Rigged buck pools
Wisconsin
Spoke with a new good work friend who is partial owner of a deer farm. They raise bucks and sell them to fenced hunting establishments. Due to regulations they often have to downsize their herd after breeding season. Many of thecsmaller bucks they quick sell are 140-170".
He told me last year a gentleman purchased a buck for the sole purpose of entering it into buck pools. When did the greed for bragging rights and $$ become this low?? I will never enter a buck pool for fun again.
When did your new friend's greed for money become low enough that he would sell a buck to a guy who he clearly knows is using it for that purpose? Seems to me that if your friend had a problem with it he wouldn't have sold the deer to the guy in the first place.
With group hunting in the gun season who truly knows who shot the deer that's being brought in for the buck pool.
Group hunting always has taken place whether legal or not. We hunted for meat, the youngest tag on up always got used first, or the family members who couldn't hunt as much. I never had an unused tag as a kid, and my family ate meat they would not have had every winter. Everyone was hunting this way around us, just keeping their mouths shut. Fed the families. And in the archery season people have and still use others tags all the time. The ones that get caught have to brag. With the number of deer and tags today as well as the expense and our incomes, we do not practice this, as everyone wants to shoot there own. But we did and if needed to feed my family as we did in the day we would in a heart beat. Also We do not condone doing this to shoot more or big bucks. If that is the purpose no.
Screwball, the majority of group hunting now days is not for meat. It's so guys can shoot multiple bucks.
I stated I do not approve of that for a reason. I was stating it has gone on forever and will continue. Legalizing made legal an unenforceable law. Buck and doe pools have been rigged. What counts as a point. What is used to measure, ruler, yardstick, tape measure, etc. Was the deer weighed with heart, lungs, lead weights etc. The WEUA TV 13 big buck contest got ended just due to that type issue. A trophy should be between you and the deer. Any animal harvested is a trophy and deserves that respect. In bear camp a few years ago an older gentlemen intentionally shot a small bear his wife wanted fora a specific mount in their house. Other hunters were very critical, my response, It's his tag, his hunt, his trophy respect it.
When my brother in law was alive, he shot a huge buck that he had been on in Mequon the first year they allowed gun hunting. Tracked that buck and followed it to the neighboring property. Asked permission to go in and the guy said sure but, he needed to come along. Finally tracked it up toward his house and lost the trail. Brought in a tracking dog, and it headed straight for the guys house. Never found the deer. A year later we see a picture of him with the deer winning a Menomonee Falls Big Buck Contest. My brother In Law swore it was his deer but, we had no proof. Mark was an upstanding guy and would not have made the claim if he didn't believe it. Turned out to be a 186 deer non typical. I believe the guy won an ATV with the deer.
I got out of buck pools years ago. I saw lots of scam winners and enough was enough.
For me, it's just me and the critter; I have no need to thump my chest and say, "LOOK AT ME!!!".
An old taxidermist friend seen on a TV bow killing show a buck that was shot by the blond girl that he mounted the rack 2x already. He said there is big money in deer farming and the bigger the horns the bigger the money. Interesting on how two TV brothers can kill two 190 bucks on the same day, what is the odds of that happening?
10orbetter, sounds like the guy was entitled to that deer as you stated that he tracked it with guy and lost the trail, then a dog trailed it and lost the trail. At that point it sounds like he gave up looking for it. If the neighbor found it later on his property he has all the rights to claim it. Sounds like it was not a good hit or else it would of left a better trail, bedded down or died sooner.
Trapper I hate that word entitled. If I knew the guy shot it and it died on my property I would have contacted him regardless of shot placement. I have shot a few in my life time that I wish I could do over. The sound of a shoulder is not a good sound upon impact. Plus it would be hard for me to take credit when credit isn't due. But het, entitlement is what its all about these days I guess.
Anybody ever eaten at Antlers Supper Club in Black Creek? Talk to them about deer farming and look at the racks in there.
