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Rompola Buck Update

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I don’t know. Is it a rule that you disclose your honey hole to receive “official” recognition? If so, I volunteer to be a scorer. Lol.
Had to suck me back in didn't you? If I was to shoot a 200" deer in Maine and said I shot it in New Jersey then yes that would disqualify it.
 
I'm about burnt out on this one guys. I have a saying I like to use in instances like this. Is it really gonna matter 100,000 years from now what anybody thinks about this buck? Didn't think so :) Thanks for the entertainment though.

People won’t care what people thought. They’ll want the truth, same as now. Will they get it? Lol.

I feel sorry for anyone looking to check the box “I was right”. If that’s where someone hangs their hat, there’s better hat racks.
 
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Maybe one day after Mitch is dead and gone, the buck will resurface and those of us still around will find out the truth.
Again, I find it amazing that the discussion around this topic still generates such strong emotions and feelings from uninvolved parties. That said, I'm not sure the real truth will ever come out even if the rack resurfaces. It's entirely possible that the rack is real but the narrative surrounding the circumstances are not. The only one who knows for sure is the shooter himself, at this point he's not willing to share (or be believed depending on the viewpoint).
 
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Wait . . . that's all it takes to get a world record whitetail? Crap, I passed three of those last year. :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy: :tearsofjoy:

Again, my comment was regarding the taxidermy. (Kind of a topic here).

But, I have seen one buck on the hoof that scored higher (gross). Another hunter got it and it was a state record.
 
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As I've said repeatedly, the only facts we have are the pictures, eyewitness accounts which all vouch for the authenticity of the buck, a score done by respectable CBM and B&C measures that again vouched for the authenticity of the buck.
You're right about 99.9% of hunters would probably let their bucks be x-rayed but Mitch is that .01% that chose not to. Mitch is also one of the .01% of hunters with a record of taking trophy bucks that also posses the skill to find and kill a world class buck. With all of those factors considered I think it's a shame to have people disparage the person, whom they've never met and and find fault with a buck they've never seen and call him a fraud.
I have shot some very nice animals over the years. (To be absolutely sure, not WR class.). I send pictures to one or two of my close hunting friends, a brother or two, and my father. That’s it. I’ve never had anything scored or entered into any sort of record book. Never have, never will. Never really post any trophy pictures online (with exception for a meat pack out picture, scenery, or canoe ride type of thing). And if anyone ever asked me to X-ray an animal, I’d just say no thank you and I’d be done with them forever. Wasn’t always this way, but people definitely change when they aren’t the ones shooting nice animals on a consistent basis. Hard to describe, understand, or “appreciate” until you’ve been there……
 
Yes, there are private people, people who don’t score bucks, and on and on ad nauseam…that was not Mitch. He was the PRESIDENT of the record keeping organization in Michigan! He was a B&C and P&Y scorer. He put himself in the limelight every chance he got with the “state records”. He was on TV before there was outdoor TV. He wrote articles and gave seminars. And he set up himself up with endorsement deals before he has the deer in his possession. This whole “recluse” gimmick is so laughable to anyone who lived in Michigan and was anything but the most casual deer hunter in the 90s.
 
I have shot some very nice animals over the years. (To be absolutely sure, not WR class.). I send pictures to one or two of my close hunting friends, a brother or two, and my father. That’s it. I’ve never had anything scored or entered into any sort of record book. Never have, never will. Never really post any trophy pictures online (with exception for a meat pack out picture, scenery, or canoe ride type of thing). And if anyone ever asked me to X-ray an animal, I’d just say no thank you and I’d be done with them forever. Wasn’t always this way, but people definitely change when they aren’t the ones shooting nice animals on a consistent basis. Hard to describe, understand, or “appreciate” until you’ve been there……
But was there millions of dollars worth of endorsement deals connected to any of your kills? Edit: Not saying that would persuade you in any way but money does make people do some very strange things.
 
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But was there millions of dollars worth of endorsement deals connected to any of your kills? Edit: Not saying that would persuade you in any way but money does make people do some very strange things.
Thanks for the question; it is understandable! At this point, no, the money wouldn’t make any difference. I wouldn’t want to deal with any of the BS that comes along with it: trespassers on my private hunting land spots, being followed on public hunting land, never being able to go anywhere in public without being stopped and guys wanting to talk about “the buck”, being bothered for magazine interviews, YouTube, sponsorships, endorsements, traveling around and whoring yourself out for something dumb like a scent wick or scent dripper, going to all the stupid outdoor shows, etc…..if someone likes that and is into all of it, I’m sure it would be a great time. No, thanks. Keep the money. Everyone thinks that doing something like shooting a big buck would be so great. To each their own! For a true introvert, with social anxiety, such a series of events would likely really wreck them.

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We don’t know that a picture of 9year old Mitch and his buck in 1958 was or was not taken, if Mitch ever possessed that picture if it was taken, nor if it does or does not exist to date. The fact that WE don’t have one really means very little.

Who are WE to expect to have such a photo? Try putting into words who WE are, in the context of any of this?

Perhaps there’s more than photos. A newspaper article. An eyewitness account. A diary entry. Lol. Who here is actually investigating? WE are speculators at best, so far as I can tell. And that’s Ok.

Here’s an article about a monster buck from 1958, and ne‘er a photo we have. And the rack sat in an attic and was on the threshhold of a dumpster. That doesn’t move the needle at all?

Are there hero shots from way back in the day, sure. You were part of a hunting culture, a camp. I’m a huge fan of that. But what can you tell us about the hunting culture Mitch had as a pre-teen? That’s much more relevant.
Your right. I can't speak for MR's pre-teen hunting culture. I can speak for the people that I've been around for the last 53 years that were raised in a hunting culture. It's been my experience that people that come from a hunting culture start at an early age. It's ingrained in them from the start. Just last week, we took our 5 and 8 year old Grandsons shooting gophers. 1st time ever they ever shot a gun. You can bet there were pics taken. We have tons of pics of the fish that they've caught the last several years. Smiles all around! I have pics of my 1st deer. My dad has pics of his deer back in the day. The old timers had black and white pics of the deer they shot. Every outdoor family that I know or have ever met has those same type of pics. Typically they take photo's of a boy's or girl's 1st deer or buck or whatever. Big buck pics always get taken no matter what the age. Either way it's a big day in their hunting career so the pics are usually saved somewhere safe. Generally that's how it's done. I could be wrong but that's been my experience. Anyway, MR obviously started hunting very young so to me that's means that he came from a family with a hunting culture. IMO there should be pics. But who knows for sure? There could be lots of reasons why they don't exist. Pics get mis-placed, were never taken , destroyed, burnt up etc. It happens. The lack of them isn't conclusive one way or the other of their legitimacy. My point is that MR has made a lot of claims of record book bucks. On these 2 bucks specifically there's no score sheet, no mention of them in Missouri's books. Nothing. What we have is 2 pics taken years later and MR's word. If that all adds up for you, and your willing to take his word then fine. For me, just doesn't add up and MR's word isn't worth squat.
 
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