Rompola Buck Update

[BenG]

Hmm....ok that is the most logical scenario if the buck was real. I mean if you're running the long game, the argument that 'no one ever seen the buck before' is plausible. I would hide the buck from public eye until its time. This would also explain why many of the bucks look similar. I'm very strongly against hormone treatment for farm raised bucks because I think that's taking things too far. But I can see how some of the bucks in these photo can pass as 'natural'.

Freak Show Bucks: A Hard Look at Breeding For Antlers

Craig Dougherty investigates the ugly side of deer farming, including this outrageous 561-inch buck.

www.outdoorlife.com

I thought I read this somewhere before too but wasn't sure why it doesn't come up more. Although not an argument as to why he wouldn't x-ray it. I'd hate to think that someone is that sick that they were raising deer just to shoot it and claim fame and fortune. But it does make more sense to me than anything else as it relates to the likely hood of him killing that many state records and freakishly wide deer.

I'm already a naysayer based on other things but here you got a guy that just happens to live or move to the exact tiny pockets of genetically superior deer in two states. He wouldn't have been traveling all over Missouri at 13, at least you wouldn't think. So that deer probably lived right out his backdoor too. Even if he is the best hunter on the universe the chances of that happening are just unbelievable. Then to believe there was free ranging pocket of these ultra wide bucks that only Mitch was able to find and they just happen to live right outside his door.

I just think at the time it was overlooked or unknown how unlikely what he was claiming to be true was and he thought he could get away with it. This was a time before digital trail cams and people didn't know like they do now what was out in those woods. Soon as he got push back he stepped back. Trust is earned and there's every reason not to trust Mitch than to trust him.

 

[boyne bowhunter]

He actually says in that interview that he personally examined the rack and it was weather checked and not legit... but that is his opinion


Noone is debating if 180s exist there.. but 220s? 1 guy getting 5 170-220 inch bucks in 7 years??

In order to be fair here you'd need to be looking at buck pole pictures from the 1990's, not the 2020's. APRs in effect here since 2011 have dramatically increased the size of "big bucks" in the area. I've been hunting 50 years in the Grand Traverse area and can confidently say that in the 1990's a 140" buck locally was a "freak of nature".

Edit: And it still is.

 

[Plebe]

In order to be fair here you'd need to be looking at buck pole pictures from the 1990's, not the 2020's. APRs in effect here since 2011 have dramatically increased the size of "big bucks" in the area. I've been hunting 50 years in the Grand Traverse area and can confidently say that in the 1990's a 140" buck locally was a "freak of nature".

But that also shows…it’s not about the soil. Not to legitimize the buck(s) in question, but the ”couldn’t grow there” argument isn’t the dam that holds the waters back. Age is the predominant factor for maximum buck potential in a given area. Probably followed by annual rainfall.

 

[BTaylor]

But that also shows…it’s not about the soil. Not to legitimize the buck(s) in question, but the ”couldn’t grow there” argument isn’t the dam that holds the waters back. Age is the predominant factor for maximum buck potential in a given area. Probably followed by annual rainfall.

Annual rainfall generally equates to good acorn production and post winter body condition coupled with current year conditions plays a big part. No doubt about it age is the predominant driver though.

 

[Plebe]

Edit: And it still is.

You have much more experience than me as a MI hunter.

But, I lived in Kingsley and hunted NWLP in the mid 2000s. Nobody pointed me where to go and in my first two years of hunting the region I had chances at 3 nice bucks. I estimate they were close to 120" (gun), 140"ish (bow), and assuredly well over 150" (gun).

I'm not so good a hunter to conclude anything other than nice bucks aren't terribly rare in NWLP...but maybe they are and maybe I am

 

[Jefferson10940]

There was a guy on IG posting about this recently. He compared the Rompola buck with another buck that Rompola shot. The facial, hair features were the same, as in he is saying it is the same cape. I will try to find it and post the pic of the side by side here. Pretty convincing to me that it is the same cape.

