The Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club has officially panel-scored a new state record, typical whitetail buck that was taken on October 11, 2014 in Dodge County, Wisconsin by a bow hunter, Adam Hupf.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin Cabela’s store was the host to a panel of six measurers from the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club who convened Saturday morning to officially panel-score, following a mandatory 60-day drying period. The measurers included: Mark Miller - Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett Stan Zirbel- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett Marlin Laidlaw- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club Earl Conradt- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young Andy Sternagel- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club Bucky Ihlenfeldt - Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett
Surpassing the former typical state-record archery buck taken in 2012 by Dusty Gerrits, which scored 189 7/8” net and 200 1/8” gross, the “Adam Hupf buck” has a total of 13 measureable points, a 18 4/8” inside spread, and 43 4/8” of circumference, and achieved an official typical score of 200 4/8” gross and 191 6/8” net scorable inches, and is now officially recognized as the current Wisconsin state record for typical bucks in the archery records.
The “Adam Hupf buck” taken in Dodge County Wisconsin is another example of why Wisconsin continues to be the number one spot in North America for trophy whitetails. Wisconsin currently ranks number one in Boone & Crockett and Pope & Young record entries.
It’s exciting not only for the hunter and the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, but also for the entire state of Wisconsin to continue to see the increased quality of deer taken in Wisconsin as people “Let ‘em Go, Let ‘em Grow”.
For more information, please visit the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club website www.wi-buck-bear.org or Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wisconsinbuckandbearclub.
About Wisconsin Buck & Bear The Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club is a group of dedicated volunteer individuals, organized for the purpose of collecting and maintaining records on trophy whitetail deer and black bear according to the Boone & Crockett scoring system. For details, visit http://www.wi-buck-bear.org/about_us.php
Contact To learn more about this, please contact: Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club: [email protected] Bucky Ihlenfeldt, Chairman
An old friend of mine shot a 212" gross in Iowa a couple weeks ago, wish I could share the pictures!
Naz 's Link
By Bucky Ihlenfeldt Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club
The phone rang several times before there was an answer on the other end. “Is this Adam?” I asked. “Yes it is” He said, almost cautious to confirm. I reassured him with “Congratulations on that great buck!” I could hear a breath of relief from the hunter on the other end.
Adam Hupf of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin had just celebrated his 30th birthday the week of the call; in fact his lovely wife had just held a surprise birthday party for him the night before we talked. If 30 is anything like 29 he will be in for a heck of a ride!
Adam Hupf has been bowhunting for 16 years in the rural Beaver Dam area. This portion of the state isn’t where you would normally envision a nearly 200-inch class buck to be harvested, but it happened. In fact, this general area has now produced two consecutive state archery typical records. Dusty Gerrits harvested an archery buck in 2012, that huge buck scored 189 7/8 inches net and 200 1/8 inches gross.
The year of 2014 was busy one for Adam. He had an archery elk hunt planned in Colorado, had applied for a harvest permit for Wisconsin black bear, and of course a local big buck on his mind. Adam had thought about how he would fit all of this into one year? It appeared to be more complex when he read the paper one day and it read, “Wisconsin Black Bear tags up 17% for 2014.” Adam thought, “Great I’ll be sure to draw a tag for sure?” Not something he wanted for this year in particular. With a successful Wisconsin Black Bear hunt completed and a tag punched, Adam was off to Colorado for an Elk hunt only to return with a broken arrow to stir his tag soup. Adam returned on a Saturday afternoon and unpacked his gear and enjoyed some family time. Later that night Adam floated the idea past his loving wife that he probably had to bow hunt the following morning, the morning trail camera pictures showed some good bucks moving in the early hours, and she was thrilled!
With thoughts of archery season looming, he had a plan to get an encounter with a buck he had seen a few times over the years. Adam had encounters with this buck three years ago only for the buck to vanish in 2012. In the 2013 season the buck reappeared and Adam actually got a glimpse of him twice just before he vanished into the canary grass, never to see him again that year. Reminiscing about those hunts, Adam discovered that on the occasions that the buck was on his feet and near his stand there was a south wind. A south wind Adam determined would be the only way to get an arrow into this huge buck.
Talks with neighbors of where Adam was hunting found that the buck had been living on the adjacent property and moving about the area. Trail camera photos shared between Adam and his neighbors confirmed that the buck was the same one as they wished each other good luck just to see the brute.
