Wisconsin Man Asks, ‘Have You Seen This Buck?’

However the Madison, Wisconsin, resident hasn’t seen the buck for over 30 years, not since his grandfather offered it shortly earlier than dying in 1993. Maes is simply going off his childhood reminiscences and an outdated {photograph} whose top-left nook is peppered with thumb-tack holes. The photograph reveals the buck’s decrepit shoulder mount and 18-point, coffee-colored rack flanked by two outdated snowshoes on his grandfather’s basement wall in Niagara, Wisconsin.

Maes hopes to search out somebody who’s seen the antlers so he can get them replicated for his household’s posterity. He additionally hopes a $500 reward would possibly produce the wanted video or pictures exhibiting the rack’s distinctive traits.

Maes’ grandfather, Theodore “Ted” Maes, was a critical hunter and trapper, and labored at a close-by paper mill. He shot the outdated “swamp buck” at age 21 on Nov. 21, 1932, roughly 7 miles east of Pembine in Marinette County, not removed from the Kremlin mine and Michigan’s Higher Peninsula.

And that’s about all Maes is aware of about his grandfather’s hunt that day. Roger Maes isn’t even sure his grandfather shot the buck with the .300 Savage Mannequin 99 lever-action rifle that Roger’s brother now owns. And he undoubtedly doesn’t know if his grandfather shot the buck from a stand, whereas participating in a drive, or still-hunting alone by way of a cedar swamp.

All Ted Maes ever mentioned was that he killed almost 70 bucks in his life, however just one — that lone buck on his wall — had venison too robust to chew. He did, nevertheless, eat its coronary heart and liver. And he figured the buck was not less than 10 years outdated as a result of it misplaced all however a few its enamel.

“After all, my grandfather might need been embellishing all that,” Roger Maes mentioned.

Regardless of the case, Ted Maes knew his buck’s antlers had been distinctive. Forty-six years in the past, on Jan. 25, 1980, at age 69, he took his buck mount to Duaine Ok. Wenzel in Crystal Falls, Michigan, to have it formally scored. He then paid the $20 registration charge to enter it within the Boone and Crockett Membership’s document e-book. Wenzel scored the rack as a 202-7/8 “nontypical,” and listed its gross rating as 208-4/8 earlier than deductions.

Wenzel judged the rack as nontypical as a result of its 10-point essential body additionally had eight irregular factors totaling 38 inches, together with a particular 7-inch drop tine beneath its left beam. As well as, the “G2” tines on each beams carried forked 9-inch tines jutting up from their bases, the proper G2 measuring 10-5/8 inches and the left measuring 10 inches.

The rack additionally measures 23-7/8 inches between its essential beams and 19-5/8 inches between its ideas. It at the moment ranks 203 of 618 nontypical Wisconsin whitetails in B&C’s data.

Roger Maes thinks his grandfather offered the outdated mount for $200 to an antler collector who typically stopped to go to.

“Late in his life, I don’t assume my grandfather actually knew how uncommon or priceless these antlers had been,” Maes mentioned. “Round Christmas, he would put a purple decoration on its nostril and stick it within the snow out entrance. He didn’t even fear that somebody would possibly steal it.”

Maes needs everybody to know he and his household aren’t searching for to personal the rack. They merely want a greater take a look at it to allow them to make a precise duplicate. The outdated photograph from Ted Maes’ basement doesn’t clearly present the rack’s irregular factors. Maes contacted the Boone and Crockett Membership, however discovered he can’t get the membership’s file photographs of the antlers except he’s listed because the proprietor, or the proprietor grants him entry. The B&C Membership’s information nonetheless checklist his grandfather because the proprietor.

Kyle Lehr, B&C’s director of big-game data, mentioned the membership can’t launch something that’s not listed in its (public) data except the proprietor requests the information or supplies written consent to share them.

“Conditions like this are robust; they’re unlucky,” Lehr advised MeatEater. “We get requests like this occasionally, the place household or pals learn about a rack however not have it. It’s not a spot we get pleasure from being in. We hope Mr. Maes can discover the present proprietor, and if we be taught it’s OK, we’ll present no matter assist we will.”

Roger Maes, 59, mentioned the unique photograph of the buck in his grandfather’s basement stirs many reminiscences. “My grandfather had a barber’s chair down there,” he mentioned. “Each time we obtained our haircuts, we’d sit in that barber’s chair, trying on the mount with its cracked nostril and hair shedding from its left ear. It was a tremendous buck, however I used to be too younger to understand what I used to be .

“My dad typically reminded (my grandfather) to by no means promote the buck,” Maes continued. “Dad knew an antler collector was pestering my grandfather each time he handed by way of city, however Dad didn’t be taught my grandfather had offered it till after he died. My father by no means had time to trace down the collector as a result of (Dad) died simply 4 months after my grandfather handed.”

Roger Maes, in the meantime, had moved to California for work, however moved again to Wisconsin in 2001 and settled in Madison. He quickly obtained into bowhunting, which rekindled his curiosity in his grandfather’s huge buck. He attended a couple of deer reveals to have a look at all of the buck mounts, and contacted the son of an antler collector who might need recognized concerning the lacking buck, however nothing got here of it.

“I sort of dropped the ball on it for some time,” Maes mentioned. “However as time went on, I’d discover myself scrolling by way of hundreds of photographs each deer season, figuring out I’d acknowledge it if I noticed it. After which, lower to this yr, I recommitted to discovering it so I might get a precise duplicate made. With social media and all of the advances in on-line searches, I figured it will be price providing a $500 reward to assist discover the antlers.”

Maes asks anybody with data to contact him at roger@statepointmedia.com.

He’s optimistic as a result of every deer antler is exclusive, and the deer-hunting universe options numerous geeks who always remember an antler.

“It received’t matter if the mount continues to be battered and cracked, and sitting in some bar in the course of nowhere, or if it’s been restored to its full glory and on show with a lot of different huge heads,” Maes mentioned. “The extra individuals who see that outdated photograph, the higher the possibilities that somebody will acknowledge it.”