caleb
New Member
No monster buck here, but a pretty neat story nonetheless. The top picture is of my late grandfather Don Ortgeisen. He was an insurance salesman by trade, but also a diehard hunter and fisherman. He was ultimately responsible for my interest in the outdoors. See, my dad didn't hunt at all before meeting my mom. My grandpa took him hunting and dad really enjoyed it. So in turn my father took me hunting many years later. And you all know that hunting is what I live for. If my grandpa hadn't started my dad out, I may be into something completely worthless, like golf. Just kidding. My grandpa was already pretty old by the time I came around. He was able to take me on a few squirrel hunting trips. And I sat in a duck blind with him back when there were ducks in this area. So those of you who are able to spend time with your grandparents, take advantage of it. The time we have is fleeting. Back to the pictures. The neat part about this story is that my grandpa killed this buck in 1974 I believe. That is the date on the picture. I would not be born until four years later. I know that shotgun season had not been open for very long in my home county, and I know not many deer were killed. If anyone has info on the harvest per county back then I would love to see it. I know this buck made the rounds around town, because very few bucks were killed here back then. I had known that grandpa had killed a buck that was big for the time, yet I had no idea what happened to the rack. About twenty years ago my grandma and grandpa moved out of the house were this picture was taken and into a smaller house. A couple of different families lived there afterwords. Not too long ago one of my high school buddies lived in the old house. He said he was cleaning the upstairs in the garage and found some antlers and asked if I wanted them. I told him sure not really knowing where they came from. Sure enough it was the rack from the buck in the picture. They had been up in the attic of the garage for about 25 years before I got them. They are not huge, but they mean a lot to me since it gives me a solid connection with my grandfather. I am working on a suitable way to display them.
