Spysar
Well-Known Member
The friggain right ear is hanging right off the head!! The other one drooping. The ears should be just about touching the antler. Then all the points tipping out??? And the main beams going straight out from the burr? Every single deer I shot, the tines are tipping in, and the MB goes up from the burrs. The deer just looks jacked.
Imagine being Rompala. You created a hoax of some type. Maybe the skull is altered, rack is fabricated, or it's a high fence deer. Or a high fence deer altered. You think you've pulled it off. Your fantasy of having the world record is here.
But then people want to see it, and x ray it. Oh shit.
So now it's either show it and get caught....OR...start claiming I'm a recluse and don't care about WR. In mitches mind no one will ever be able to say one way or the other. If you never show it, you won't get caught.
It was his only escape. Just leave and some suckers will believe.
2-bucks
Well-Known Member
Rompola Buck: 'The Whole Thing Smells'
Scoring official breaks silence on the world's most infamous whitetail. His insights shed new light from an insider's perspective.
www.deeranddeerhunting.com
This is the most convincing argument I have seen or heard. It's Impossible to prove a negative but this is close enough for me. Too much smoke.there to convince me there's not a fire. I.e. that it's fake.
Windlooker
Well-Known Member
If I’m off base I apologize but I swear at some point in this story years ago it was said that he had a deer pen and would experiment on bucks by placing a block between their antlers while in velvet to push them out and increase the spread, hence all the large spread bucks he allegedly killed. Has anyone else heard this. ?
Last edited:
Dude went to extreme efforts to make it look real. Here is the "recovery" video.
203ntyp
PMA Member
Thanks for sharing, I'm convinced it's fake for sure!This is the most convincing argument I have seen or heard. It's Impossible to prove a negative but this is close enough for me. Too much smoke.there to convince me there's not a fire. I.e. that it's fake.Rompola Buck: 'The Whole Thing Smells'
Scoring official breaks silence on the world's most infamous whitetail. His insights shed new light from an insider's perspective.
Rous14
PMA Member
very accurate depiction Skip. I live just south of the white dot- Grand Rapids and have hunted in the red circle and still do a lot of hunting in the yellow circle. In 33 years of me, my dad, brother, my son, and my uncle, 2 cousins hunting in the yellow circle just a few miles north of Indiana line there has never been a buck larger than around 150-155” killed in our group. And that’s in the best area in the state! In fact I killed my best buck ever last fall w my shot gun and he was just shy of 150, it’s the largest buck I’ve ever SEEN much less killed down there in all that time. There is definitely good genetics, above avg soil, just No chance to get to 5-7 years old. Long gun seasons that make it impossible too. Small tracts of land so the average sq mile has way more hunters than your avg sq mile in Illinois or Iowa. 170-180” deer do exist in the southern half of the state but EXTREMELY rare.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!!!!
View attachment 124652
So the red area……I won’t say never but there’s a .000001% that Rompola buck was legit. Terrible soil up there, very little ag, high powered rifles are allowed up there, really tough winters, …..I mean it’s just not believable.
Rous14
PMA Member
I dont know much if anything about Minnesota but I’ll go ahead and guess or speculate that it’s a little closer to our U.P. - very swampy, thick, dense forest type habitat. Our U.P. used to produce some really good bucks back in the day. Rompolas story would have been slightly more believable if it was taken up there. The traverse city area where he claimed he shot this is basically all sand. When you picture our Great Lakes and the huge sand dunes….that’s essentially what the soil is in that area. I’m not an expert but I believe the U.P. has a different soil and habitat make up.
Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
I've already mentioned that as well as the Breen buck.
Both are from heavy forested regions ,horrible winters,wolves and no agriculture.
Think of Mexico, years ago, it was a HUGE destination for huge bucks.
To blanket state that an area can noway produce a huge buck is totally stupid.
Windlooker
Well-Known Member
There are always outliers. Statistically outliers are not considered. Rompolas buck is a fraud. Period
I’m very much a “deer nerd” paying close attention to regions of state…. I grew up on lake MI. When u get by lake…. That sandy soil runs inland about 30 miles. It’s terrible for deer growth & nutrition. To get into really good farm grounds- u need to be inland like an hour+. It’s LIKELY reason MN can produce giants - it probably has better soils.
Where I grew up…. I maybe knew mature bucks that hit 140’s. When u get an hour in…. 160’-170’s were POSSIBLE. Grand Traverse county where he shot this,…. Junk sand soil. Those deer are 110-130” at maturity. (I’m all over the map on this but NOT like 160-180” at maturity!!!!). that sandy region just doesn’t do it.
NOW!!!! Add this to it!!!! From video above…. Stats are: I think roughly 7-10 bucks in all of MI with spreads as big as Mitch’s- that’s state wide for a hundred years!!! Then - NO JOKE!!!!…. Mitch shoots “5” with spreads over 25”?!?!? Something like that!!!?!? Close. When the whole state produced like 7 that big in a hundred years!!!
