened to a world record deer that has been chronicled in magazine. What a coincidence that he wouldn't let it be examined officially, didn't invite his expert neighbor over, refused to provide any proof and then "poof" it goes up in flames never to be officially checked. Oh and all this for a deer that was 220 inches....

 

[Plebe]

North American Whitetail did a whole series on buck hoaxes. In one article, they show a picture of a 240"+ deer from a guy named Steven Mullins who claimed he had killed the buck in Manitoba. It turns out, the rack was completely synthetic and made in New Mexico. Mullins took the synthetic rack and put it on a skull plate and put a cape on it. The picture of his rack appears to be from the late 80's early 90's.

According to the article, synthetic materials for repairing racks started being widely popularized in the 80's.

Widely popularized, you'll have to define that for me. It is now 2023; call around and see how many taxidermists you can find that will do a custom replica rack...I mean actually do it rather than send it out and charge you a percentage off the top...and of those who take on the job, how many of those can do a bang up job?

There were specialists, sure. Klaus Lebrecht for one. He had that kind of talent at the time and was lucky to have had an opportunity to study under Joe Meder, a renown taxidermy expert and world champion (owing much to lengthly study of his own penned deer); If you have a deer mount, it might be on one of his forms. Were there some others up to the task, I suppose. But ask yourself, was Mitch Rompola amongst them. Ok, maybe.

Taxidermy was for a long time a business learned through apprenticeship or mostly on one's own. Secrets of the trade were just that, secrets.

But there were some trade schools, associations, and publications like the Taxidermy Review and Breakthrough Magazine before the taxidermy.net forum really got things cooking for awhile.

I have no idea what Mitch's pedigree in taxidermy is, other than he didn't study with Joe Meder.

But maybe he had some inspiration. From a quick search of the Breakthrough Magazine index, there are some articles of interest:

Restoring weathered antlers, issue 32 (1992?)
Care of replica antlers, issue 49, fall 1997.
* Reproduction Antlers with Skulls - Jeff Kuhn, issue 54 (winter 1998)

So maybe he read up and mastered replica antlers...knowing that's all anyone ever looks at anyway, lol...and is content putting on his own wall deer mounts that look otherwise, well...

Brilliant, lol.

 

[woodsdog2]

Look at the picture in the lure add. look at the swollen neck, the shading of the hide all the way through. Look at the lighting aspect as it hits the entire picture. To my very untrained eye it looks very consistent throughout. Now if it were fake, how would the deer look so freshly killed? I would think it would take hours to do the requisite work needed for the deer to look that naturally killed in the eventual, final kill picture for which all the glory is sought. Effects of rigor mortis, eye shine fade, matted hide hair etc. none of that is evident whatsoever in the final “doctored up” kill photo. I can’t imagine back in those days the ability to have all of that already completed without some kind of known look at a deer dead long enough that have that “fresh” of a kill photo. We all know just an hour or two after harvest how dead bucks look more dead. Not sure how to word it any differently but with experience we all kind of intuitively know the differences. I’m sorry that kill photo does not look like a deer that has been worked on for a couple of hours mounting a fake rack to it.

 

[Plebe]

Probably not, but like I said, I’m a moderate at best. I can’t actually qualify that particular point without doing homework I have neither the time nor the energy to do, but let me rephrase it this way: from the coverage I’ve seen and heard, people such as the D&DH guys, John E, stuff I’ve seen on threads and such (always suspect), it sounds like some people who may or may not have been around “the” buck but did not get to be physically present for the scoring seem to think it’s BS.
TBF, I’m likely reading FAR into things that really go in one ear and out the other, background podcasts and articles while I change diapers and make sandwiches, do house work, etc. I’m not bullish on anything and I certainly don’t care enough to qualify my perception of peoples’ opinions who have chosen to share them and are clearly bitter enough to complain on Generic Hunting Radio or in Generic Hunting Periodical.

I don't put much thought into whether or not the alleged WR (or any) of the Rompola bucks are true and valid for the record books. They are already widely considered illegitimate. What good does it do to join that camp?

I wonder, from here on out, what's the worst that can happen?

A buck everyone thinks is fake is confirmed as fake? Or proved legit?

It's like Christmas. At first Santa was legit, but then he isn't even real...and before you know it your kid is sitting on Santa's lap asking for a Mitch Rompola replica buck rack for Christmas, lol.

 

[arrow30]

Mitch Rompola replica buck rack for Christmas, lol.

million dollar idea.right there! they will sell like hotcakes. any one want to pre order? might be awhile before manufacturing starts.

 

[1simplemann]

Supposedly the Rompola buck burnt up in a house fire.

Read Post number 7. Supposedly his son said the "fire story" is BS.