Muskrat

If it was my buck and I went through all of this and new in my own mind it was a lethal hit and darn sure it was the same deer ,than I wouldn`t give a darn what the rest of you thought I would know in my mind I had taken it fair and square and the yotts got a taste of my buck so we will probably never know and it shouldn`t matter to him if it makes the bbok if he truly believes it is his.

BTBowhunter

I consider it a bit fishy that he "gave up tracking to go to work" Who here would not stay at it till there was no doubt on a buck that big. My guess is that he figured it was a bad shot, gave up, and got very lucky when the farmer found it. Maybe it was the buck he shot. Maybe his arrow was the only cause of the deers death. Maybe he would have found it himself. Maybe Mitch Rompola's deer is legitimate too. OK maybe the Rompola comparison is a bit extreme, but, a "new world record" shouldn't have so many clouds around it. I also have a bit of a problem with him publicly declaring it a world record before it's official. Look at his website. He went into the big bucks business mode awfully fast.
Am I jealous and envious of this guy? Sure!
I'm jealous and envious of Mike Beatty too but I don't have any of these kind of issues with Beatty's buck.

Buck Magnet

It wasn't a kill in my eyes. He shot the buck, when HE KNEW IT WASN'T A GOOD SHOT. He knew that it was a bad shot but he "had to take it before his shooting window ended" He didn't track it because he had to work? What the heck, if I shot a buck that big, I would be after it NO MATTER WHAT. Gosh, it could be my birthday and I would miss my own party for that deer. I believe harvesting an animal involves you our your hunting partner to FIND the animal. Not hearing about a farmer who found it. It shouldn't be allowed in the record books just because he didn't kill and recover the animal. Come on, anybody who says that he did is just blind. He shot a big buck, he left, came back the next day, looked for a little bit and left, then he hears about a farmer who had found a HUGE buck on his property. So, Zaft goes over and claims it. Come on, what a joke. Gosh, I could go along side the highway, pick up a road killed buck and claim that it was mine. Thats the same thing he did in my eyes.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
P.S. Only Chuck Adams can sit at home and see deer so get into the woods. =;^)

Deleted User

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Pro-Line

I'm still formulating an opinion on this...and I think I'll wait a little longer before ripping into Zaft.

I have left the trail of a deer to go to work before...but only because of my occupation. However, I did this only when I knew the meat would be OK. A few times I even had a friend that would take over the trail for me.

For some reason, though, this story just has a lot of variables. Who knows???

Edited by - Pro-Line on 02/04/2002 11:18:09

RAKTRAKR

IMO i think the beatty buck was more believable because the game officials went with him to retrace his steps and get the exact story of what happened. seems to me though if i saw a massive rack with velvet dangling before i shot it,then i wouldve took a couple of sick days and spent more time lookin for it

MATTITO

I think this is a little fishy as well. I've tracked does I've taken for hours and called in friends to help me finally locate the animal. If you shoot an animal that big, you call every friend and aquaintance you could find to help track it. If he had tracked it for 6 or 7+ hours, and in the meantime the farmer found it than I would be OK with that, but not tracking to the fullest extent just makes me think something is wrong. Actually, even if it was a couple of days later but he had everyone (and their brother) help look and he discussed it with all the farmers to look hard too than I would believe his story more.
Just trying to read between the lines.

BTBowhunter

Has anyone ever even seen a shred of dried velvet on a buck that late in the season. It might be possible but is also cause to wonder isn't it?

Buck Magnet

There are a lot of fishy things about his hunt that COULD have happened but are more than likely not going to happen on a typical hunt. The buck had that much velvet? Come on, I notice that big bucks do the rubbing first and they do it ALOT. That buck looks like it didn't even rub its antlers at all. Sure, it could have naturally had that much velvet but chances are, we will never see a buck that has that much velvet on its antlers. Why would anyone give up looking for a world class buck? I can see people having to work or go to school and such, but it wouldn't matter to me. I would have searched for that deer no matter what. I wouldn't have gave up just because it got dark, I would have broke out the lanterns and continued my search. Why would he look by himself? I would have everyone I was friends with out there trying to help me get that thing. HE never recovered the deer. The FARMER recovered the deer. Why in the world would a MONSTER buck lay in a field to die? Wouldn't he head to the thickest, nastiest stuff on the face of the earth? Why didn't Zaft look around for evidence that it was his deer? How does he know it was the same one? He can't possibly be 100% sure that the buck he found, was the buck that he shot. He has NO PROOF. Mitch Rompola is more believeable than this guy. I know that I am going to hear it for that, but he is. He has a LONG history of shooting HUGE bucks, he has a picture, he had the body of the deer. He just simply didn't want to get it scored because he knew what would happen. What proof did Zaft have? His word? What does somebodies word mean now? It means NOTHING, you can't trust anybody by there words.

Good Luck This Season: Buck Magnet
P.S. Only Chuck Adams can sit at home and see deer so get into the woods. =;^)

Howler

Interesting topic that I haven't formed a solid opinion on yet, but to answer Buck Magnet's question about velvet on a rack late in the season, it so happens that my buck that I got this last winter on Dec. 5th, although it was a mule deer, did have a piece of velvet still on his rack, so I would say that that does happen.