 

[Jefferson10940]

He made a whole story but that times out. I found this picture. It’s rough hit you get the idea. Same triangle off nose and dark patch by ear.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steve O]

This is very hard for guys that live outside of Michigan to understand. The only two deer taken in Michigan…ever…to look like the Rompola buck are the Rompola buck and the smaller version of it in the Dan Bertalan book.

Mitch was seeking fame and fortune for a long time and put himself in the limelight all the time…until this went too far. Then he went to the “recluse” card. He had deals set up with Scent Lok, Buck Fever Synthetic deer lure, and CSS compound bows. The CSS “Swampaster” came with an art print featuring the said buck with the said bow before the buck was dead.

in the late 90s Traverse City was basically the only city in the NW lower peninsula and has always had very high pressure and the herd had been managed for 20-30 years at that point for maximum opportunity. It was quantity over quality always absolutely. If it was brown it was down everywhere in the state back them.

He went too far and obviously was going to get caught if it were xrayed. If you could take $5000 from your biggest critic and prove him wrong and embarrass him publicly (Craig Calderone; who’s bucks WERE legitimate and killed in a very classic big buck country with tons of private ground) AND cash in on all you endorsements that you worked years to set up AND you could go on your to promote what an expert you were and make BANK a few months of the year and spend all the rest of your time hunting…why not get the x-ray.

 

[Plebe]

If you could take $5000 from your biggest critic and prove him wrong and embarrass him publicly (Craig Calderone; who’s bucks WERE legitimate and killed in a very classic big buck country with tons of private ground) AND cash in on all you endorsements that you worked years to set up AND you could go on your to promote what an expert you were and make BANK a few months of the year and spend all the rest of your time hunting…why not get the x-ray.

Why did Calderone not enter his buck after the three year waiting period and knock Mitch’s buck off the top of the charts?

 

[1simplemann]

There are plenty of decent arguments for the alleged world record buck being fake, but the whole "how could ONE guy kill THAT many records" argument is weak... Look at Sean and Adam Konrad out of Saskatchewan. 2 brothers that have caught 10+ IGFA world record fish and a bunch of other provincial records. Everyone knows the lake they're doing it on... no one else is breaking their records... but they keep breaking their own records over and over and over. Greg Myerson who holds the striped bass world record is another example. Guy catches multiple 60 and 70+ pound bass every year. For anyone that doesn't know striped bass, a 50 pounder is considered a fish of a lifetime, and is about the equivalent of a legitimate (net 170" typical, net 195" non-typical) Boone and Crockett whitetail. I have seen thousands of striped bass get reeled in, and can count on one hand the number of 50+ pound fish I've seen, yet that one guy in Connecticut has caught 5 of them in a night... Sometimes there is just a person that is more dialed in than everyone else at a particular thing...

Fishing and hunting are Similar but different. A friend of mine has caught 3 state record class SMB here in MT. However he did it on a lake that has all the right ingredients to grow 6, 7 , 8lb SMB. The record used to be just below 7lb and now it's 8lb ish. Multiple 7lb'rs have been caught since he caught that 1st 6lb 11 oz fish. The fish are getting to be the right age class, they have plenty of quality food, and hardly any pressure due to it's geographic location. His record was recently broken in the exact area that he caught the other 3. I will agree w/ you that Greg M is on another level when it comes to Stripers. He's also doing it in a region known for world class stripers. TMK he also does it w/ witness's and they've been confirmed. He's catching them where record class live.

 

[Plebe]

Fishing and hunting are Similar but different. A friend of mine has caught 3 state record class SMB here in MT. However he did it on a lake that has all the right ingredients to grow 6, 7 , 8lb SMB. The record used to be just below 7lb and now it's 8lb ish. Multiple 7lb'rs have been caught since he caught that 1st 6lb 11 oz fish. The fish are getting to be the right age class, they have plenty of quality food, and hardly any pressure due to it's geographic location. His record was recently broken in the exact area that he caught the other 3. I will agree w/ you that Greg M is on another level when it comes to Stripers. He's also doing it in a region known for world class stripers. TMK he also does it w/ witness's and they've been confirmed. He's catching them where record class live.

