I can't believe that it has been almost 5 years since Mitch killed "The Rompola Buck" and people are still talking about it. I find it pretty funny actually. I grew up in Traverse City and have personlly seen every deer Mitch has taken. How? I am his son. My dad told me to stay out of all of the BS surrounding the deer. But I can't anymore. The rack is real. Has anyone ever thought about how much money it would take to make a fake rack like that? For those of you who actually know my dad, also know that he in no way has the money to do something like that. My dad has never been in it for the money. NEVER! Mitch has been in the hunting public's eye for 15+ years and is sick of it. I bet none of you have heard a thing about the 4 or 5 150+ class whitetails that he has shot in the last 4 or 5 years. Very few have. He doesn't tell anyone anymore about any of the deer he kills. Me, my brother and a handfull of his friends are about all that get notified. I don't live in Michigan anymore, but I know that I'll get a picture every year of the big buck my dad kills. As a matter of fact, I got one about 3 days ago. By the way, his sister does not own a ranch in Texas. She lives in Kansas...and it's not even a ranch. He didn't raise the deer in a pen and feed it superdeer hormones. In fact, part of the deer's migratory pattern was on public land in Grand Traverse County. Many hunters could have been hunting near this deer and never even have known it.
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He was 100% right,STAY OUT OF IT,,your might be a better liar than he is..How about that comment ?
I don't feel I have to stay out of it anymore. People can and will continue to think he (or me) is liing. And that's fine. For those people who can't handle the truth I feel bad for. I'm not looking to prove anything...I've just been reading these rediculous comments for the last 5 years and wanted to add mine.
"How about that comment?" You're pretty funny.
Why doesn't he claim it as the new world record? There would be a lot of money in a world record deer. I'm not calling your dad out but was just curious.
Actually, now he can't. He has signed an agreement with Milo Hansen that will prohibit him (even my brother and I) to submit it in B&C as the world record. Why he didn't do it in the first place...Basically because he didn't want the publicity that goes along with it. It looks like he got it anyway...My dad doesn't like B&C or P&Y. So he decided to not enter the deer. I do know that B&C was asking for more proof than they ever asked of anyone else to enter the deer. My dad thought that was unfair. If he was in it for the money...he would have entered the deer. I can understand his silence is fuel for the skeptics, but that is just the way he is. He likes his privacy and won't do anything to give that up. There is nothing wrong with that.
Controversy aside, this is a really nice buck! After seeing the pic, I remember seeing pics of him on the net back then.
http://www.record-eagle.com/sports/archive/rompola.htm
The deer is huge! The picture does not do it justice. I did not see the deer until about 9 months after he shot it (because I live on the west coast) and I was blown away. AFter seeing all of the big deer my dad has shot, I became immune to the shock of seeing a big deer. But this one shocked me!
If he doesn't want the public eye, then why did he step forward? If he hates the P+Y and B+C then why was he claiming the (at that time) P+Y record Missouri buck a few years back? If he's not full of crap then why did he run around claiming he killed a record buck with one of Gene Wensel's broad heads, a year before Gene had actually made them? That one was a good one, by the way! Especially when he told Gene at a hunting show much to Gene's surprise.
I have always felt that this deer is real and don't give a crap what others say . There are far too many people in this world that will believe whatever someone else tells them and it seems to me that most people wanted it to be fake ! I just don't get it . It was'nt until that A_ _ H_ _ _ of a writer for North American hunting club magazine published your fathers police records that I became furious and canceled my 3 yr. subscription to that mag. What does this mans past , present or future police records have to do with any of this / pure BS I say . Thanks for coming on here even though you wont change the naysayers minds on here as they are thick as concrete.
Earl , how about we start a rumor ( or is it ? )that the deer on your website was shot over a corn pile at night with a light ? you were the only one around at the time so who really knows , just you & God so now you become guilty until proven innocent ! how does it feel ? All it would take is a call to Pope & Young and the investigation would start and I bet you they would pull it ! That is , if you even entered it , I have seen this happen more than once !. I have nothing against you Earl , I think you are a fine person , dont get me wrong , just trying to make a point here , hope you understand that. B. Bishop
I never heard that one about the broadhead. That's a good one. I can tell you he used a browning 185 grain broadhead on Easton 2419 arrows. I know one article said he was using carbon arrows. My dad never shot a carbon arrown in his life. He used a very heavy arrow/broadhead combo...not lightweight. I'm not sure which Missouri Record you are referring to. I think my dad held 2 typical state records and 1 non-typical state record with Missouri by the time he was 18 years old. I don't know which one you are talking about. He stepped forward because he was proud of the deer he had shot. Whether or not he puts it in the record books shouldn't make a difference. He finally harvested a deer that he had been hunting for 2 years...I know I would be happy. Thanks Bishop, rest assured, you have the right belief.
