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Mitch Rompola buck

He goes from scorer for 3 clubs, and attention whore, to recluse and you can't see the buck, yeah right. And the life changing money, yeah, he doesn't need that, LOL And now the rack burned too I heard.
Bone doesn’t really burn. When they cremate you, the bones are left and they have to grind them so I seriously doubt that rack burned.
 
Bone doesn’t really burn. When they cremate you, the bones are left and they have to grind them so I seriously doubt that rack burned.
They don't completely turn to ash, like wood does, but a hot fire will completely destroy them. It's the bone chips that have to be ground up after a cremation. My machine shed burned down early last spring, with a few dead heads in it, and the most I found of them was a small, charred bone chip here and there. Plus, I've cremated several carcasses in my wood burning boiler with similar results.
 
I can see how a guy could alter the skull plate before mounting the deer, but how did he get the quality in-field pic of it, if that's what he did? That one pic is pretty convincing to me. Dead animals start getting messy real quick once you start hacking on them and shatter their skulls, etc. Any experienced taxidermists on here think a guy could have doctored that deer in the in-field pic?
Yes it could be done quite easily!
I’ve been skinning deer heads for 32 years and the pic looks very odd!
I’ve never seen a deer laying on the floor with ears like the pic shows. This happens after the ears are cut off the skull and yes ears come out of the skull not the neck. Look at his right ear! The deer’s left ear looks legit from the angle but wow not the right ear.
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Another thing that is odd notice how every point is almost exact to its mate. If the rack is legit this is nature at its finest. A 220 gross buck with 4 1/8 inches of deductions.
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The color of the bases up to the brow tine also looks odd to myself! Real or not we’ll probably never know just my opinions
 
As a former resident of MI i can tell you that the hunting here is far better quality but the genetics in MI are there no doubt. The issue is getting a deer to a certain age. But you can say that for every place even IA. There are several deer here in IA that are killed at 6, 7, 8, 9 every year yet we never question it. With the habitat in MI being 100000000 times better than here and the dirty nasty swamps that are there for a deer to hide, it is completely possible for this deer to be legit.

This deer was killed in 1998, NO social media, NO smart phones...poor technology compared to nowadays. My point is of course the photos look crappy. And sure Mitchy was a sketchy dude but no doubt about it he was a cold blooded killer. There are far too many people that were close to him with nothing to gain that say it was real for it to be fake.
 
Another thing that is odd notice how every point is almost exact to its mate. If the rack is legit this is nature at its finest. A 220 gross buck with 4 1/8 inches of deductions.
The Huff Buck Im pretty sure has less deductions than this...so it CAN happen, very uncommon tho
 
The Huff Buck Im pretty sure has less deductions than this...so it CAN happen, very uncommon tho
The Hanson buck had 7 2/8 difference with 2 5/8 being an extra point.
I can’t find a quick and easy Huff score sheet to see the numbers. I’m terrible at google today apparently.
 
It’s also written that Rompola signed an agreement with Milo
Hanson that his(Hanson’s) is the world record. Hanson commented that nobody would do such a thing unless the deer is faked. Hanson was in the process of suing Rompola for lost proceeds due to his unsubstantiated record claim when the agreement was reached. It’s a fake. If not have it x rayed, scored, done.
 
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It’s also written that Rompola signed an agreement with Mio Hansen that his(Hanson’s) is the world record. Hanson commented that nobody would do such a thing unless the deer is faked. Hanson was in the process of suing Rompola for lost proceeds due to his unsubstantiated record claim when the agreement was reached. It’s a fake. If not have it x rayed, scored, done.
Agreed Rompola had his chance to prove his claim when this all went down but he ran away to hide. Great debate on this since it happened. Many believe it all a hoax and many that it’s legal.
In 20 years the debates on this will still be going on
 
Exactly!!!
I don't care where you hunt, shoot a buck on Nov 13 and there's gonna be bark on those bases.
Not at all.
Those bases look smooth. The vast majority of my bow killed bucks have been killed in nov/Dec and few have had any "bark" stuck in their bases. Not even a schred of it..

Purty much guarantee, if I were to be lucky enuff to shoot a world record buck from here forward, I'd do the same as Mitch.
Throw out a few pics/score and watch the world become uncunted for eternity.
Edited to add. My great Uncle held the P&Y WORLD RECORD whitetail from 1953_1963 I think.
He actually gave me the rack/plaque when I was a youngster. My dad made me give it back thinking I stole it.
Great Uncle Gilbert told me he hated the worldwide publicity he got.
And yep, after I had to give it back, he hung it back in his barn and it burnt up in a fire.
Sound far_fetched, look up page 110 in Gordan Whittington s book "World Record Whitetails "
That buck was shot about 10 miles from where my cabin sits now.
 
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The Hanson buck had 7 2/8 difference with 2 5/8 being an extra point.
I can’t find a quick and easy Huff score sheet to see the numbers. I’m terrible at google today apparently.
The Huff buck had 4 6/8 of deductions. So VERY similar to the Rompola buck.
 
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Yes it could be done quite easily!
I’ve been skinning deer heads for 32 years and the pic looks very odd!
I’ve never seen a deer laying on the floor with ears like the pic shows. This happens after the ears are cut off the skull and yes ears come out of the skull not the neck. Look at his right ear! The deer’s left ear looks legit from the angle but wow not the right ear.
View attachment 124646
Another thing that is odd notice how every point is almost exact to its mate. If the rack is legit this is nature at its finest. A 220 gross buck with 4 1/8 inches of deductions.
View attachment 124647

The color of the bases up to the brow tine also looks odd to myself! Real or not we’ll probably never know just my opinions
Thanks for providing the insight. I've seen droopy or broken ears on bucks before, but usually just 1 and usually on bully bucks with signs of fighting.
 