The Great Lakes have numbers of large fish, with World class potential. Yet, it’s surprising to see where some of the state records (have) come from.

 

[Rustystud]

I have two comments if the Rompala buck was in fact a real deer.
1. In the condition that I saw it, it want grow any more.
2. It want naturally sire any more off spring.

 

[BackSpasm]

The Great Lakes have numbers of large fish, with World class potential. Yet, it’s surprising to see where some of the state records (have) come from.

You ever seen a small public lake with tons of pressure produce 5 of the largest smallmouth in state history, cause that is the real fishing equivalent to Mitch here right?

Edit: and one of those fish is about 2 pounds bigger than any fish ever caught by anyone in the state, breaks a world record, but he only shows it to a few people and refused to have it weighed

 

[Plebe]

You ever seen a small public lake with tons of pressure produce 5 of the largest smallmouth in state history, cause that is the real fishing equivalent to Mitch here right?

Edit: and one of those fish is about 2 pounds bigger than any fish ever caught by anyone in the state, breaks a world record, but he only shows it to a few people and refused to have it weighed

Reminds me of the Lake Castaic/ Dixon hay-days of monster LMB fishing before the foul hooked World Record died and the title of World Record went to a fish from a reservoir in…Japan.

 

[1simplemann]

Among the other bucks Mitch has entered in the Michigan record books, Mitch had the Michigan state record for the largest archery killed typical buck that stood for 28 years. That state record buck scored 181-7/8" taken in Grand Traverse County, Michigan in 1985 stood until Robert Sopsich beat it with a 182-1/8" buck taken in 2013.

There's no doubt that hunting trophy bucks in northern Michigan is tough to do, but Mitch has been successful at succeeding at just that. Most Michigan hunters looking for trophy bucks will concentrate on the southern lower peninsula including John E. I'm sure if Mitch chose to hunt in the southern lower where good bucks are more plentiful his record tally would be much higher. Few huge bucks come out of northern Michigan.

There are many facts that point to the buck taken in 1998 being legit. The fact that Mitch is a terrific hunter, he's taken other record book bucks from the same area. Several of Mitch's book bucks bear a close resemblance of the monster buck taken in 1998 so there obviously genic traits that tend to show a gene pool of bucks with wide kind of oddly shaped antlers. If Grand Traverse County can produce a 180" buck, who's to say it can't produce anything bigger? The buck was seen and inspected by quite a few people including a Conservation Officer when it was a fresh kill. How do you fake the antlers on a fresh kill?? I can only imagine it would be a bit time consuming to fake a set of antlers so no one could tell they had been altered. Again, how do you do that on a fresh kill?? Three well respected CBM Scorers inspected it and measured it and swear it's not been altered. Plus I just can't believe a respected scorer himself and the Scoring Chairman of CBM would try to pass off a fake deer to his peers. It's just really hard to believe.

Then there's the facts that point to it being fake. Why would anyone refuse to clear their name when others cry foul and call it a fake? With the amount of money tied to a world record buck and the fame attached, who would pass that opportunity up? That's a pretty hard question to get past. The buck I killed this past season with my bow measured 147" and I chose not to enter it in CBM nor P&Y because there's no real point to it. It's not worth any money nor fame so I didn't see anything to gain from entering it and I can understand someone not wanting to enter a buck. A world record is totally different and that is the way most of us look at it. Why wouldn't you want to enter a new world record buck?? And that is really the only argument anyone can levy against the buck. Why not enter it in the record books, CBM or B&C? It wouldn't qualify for P&Y due to Mitch's bow having more than 65% let off which was a rule at that time. It seems to me there are more qualifying reasons that the buck might be legit than not, but for now we just don't know and maybe we never will...