Your right Pasquineel, entitled is probably not the right word these days. It has gotten bad these days with keeping deer that others have shot. A few years back, a neighboring land owner found a 180+ deer shot by a neighbor on his land and he kept it and even mounted it. He knew the hunter but there was bad blood between them. The hunter really wanted that deer and even wen so far as to suggest a DNA test on the deer and blood on the arrow. It still hangs in the living room.
Can't imagine the prize in the buck pool would be worth more than the cost of a 140-170 fenced buck?
Trapper, you are right to an extent. He legally is entitled but, from an ethics stand point, he could have called my brother in law and said I found your deer. If it was your deer on my property, I would call you and tell you I found your deer. Come get it. I would get no pleasure out of claiming someone else's deer. Plus, the guy registered it as his own kill in a big prize buck contest. That in my book is low-life!
"When did the greed for bragging rights and $$ become this low??"
About the time people decided to turn hunting into a competitive sport.
I guess I can't understand for the life of me why someone would want a deer they did not shoot that died on their property? I agree with Pasq in that I'm looking for the shooter to give them the deer they hit.
Years ago I whacked a hog Mulie in northern NV , my partner and I stopped for gas and 2 guys wanted to buy the Mulie . They offered $ 1800 for the 195 inch 5x4 , there was a local casino down the road that had a big buck contest with a Honda 4 wheeler as top prize .
They told us they really did try hunting for 3 days . 1 fell off a 10 foot ledge and the other got bit by a Black widow on his pinkie finger . You don't pick up firewood in NV without gloves .
Sadly many pools are fixed or cheated on , and that includes big prize pools , and fishing tournaments are some of the worst for cheating .
How can anyone be happy "winning" a pool that the didn't honestly win? When it comes to ice fishing tournaments there is so much cheating that I don't even bother with them anymore.
I used to do the rabbit tournaments. One year we weighed every rabbit that was above average, out of over 350 rabbits we shot one rabbit weighed 4.03lbs, all the rest were under 4 lbs usually about 3 to 3.2lbs. In the tournaments here it would take 6 rabbits over 4lbs each to win. How the heck do two hunters shoot 6 rabbits over 4lbs? Heck how do they even find 6 wild rabbits over 4lbs each?
Zinger, I've wondered the same .... only thought on the rabbits is they're backyard bunnies fed all year? Or maybe trapped, penned and fed?
I fished a tourney in Southern California at a local lake. They had stocked these trout in the lake and had weighed a single fish out of the bunch. Anyone coming closest to that weight won the grand prize and the person who brought in the "heaviest" took second. I caught a huge female that was full of eggs. There was a guy who caught a big hook jaw male that was close to mine in weight.
I was asked by these kids if they could touch my fish and I agreed. Unbeknownst to me, one of the kids was the son of the guy with the big male. Kid came over and squeezed the heck out my fish and all these eggs came flying out. Turned out the kid was told to do it by his old man. DNR sliced open our fish after weighing checking for weights and the guy beat my by very little.
He knew my fish was heavier and told his kid to do it.
Zinger, they dump lead down their throats!
Yikes Pasq. Now I have heard it all. Quite the upbringing that kid had and what a dad he has.
I was involved in weighing in fish in a lake Michigan tournament and found one cooler of fish where each and every fish had ice packed into the throats and stomachs. When I confronted the guys they claimed it happened in the cooler and the fish must have swallowed the ice while thrashing about.
We squeezed all the ice out of the fish, let them sit out of the cooler for a half hour and then weighed them. It was either that or they would have been disqualified.
I'm involved in a couple salmon tournaments on Lake Michigan, and the first year we used metal detectors we found a big king with a pound ball in its throat. Guys said maybe it broke loose and the fish swallowed it on the way down. Maybe …. not!