K…. GO FURTHER!!!!! One of those articles has an old interview with him (the MSN story where dude buys his BS)…. From Mitch … “shot state record in MO. Then, XYZ years later he bested it and shot a “bigger STATE RECORD!!!” So, that’s 2 state records!!!!… SO FAR!!!…. Then, he shoots the MI state record!!!!! Record #3!!!!! Then- he shoots the WORLD RECORD!!!!!! Seriously!!!!!!?!?? I just listened to above short podcast on drive home & his interview. Hilarious!!!
So- at least 3 different state records + a world record. AND!!!!…. Another “deer he was hunting up there” - had a shed- would have also been the worlds record!!! So- he almost got TWO world records up there!!!!!!!
****FUN THINKING!!!!!….
DUDES THAT BUY THIS SAY “he’s best hunter ever”. He has examples of how he scouts. How he finds deer. How he analyzes rubs, bedding, etc. WHATEVER! I mean- stuff he said might put him in the upper 50% of bow hunters. BUT- let’s say it’s true- “he’s the best bow hunter on earth!!” U don’t shoot 3 state records & a world record in mediocre states & worst part of MI. If u or I were the best deer hunter in Iowa- didn’t own land but we shot 3 bucks over 300” (whatever state record is here) & a 215” typical world record- would u maybe question it?!? C’mon!!!! THE DUDES FAMILY HAD A HIGH FENCE FOR DECADES!!!! DING DING DING. I know hundreds of “amazing hunters”….. dudes that blow away Mitch. All the skill in world - u limited to the reality of the area. Period. If you’re #1 of all time hunter- doesn’t mean u have a good chance at shooting a 330” deer or whatever the case. The more I read & listen to those podcasts…. I’m all in guys…. Betting it all…. My farms, all my $, my kids, my life & I’ll put up all of my organs for transplant or sale on Chinese black market- BETTING IT ALL this ain’t true.
NO FRIGIN WAY!!!LAST SIDE NOTE…. We all got to hear how many dudes have cheated in fish tournaments. How Creative & wide spread it’s been. Opens our eyes seeing dudes with “weights in fish!!!!” & we don’t think something like that ever happened with a deer?!? Especially with how many record he had?!? Like a dude catching 10 bass over 20 lbs. sure!!!
Last edited:
Any soil in iowa could grow absolute bombers!!!! The worst soil in our state is still heavy clay that’s packed with nutrition. I would argue, strongly, that the best farm regions of iowa could actually grow the absolute biggest bucks….. say like: Waterloo, iowa falls, NW iowa, Ames, mason city, algona, Boone, etc etc. Clearly they don’t as there’s no deer & cover …. Or the areas that are - deer too easy to kill & so little habitat THUS they don’t get age nearly as often. But- those regions probably have best potential of any part of state.
Secondarily & anecdotally, I’d argue that ground with decent amount of fertile bottom soil will produce bigger deer. VS run down cattle country for example. Now- cattle country produces bombers cause that’s where timber/habitat is. & they can get OLD & become giants. But if u could add optimal soil to those areas- that’s perfection. I’ve personally seen this in a zone of maybe 10 square miles in SE iowa…. All rolling cattle ground- no browse & soil quality very poor. & not much for crops. Big hills. Hunted there for 7-8 years - maybe knew of a 170’s max. Most were 130-150”. 15 miles away was my farm with bottom soils & max browse, fertility, nutrition, crop, etc…. Way better potential. I’d say the 3 & 4 year olds averaged 15-20” difference between the 2 areas. Anecdotal but I believe it’s a huge impactor in AVERAGE potential across years of seeing the sizes of mature deer from both areas
CurtisWalker
Well-Known Member
Caught me. I usually let other people take pics with the deer to keep the attention off of me.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Bucksnbears
Well-Known Member
I wanna hunt where Curtis does!!
seven twenty
PMA Member
The deer doesn’t look near as unbelievable in the recovery video.
Everyone has their own opinion. I’m on the fence. People that actually had contact with the deer claim it was legit. Some of these guys are obviously biased but still make a good argument against. We’ve all seen just about any huge deer have negative publicity. It’s understandable that a guy wouldn’t want the attention good or bad with a deer. The “harsh winter” argument is tough when Hansen’s deer had probably been through worse. Regardless, until we know definitively one way or the other, you’re going to have people on both sides.
In my opinion, the King buck should be at the top. It sounds like he’s the one that got screwed when Milo started crying.
Everyone has their own opinion. I’m on the fence. People that actually had contact with the deer claim it was legit. Some of these guys are obviously biased but still make a good argument against. We’ve all seen just about any huge deer have negative publicity. It’s understandable that a guy wouldn’t want the attention good or bad with a deer. The “harsh winter” argument is tough when Hansen’s deer had probably been through worse. Regardless, until we know definitively one way or the other, you’re going to have people on both sides.
In my opinion, the King buck should be at the top. It sounds like he’s the one that got screwed when Milo started crying.