Fun fact: I am probably one of the few on this site that has actually spoken to Mitch, not that is has any bearing on this topic. Back in the late 80's I killed a buck that scored in the mid 140's. My cousin that same year killed a nice buck that scored 160 but the scorer made a mistake on his scoring of that buck. My cousin urged me to get my buck re-scored so I called Mitch who was the Scoring Chairman at that time. CBM frowns on "shopping for scores" but Mitch okayed me to have another scorer double check the measurement of the first scorer, which yielded no change in the score.

Ricky, I believed in the MR buck did for a lot of years. You obviously have too. That's fine by me. We will just have to agree to disagree. I thought MR was "the man" when it came to killing big deer w/ a bow. The fact that he didn't officially score them didn't bother me at all. I have 10-12 bucks on the wall that will qualify for the P & Y. I've never entered one of them. Never put a single pic up at the archery shop. I don't post them online either. (I will admit that I have texted some pics to few buddies). I don't do it for recognition. I mostly hunt for me. I love the challenge of trying to kill a big buck w/ a bow . It's my passion and I think about it every day. I moved to MT just for that reason. Gene Wensel told me that if I truly wanted to kill a big buck w/ a bow then I would have to hunt where they live. Anyway, at the time MR came off to me as having the same passion only taken to another level. It didn't seem to me hat strange that he didn't officially score it.. I will admit that if by some miracle that I killed a SR or WR that it would almost certainly get scored. The fact that 3 guys "inspected" it is what made me also believe in the buck. In my mind, 3 guys couldn't get it wrong. Since then I've learned, people can be wrong, people can be fooled. They make themselves believe it because they want to even w/ little factual evidence. Here's a true story, I once witnessed a fatality. I'll never forget it. It's etched in my mind. A gal was on her cell phone , she started to slide off the road, she over corrected and rolled her car 3 times. She was dead on the spot. It was her and I on a country road. Absolutely no else for at least 10 minutes till the cops and other passerby's got there. Years later I was talking to a customer of mine and this accident came up. She told me she saw the whole thing happen. I told her she must be mistaken but she was totally convinced that she saw it. I don't think she was lying. She made herself believe it because she wanted it to be true. In her mind, she was there. I know different. Anyway, People have been convicted and sent to prison because eye witness's testimony. They were positive that that person did the deed. There was no changing their mind. And yet DNA evidence proved that the accused could not have done it so they were released. Usually those same witnesses of family members refuse to believe otherwise even though it's been proven to be mathematically impossible. So Now When I look at the numbers and actually think about it, a LOT of things don't add up. We have a guy that's claiming 3 or 4 ST's, a WR and started to do it all before the age of 9, it makes me highly skeptical. It takes YEARS to learn how to consistently put a big buck on the ground w/ a bow. Somehow he's got 2 SR bucks w/ a bow before the age of 13? Then we add in the fact that he's killing not one but multiple big bucks displaying a certain genetic wide trait in an area that is not known for that trait? And that trait is only on the property he's hunting and no where else locally ? Deer don't know property lines. I agree Freak big bucks happen but not that often and definitely not that often to just one guy. In a highly hunted area like GT county, I would be almost willing to bet my house that if some else had killed a freakishly wide world class buck that it would be scored or posted. For sure someone would've seen one a taken a pic. I'm supposed to believe that out of 6 million deer EVER killed in MI since they've been keeping records in MI that He's killed multiple bucks wider than anyone else and by a large margin wider than any other buck EVER killed in the area or the state? It doesn't add up. Then we get to the pics. Show me pics of other bucks where the brows don't come off from above the eyes. I 've seen wide brows before but they all originate from above the eyes in some way, shape or form. Those droopy ears don't bother me either. But that left ear that is lower than the right ear. Any taxidermist that knows his stuff will agree that the ears will always be at the same level. Also there's another pic w/ him w/ different buck taken after the supposed WR buck.. The WHOLE rack is twisted because it's propped up by a stick. I have shown these pics to 3 Taxidermists that are customers of mine. These guys have trained eyes and have been doing it for 20-30 years. They all agree. Something is wrong in most of the pics. In one pic, it totally looks like a doe w/ horns on her head. You should listen to the podcast w/ Nathen Killan. For me it was an eye opener. So in the end, There are just too many inconsistencies for me. For me, Until it's proven other wise then the deer is not legit and mostly likely several of the others are not either. However, it sure fun to talk about in the off season!