This Rompola thing is an embarrassment to Michigan and hunters in general.
You're not Rompola's son (in fact, i'm not sure he even has one).
If you are, you lie as poorly as him.
First of all, the broadhead story is fact. I don't believe it was a Gene Wensel broadhead (I know Gene well and he didn't make his broadheads until three years ago) it was a different head and Mitch's quotes on the broadhead/deer are in a magazine story. Look it up.
Second, you said he "finally harvested a deer he had been hunting for 2 years" That's interesting. In the story, Dan Bertalan (another poor excuse for a hunter) wrote he talks about Mitch's four-year quest for this deer.
Give us a break. You're just on here faking to stir things up. If you're really his son, you know how he truly is and you know how fake that deer is.
he killed: 1999 9 point buck 160+ inches
2000 10 point buck 140+ inches
10 point buck 150+ inches
2001 9 point buck 198 5/8 inches
10 point buck 171 inches
2002 8 point buck 160 plus inches
9 point buck 150 plus inches
now lets see what deer he fakes this year.
that he just gets it scored, sells it to the highest bidder, takes the money, and goes back to the life he choses. Had he done that the first time, he would have been forgotten by now. I won't call him a liar, but I feel I have a right to my opinion, and that is I do not believe, there are any wild bucks that big, in the area he claims to have shot it in. That is just my opinion, and I have talked with others, who are real hard hunters, and they have never seen anything like it either. Personaly, my opinion again, but I think he got what he wanted, I think he wanted all the attention. But, I also wonder, why after 5 years, if the antlers were repo's, someone has not come forward that made them. Unless he ordered the materials him self, and reproduced them him self. It would be nice if he would just bring them out and settle it, but maybe he does not want to realize, what he lost, with what he had.
I do not dought that there is a deer that big, we all know it can happen!
So how can anyone say "It ain't so."
I personally do not like B&C or P&Y. my reason is personal, plus I do have a rack in the BTR Compound bow Reg. It would not score well with P&Y. Plus nither would get involved in a Kansas Parks and Wildlife issues over selling antlers.
B&C said "It was not thier problem!"
Until the Ramplona buck appears NOONE can say either way. ITS ALL HEAR SAY.
Hear say will not get you anywhere, anytime or anyplace.
If you think I'm a fine person then keep your worthless comments with my name in it to your self..There was no need to make a comment with my name used,point to prove or not "PERIOD"..As far as your buddy Mr.Rompola you have to be very close to a mindless idiot to sign any thing to void the buck of a lifetime..I remember going to the Harrisburg show and every where you turned ROMPOLA,ROMPOLA,ROMPOLA scents,and even bows with his name and pictures I DON'T WANT THE SPOT LIGHT,give me a break..I was waiting for the "Fruit of the Loom" Rampalo boxer shorts to appear.You could still be a rich person and hunt the way you always do...
How ANY taxidermist with an ounce of sense can say that is not a fake is beyond me. It is an altered rack, and poorly done I might add, Why does this keep coming up? If it was legit he would have it x-rayed and shut everyone up. If it was real he would do it just to keep his rep. as it is now everyone thinks he is a scam, and he is.
Earl, what is your web site url, I would like to see your big deer. I must have missed it, when you put it on here the first time, thanks, rw
I can't believe all the crap about this. How in the heck can anyone here accuse anyone of anything on the internet where everyone is an invisible, sometimes imaginary figment of the cyber world. The buck is a beauty and who cares what Mitch's reasons are for doing whatever he wants. Sounds like you wouldn't like at all if someone tarnished your name EARL.(sorry Earl, nothing personal, really) What makes you any different from Mitch. Sounds like alot of antler envy. I have my reasons for not involving myself in whatever the topic/organization you my choose to criticize, thats my buisness. You can't always believe what you hear. A buck like that can turn up almost anywhere. To say it can't might make you a mindless idiot. Let the guy be. He's good.