It was a hysterical day for sure. The place was packed to the gills(no pun intended)with people of all kinds. I was talked into even going and didn't want to. There wasn't a spot on the banks to fish from and there was a tree that its foliage was in the water. I waded out and cut away a few branches, limbs and put my lawn chair in the water within the confines of the tree branches. It was like a private little hut. I casted out an inflated night crawler and just sat in my chair and waited. Well there were people getting tangled together etc etc. All of the sudden my line started going out. I was looking around for some yo-yo reeling and had snagged me but saw nobody. I was saying no way to myself. Well I set the hook and well looky there I had that big female on the hook.
You woulda thought I was a pro of some kind or Lee Wulff. I had 50 people coming up and asking what kind of rod, reel, bait, line, lawn chair I was using. What did I do to catch that monster etc etc. There were more lines casted into the front of that tree, guys in float tubes etc. My day was done but it made for a story.
Winning isn't everything it is the only thing! Funny thing, Lombardi never actually said that. Haha.
10orbetter, one of the local rabbit tournaments required the rabbits to be cleaned by the club officers. The winning rabbits had water draining out of them when they were skun - the "hunters" injected them with water.
Wow! I just got back from a great trip up North with the kids.
You guys are depressing me. We were thinking that maybe we'd do some sort of "tournament" with the kids next year. Not so much as a competition, but as an excuse to fish different species with the kids.
I've never cared about buck boards. I've never fished tournaments. I think that I'm scrapping the idea of exposing the kids to the idea of either.
Orionsbrother, I run a kids tournament every year in August, and it's a blast. Every kid wins a prize, nothing is major, but all nice stuff, some of it donated and a lot purchased with proceeds from tickets (kids are only $3, adults are $10 for salmon/trout). One year every kid got a youth fishing rod, one year a tackle box, one year life jackets, etc. Now mostly give the essentials like small, sharp hooks and quality split shot and swivels, tackle organizers, certificates for bait at a local shop, cash, etc. We make it so that even if it's a tiny fish of a certain species brought in by a very young child, we make it sound like it's a monster, like "…. with a .04-pound sunfish!" or whatever, making up an award for "first place in the 4-year-old division for girls," etc. Some years we have 50+ kids, which is cool to see in this day of digital devices.
RUGER, you're completely correct. Buck contests don't come close to being "as rigged" as fishing contests.
Muskies are the worst, heard of one guy that shocks the water under his boat . Another cheat pre fishes the lake, puts several nice fish in wire cages in hidden shallow bays. That came from 2 guys at a bar in Tomahawk .
Naz - That's the sort of thing that I was thinking of trying to emulate. We had eleven kids up North this year with a brief period where there had been fifteen.
It was a blast with all of the kids' enthusiasm, but at times chaotic, kids shooting off in all directions at all times. We don't want to constrain them with some rigid schedule, but thought that giving the herd a general direction every once in a while might be good.
We'd just have to work to make sure that it isn't competitive. I don't want to plant seeds that fishing or hunting are competitive sports. I want them to enjoy the outdoors for what it is.
I may shoot you a PM to pick your brain before next year, take advantage of your learning curve.
"...shocks the water under his boat." SMFH!
That came from 2 guys at a bar in Tomahawk" well then it has to be true. Sorry I couldn't resist.
Shocking would likely have to be done at night and well away from any possible public sightings …. same with putting fish in nets in shallow bays …. I'd guess more bar talk than anything on both.
Naz-from what ive heard a fence buck of that size costs about $2500. Enter a few good sized pools around the state and I could see how $ could be made.
Naz , take a ride around Mohawkskin and perhaps you wouldn't make uneducated comments about A very large complex lake .
The DNR picks up a lot of info in local bars . 2 years ago a major Deer poaching ring was busted in the northwoods from info over heard in a local bar .
What the heck, who even needs to leave the living room to order a big buck mount or any animal for that reason. This place is right here in Amherst, WI. They even have a showroom you can stop and shop on your way home from your hunt.
I rode by that place a couple days ago. Must be pretty new. I have to be a little curious and might stop in
NAZ If you are running that tournament, I would be happy to come record it on video. I've shot commercial/industrial video sine 1978. Could cut together a pretty cool tournament video. Let me know.