As a former resident of MI i can tell you that the hunting here is far better quality but the genetics in MI are there no doubt. The issue is getting a deer to a certain age. But you can say that for every place even IA. There are several deer here in IA that are killed at 6, 7, 8, 9 every year yet we never question it. With the habitat in MI being 100000000 times better than here and the dirty nasty swamps that are there for a deer to hide, it is completely possible for this deer to be legit.

This deer was killed in 1998, NO social media, NO smart phones...poor technology compared to nowadays. My point is of course the photos look crappy. And sure Mitchy was a sketchy dude but no doubt about it he was a cold blooded killer. There are far too many people that were close to him with nothing to gain that say it was real for it to be fake.
Why would he sign a NDA that Hanson gave him then? If it was legit... go to court... prove it was legit and move on..

The back tracking is also a tale tell sign it wasn't legit. You can shout from the roof tops "HEY EVERYBODY I KILLED THE WORLD RECORD" and then when people start to question the legitimacy of the deer you all of the sudden shut up and are a quiet, secretive guy.

Two years prior to him killing this deer he went around showing everyone a shed that he found. It was a big typical shed. Upon discovery it was an old farm shed.

There is no doubt MI has good genetic and great habitat but none of that matters when the residents have been shooting two year old dinks for the past 40 years. I get a kick out of Eberhart! Guy goes on every podcast known to man saying he's killed all the "book bucks"! Congrats on your 2/3 year olds 115 bucks bud. He has no idea he is part of the problem. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know but these guys just make me laugh.
 
It's interesting how many are from the '40s and earlier. Kinda goes to what @Sligh1 was saying with hunter numbers in Michigan. They got out of control in the last 50 years and (granted, very small sample size looking at the their book bucks) it looks like it has impacted the quality of deer coming out of the state. There's a decent handful from a couple decades of the early 20th century that are still hanging on and with 50+ years of more hunters, they are struggling to knock them off. If you looked at the same top 20 or whatever from Iowa, I'd about guarantee they are all (or almost all) from the last 30 years.
Why would he sign a NDA that Hanson gave him then? If it was legit... go to court... prove it was legit and move on..

The back tracking is also a tale tell sign it wasn't legit. You can shout from the roof tops "HEY EVERYBODY I KILLED THE WORLD RECORD" and then when people start to question the legitimacy of the deer you all of the sudden shut up and are a quiet, secretive guy.

Two years prior to him killing this deer he went around showing everyone a shed that he found. It was a big typical shed. Upon discovery it was an old farm shed.

There is no doubt MI has good genetic and great habitat but none of that matters when the residents have been shooting two year old dinks for the past 40 years. I get a kick out of Eberhart! Guy goes on every podcast known to man saying he's killed all the "book bucks"! Congrats on your 2/3 year olds 115 bucks bud. He has no idea he is part of the problem. I know I'm not telling you anything you don't know but these guys just make me laugh.
I've also always kinda rolled my eyes at Eberhart. He's a pretty big deal, just ask him. That's just always been the vibe I get. I get it, Michigan is tough. Tougher than Iowa to kill huge bucks, no doubt. I know, I know... I'm a spoiled brat being a born and raised Iowan and getting to hunt here my whole life. I'll admit it. And he's probably a better hunter than I am too, just something about him I guess.
 
He goes from scorer for 3 clubs, and attention whore, to recluse and you can't see the buck, yeah right. And the life changing money, yeah, he doesn't need that, LOL And now the rack burned too I heard.
Yep. Doesn't add up.

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MI genetics & top end….
BELOW IN YELLOW…. Habitat, nutrition, genetics, etc - top level!!! Insane!!! A lot is “better than many parts of iowa”. Crazy guys. U will see bucks killed in this region into 200’s for sure. Absolutely. Could be some of best in country. COULD.

The RED…. Where he shot his buck…. Rarely will u ever see a guy shoot a mature buck that goes over 150. 160’s is insanely rare. out of thousands of mature bucks for a hundred years++…. I don’t think there’s been one over 200”. Very few if so. It very likely is ZERO. Or darn close. Where S MI - “tons”…. like hundreds or even over a thousand if I’m guessing. RED: almost all sandy junk soil. Very little AG. Big conifer timber. Major lack of nutrition. Horrible winters. Especially near lake where he shot it…. more sand soil & more snow & no nutrition than when u get inland! Trust me on this part!!! Deer just don’t get nearly as big as down south.
& AGAIN!!!! Don’t forget!!!!…. This dude shoots the STATE RECORD up there and then follows it with WORLD RECORD?!?! C’mon!!!!!!
If u spent vast time in N MI & u were a “deer nerd” …. Telling u- no way!!!! Aside from all the other junk above we’ve talked about. Just a big NO FRIGIN WAY!!!

This is a fun discussion though. As clearly there’s no smoking gun or 100% proof. I’m not a gambler but if the answer lied in a magic envelope to reveal at a casino- I’d bet every dollar to my name & all I could borrow that this is total BS. Heck, I might be wrong but that’s my bet!!! ;)

MI map…. I’m telling u guys- the 2 areas of the state are totally different universes for potential!!!!
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Before I read any replies other than the original post... the Rompola buck is a fake!!! The dude is a total fraud. End of story. I feel sorry for the people who believe it or became believers recently, like the new FB group that is filled with newbs who also believe in Santa.
 
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