Most of you are missing something here; the buck has been handled and scored by at least 1 P&Y and 1 B&C scorer, not to mention the several folks inculding a warden, who saw the buck before it was caped out. I bet most folks never thought the Missouri and Hole-in-the-Horn bucks were living where they were either. For all the folks who so adamantly say it is a fake, what are you going off of? Have you seen the buck or handled the rack?
Rampola boxers? Nahhhhh, think I will stick to my underoos
DaveT
There's many good deer killed each year that don't attract this kind of question along with it. Miles Hanson's buck was never veiwed as a fake. As much as you think it's strictly heresay and internet gossip, others do know from where they speak. I also know the story about the broadhead. It's a shame that this >Ryan< mixed that story up as well. As it goes, Mitch was attending a hunting event and was telling people including Gene that he'd killed a buck around that time with such and such broadheads. Gene then questioned that time. He then told him that the story was bogus as the broadhead in question hadn't yet been manufactured until the year after that particular buck was taken. It was the topic of conversation at the remainder of that event and the reason for a lot of laughs at that time. Also seemed to be a precursor for how people listen to Mitch's current claims. He did more to discredit any legitimate trophies while claiming his doctored story on this latest buck. That's why he was asked to sign the release. Some people do know the real story.
Each year at the NTA Convention, David Hale makes an oversized deer rack from wire and Apoxie Skulpt, so construction of one equivalent is not even an issue here, BUT PLEASE UNDERSTAND ONE THING:
THIS IS A TAXIDERMY SITE. We are taxidermists and you might remember the following. "A wise man can always look like a fool, but it's much more implausible for a fool to look like a wise man." We make a living trying to recreate anatomy as God made it. By and large, we KNOW anatomy. The ONLY pictures any of us have EVER SEEN of this buck and the others mentioned, the deer had already been caped. (For those of you who doubt that remark, look at your anatomy pictures and realize that the ear canals and ear butts attach right under the antler burr. On every picture you'll ever see of any of his deer, the earbutts seem to be at eye level. That can only mean that the ear canals have been severed from the skull allowing the skin to droop.)When we see a deer that is supposed to be in its natural state and is so anatomically displaced, you've already planted the seeds of doubt in our minds.
I can't say that I have any opinion as to its legitimacy, but I do have feelings about any hunter who insists on shooting only trophy deer, teasing the public with them, and then hiding behind a sort of anonymity or reclusiveness.
Hunters are the peak of jealousies. In every local community, I can guarantee you that the hunter who takes the biggest deer will have someone wanting to discredit the act. He'll be accused of jacklighting, or importing the animal in almost every case. That's petty jealousy. Then considering that Milo Hansen guarded his mount meticulously and marketed it all around the world for a financial advantage that was worth millions of dollars, what would you expect. Most of us never see beyong 5 figure earnings each year and for just shooting a deer, you could jump to 7 and 8 figures. That's an American dream just like the lottery or inheriting a fortune from a long lost relative. "No one in their right mind" would toss such fame and fortune away. So that leaves us. We only have a bad picture of a recluse with a skinned out deer and we hear he's not interested in either fame or fortune. The notion is so contradictory and the paradox so unbelievable, that it won't ever be accepted without some questions and a lot of doubt. And that leads me to say that it's not the public opinion that has maligned your father, it's your father proved to be his own worst enemy. Incontrovertible truth has a way of quieting all detractors, and in this case it would be so very simple to be forthright and up front with the antlers. If they truly "don't mean anything", why not honor the animal and allow any testing necessary to quiet those hecklers in the peanut galleries?
"U-DAH-MAN" George,couldn't of said it any better,maybe a little more sarcastic but a job well done..
But if this whitetail is legit I sure hope someone gets it measured someday.... how else will I know what to shoot for?
DaveT
Canadian Bucks are tough to beat Right Earl
The biggest sign it's a fake in my mind are that the burrs are considerably wider than ANY known deer. The skull would have to be 50% WIDER than any known deer.
That and the over abundance of "circumstantial evidence" makes it an obvious fake in my mind.
Although Mitch's reputation is tarnished. It's not a bad trade off as he's laughing all the way to the bank!
Ryan, please email me........I would like to visit with you about this in private.
Thanks
Ryan, I;m with you man. I am wondering do you think your dad would give me the measurements so that i could get a reproduction of the rack made. ?