The big buck had been absent for some time from the area Adam had been hunting but as luck would have it a camera had caught him once again near Adam’s hunting stand. As Adam stopped and talked with his neighbor he found that they hadn’t seen him for almost two weeks. As Adam went off to hunt his neighbor offered “Good luck! Heavy D must be on your end!”
As Adam settled into the stand he felt the southwest wind in his face, not what he had wished for when he had patterned the big buck. As the hunt went on that night of October 11, 2014 the wind slowly switched to the south, it might be the night Adam had wished for.
As the dusk was nearing and just 20 minutes before closing time Adam stood up to ready him for any late breaking action. Just as he stood up he noticed some movement, a small buck that slipped by, as Adam stayed undetected. Shortly after another buck appeared, and a great one at that! Adam grabbed his bow, slowly flipped his portable seat up on his treestand and clipped his release onto his bowstring.
Adam said to himself, “Just take that trail right there”, only to have the buck veer onto the trail that lead right towards Adam’s treestand just 18 feet up in the nearby tree. At 9 yards the buck stood quartering towards Adam. What was actually a two-minute wait seemed like two hours as the buck finally turned as Adam held the pin behind the front shoulder and finally released his arrow. The buck jolted and ran as Adam tried to regain his composure and relive what had just happened.
Adam waited a few minutes and descended from the tree to recover his arrow and in five feet had found the beginning of a good blood trail, confirmation of beginning of the end of the pursuit of the big buck.
Adam backed out and called one of his good friends to help him recover the deer but it’s not what you would expect. His friend explained that Adam should probably get a camera over near the backside of the barn to try and get a picture of the big buck? “Why would I do that when I just shot the big one?” The two bantered as good friends will do, followed by resuming a plan to recover the buck. Adam would get his dad and together they would all look for the buck together. Adam’s dad, brother, and two good family friends lead the recovery team just 150 yards when someone yelled, “There he is, what a buck!”
As the guys marveled at the buck Adam thought that buck might be near the 180 inch gross mark? How would Adam know how to judge that? Because he had harvested a few bucks in the last few years that made Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club records. In 2010 he took a 200 inch non-typical and in 2012 he harvested a 160 class inch typical. Of these two previous bucks Adam is convinced that the bucks from 2012 and 2014 were twins!
As the days followed Adam had kept his deer story on the quiet side. He found from his previous experience that it might be good to just sit back and wait on this one? As the days went on more and more people stopped in to catch a glimpse of the deer, that’s when Adam figured out that this buck is a pretty big deal. Adam’s brother even thought it might actually reach to challenge the current state record but Adam thought he might just let this ride for the time being?
As days went on the rumors of the big buck spread even to where Dusty Gerrits and Adam would exchange text messages to meet and talk about their bucks. Adam thought it might be best to wait until the buck was officially measured for the meeting. This goes to show that great sportsmanship between people is still alive; it’s about the excitement of the pursuit, and the respect for the deer.
Adam eventually was in contact with Mark Miller, official measurer for the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club and someone that had measured deer for Adam in the past.
The Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club has officially panel-scored a new state record, typical whitetail buck that was taken on October 11, 2014 in Dodge County, Wisconsin by a bow hunter, Adam Hupf.
The Green Bay, Wisconsin Cabela’s store was the host to a panel of six measurers from the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club who convened to officially panel-score, following a mandatory 60-day drying period. The measurers included: Mark Miller - Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett Stan Zirbel- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett Marlin Laidlaw- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club Earl Conradt- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young Andy Sternagel- Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club Bucky Ihlenfeldt - Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, Pope & Young, Boone & Crockett
Surpassing the former typical state-record archery buck taken in 2012 by Dusty Gerrits, which scored 189 7/8” net and 200 1/8” gross, the “Adam Hupf buck” has a total of 13 measureable points, a 18 4/8” inside spread, and 43 4/8” of circumference, and achieved an official typical score of 200 4/8” gross and 191 6/8” net scorable inches, and is now officially recognized as the current Wisconsin state record for typical bucks in the archery records.
The “Adam Hupf buck” taken in Dodge County Wisconsin is another example of why Wisconsin continues to be the number one spot in North America for trophy whitetails. Wisconsin currently ranks number one in Boone & Crockett and Pope & Young record entries.
It’s exciting not only for the hunter and the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club, but also for the entire state of Wisconsin to continue to see the increased quality of deer taken in Wisconsin as people “Let ‘em Go, Let ‘em Grow”.
(For more information, including more photos, visit the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club website www.wi-buck-bear.org or Facebook page, www.facebook.com/wisconsinbuckandbearclub).