I also want to point out to the guys that believe the whole "it real but it's a game farm deer" theory. That's theory is a bunch of BS. If it was a real deer then that game farm would charge a LOT of money for it. I'm sure we all can agree on that. It's also pretty much been accepted that MR is a man of limited financial ability. If MR purchased a WR deer, where did he get the money? The guy was a mail man and lives in a trailer! Logic suggests he couldn't have afforded such a deer even if he wanted to buy it. Then we come to the question that IF such a deer existed on a game farm, how would MR know about it and not anyone else? Why would they sell it to him? Game farms raise deer for profit. I can assure you that if there was a game farm out there that grew a WR deer then they would publicize it on the open market. Such a deer would be well known and go to the highest bidder. Some one w/ MUCH better financial ability than MR would be the highest bidder. Also where are the pics of the deer alive? In this day and age, I'm pretty sure someone would have pics of the deer at some stage of it's life. After all the controversy this deer has caused over the years, it's for almost certain that IF that deer existed on a game farm then someone ( the owner or an employee) would have came forward by now just for the $$. Then we get to the point that IF MR did buy it, what would he buy it for? So he could keep it in his trailer and not let anyone see it? I'm not buy that idea either. People buy game farm deer because they have limited hunting time and ability. Those are 2 traits that by all accounts MR has a lot of. He wouldn't buy a deer even if he could. People buy game farm deer to show them off and say " look at how great of a hunter I am". Are we are supposed to believe that MR bought a WR deer w/ money he didn't have and not show it off to world? Not a chance. It's either a free range deer or a hoax. I'm leaning towards the latter.

 

[ricky racer]

Why did Calderone not enter his buck after the three year waiting period and knock Mitch’s buck off the top of the charts?

He did, however it came to light that he had numerous game law violations including using an artificial light with a weapon in his vehicle on at least two occasions.
After this came to light CBM deliberated and decided it would be best to remove his buck(s) from the records to maintain its integrity.
Caldrone was incensed and felt that Mitch was responsible for removing his buck from the record books since removing Calderon's questionable buck reinstated Mitch's buck back to the top spot.
Calderon in an attempt to try to damage Mitch, started the rumor that Mitch's buck was fake and things snowballed from there.
Again, every eyewitness that saw, handled, inspected or scored Mitch's buck verifies the buck was legit. All of the negative comments have come from those who fell for the rumor started by Calderon. Why Mitch chose not to push back, I don't know.

 

[1simplemann]

I have two comments if the Rompala buck was in fact a real deer.
1. In the condition that I saw it, it want grow any more.
2. It want naturally sire any more off spring.

huh?

 

[DroptineKrazy]

Have to admit that buck taken by Brittany Johnson is a stud with antlers coming off the skull in the same manner as MR bucks.

 

[1simplemann]

He did, however it came to light that he had numerous game law violations including using an artificial light with a weapon in his vehicle on at least two occasions.
After this came to light CBM deliberated and decided it would be best to remove his buck(s) from the records to maintain its integrity.
Caldrone was incensed and felt that Mitch was responsible for removing his buck from the record books since removing Calderon's questionable buck reinstated Mitch's buck back to the top spot.
Calderon in an attempt to try to damage Mitch, started the rumor that Mitch's buck was fake and things snowballed from there.
Again, every eyewitness that saw, handled, inspected or scored Mitch's buck verifies the buck was legit. All of the negative comments have come from those who fell for the rumor started by Calderon. Why Mitch chose not to push back, I don't know.

Didn't he offer 10K to Mitch just to have it X rayed? Regardless of the results.

 

[1simplemann]

Have to admit that buck taken by Brittany Johnson is a stud with antlers coming off the skull in the same manner as MR bucks.

Pics please.