I wonder if there’s any correlation between this bombshell, and that Chinese weather balloon suddenly showing up. It seems to be more than just a coincidence to me……..just sayin
I thought Randy died in the early 80's after working on Ozzy's first 2 solo albums. I didn't realize he came back to life and was a CBM scorer. The things you learn on Bowsite.
They're pissed he never submitted to their "authoritah" sounds like a political circle jerk.Someday the mystery will be solved probably by whomever owns it after he dies.It would be hilarious if it ended up legit.
The don’t make deer like that in Michigan. Especially that area of Michigan. There hasn’t been a net B&C buck taken within 100 miles of Traverse City in the history of the record book. Fake, fake, fraud.
If it was REAL, it would’ve been scored legitimately. Does anyone else know a person that has killed a “potential WR” and not come forward to have it scored, and… after they claimed to have the new potential WR? I don’t.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CwhT6ngI9A The Rompola Buck Uncovered
I don't know man, I might be changing my mind after seeing the recovery video...
One thing for sure, nothing brings up more controversy than wolves, xbows, and the Rompola Buck...8^)
This is the first time I've ever seen other pix of the buck except for the infamous photo that floated around for years, but the links even shows it the back of a pickup, but it would be hard to fake moving the head around with the rack attached in the recovery video...
Zbone, that feed just came up on my youtube yesterday and I watched it a bit. We must be watching the same stuff (at least Brownville Food Pantry in Maine). Very convincing with some of the points discussed, but who knows.
"If it was REAL, it would’ve been scored legitimately. Does anyone else know a person that has killed a “potential WR” and not come forward to have it scored, and… after they claimed to have the new potential WR? I don’t.
I know of a potential world record typical Mule deer rack that's hanging in a guy's barn. He never had it scored, or mounted, because he didn't care and didn't want the attention. I have to respect him for that.
Yeah, heard it was destroyed in a fire too, but in that one video that guy seemed to think it still exists but can't enter it in record books due to contract with Hansen... Said Rompola's son could though... Hmmm...
Rompola never missed a chance to have a deer scored officially and sought out the limelight all his life. Then he shoots the new world record and won’t have it officially scored. He has a chance to take $10,000 from a guy he hates just to have it scored and declines, who would do that? Who would bondo the skull plate?
Still annoying to me. Not real! He said it was stolen when pressed by legal action from Milo Hanson. Craig Calderone offered up 10000$ to X-ray it and has a whitetail farm , museum in grass Lake Michigan. Good place to visit and I’ll bet he still has some info on this.
Still annoying to me. Not real! He said it was stolen when pressed by legal action from Milo Hanson. Craig Calderone offered up 10000$ to X-ray it and has a whitetail farm , museum in grass Lake Michigan. Good place to visit and I’ll bet he still has some info on this.
Still annoying to me. Not real! He said it was stolen when pressed by legal action from Milo Hanson. Craig Calderone offered up 10000$ to X-ray it and has a whitetail farm , museum in grass Lake Michigan. Good place to visit and I’ll bet he still has some info on this.
I'm not saying its fake... but I've seen enough pictures of other "bucks" with Rompola sitting behind them that looked like does with antlers stuck to the sides of their heads.... which makes me question the legitimacy of the "WR" buck. I do believe at least some of the deer he's seen posing with are manufactured/ altered.
This new recovery video does make it look convincing. Buck appears freshly killed anyways. There is an interesting crease or divot running over the top/ middle of the forehead hair.
But then you have the host point out the "scar" at the end of the video... interestingly the "WR" buck appears to have something going on in the same spot..... whether its just ruffled hair or a scar, who knows. The facial markings/ features do look similar.
Look at the screenshots SaddleReaper posted... As said, watch that new recovery video where he is moving a fresh deer's head around by it's antlers, go to the 18 minute mark... Would be hard to fake... Now, had it been stiff, maybe, but not when it is limber like that...
The fan club is composed of those who "want to believe". Everyone else, i.e., those who don't really care but are able to utilize their brain, already know it was a scam. Otherwise it would already have been proven real decades ago, heavily enriching the owner. Which would you want to go down in history as....a laughingstock hoax, or as the WR holder? Tough choice ain't it.
Honestly that video makes it look more fake than real. He never ever moves it on camera. Each scene the head has moved, but it never moves an inch in the video. Set up each time.
This video is done by a guy wearing a Rampola hat with a Rampola buck pic in the background. Clearly this guy has drunk the Kool-aid. I think anyone who believes this has lost the forest for the trees. No one sets out in any profession, pursuit, sport or whatever seeking fame and attention at every stop along the way, and then suddenly disappears when they get the "world championship." Guy does news interviews, writes articles, is a measurer etc etc etc shoots the world record and dives underground? Not buying it. Not once.
I want to believe his buck is real…. I really do. But when I look at the still pics from the video vs other pics with Mitch holding the antlers…. They look like the same antlers…..but the antlers are angled up on the buck laying there and then they are protruding straight out from the head in later pics.
"look more fake than real. He never ever moves it on camera. Each scene the head has moved, but it never moves an inch in the video. Set up each time"
Hmmm, what video are you watching Adam... Click on the youtube link I posted above and go to minute mark 18:03 - 18:06... He moves it more than an inch, looks fresh to me... If he somehow skinned the scalp, applied fake or altered horns like that, then sewed it all back together before rigor mortis set in, he's a pretty good illusionist... We all know they stiffen up quick...
As for different setups, I can see that... Camcorders weren't the greatest back then and turning it off, removing the arrow, breaking or trimming a couple branches, I can see that happening... Also, all those people surrounding it, then measuring it, I don't think he could have fooled them all, especially the measurers... I always thought it was fake, but before now I hadn't realized so many people had handled it until this video... I'm leaning now towards it's real now...
"No one sets out in any profession, pursuit, sport or whatever seeking fame and attention at every stop along the way, and then suddenly disappears when they get the "world championship." Guy does news interviews, writes articles, is a measurer etc etc etc shoots the world record and dives underground? Not buying it. Not once."
I don't know the ins and outs of this buck and the whole story (doesn't sound like anyone really knows) but what APauls posted makes a lot of sense to me.
I hope someday it turns up legit. I personally don’t give two craps if it is or isn’t. Would honestly be funny how someone could not want all the hype if it was real. I never really looked into to whether Mitch was a legit guy or not.
I will say this though. I’ve never had a deer officially measured or recorded in PY or BC. I always felt no need to put any more pressure on the bucks I chase. Some guys want everyone to know what they’ve killed. I let a few guys know and honestly don’t want other guys knowing. There are a ton of guys with no ethics. They don’t care I’ve been hunting the same farm for 40 years. They’ll move right in on ya. Especially the young bucks starting out.
I think the most amazing thing to me is, there’s actually a friggen Mitch Rompola fan club!!! I wonder if you get a free set of knee pads with a 3 yr membership….
You guys the “never scored a deer” or cared about it are polar opposites of Rompola. He scored everything and tried to gain all the fame he could. Till he shot the “world record” a few years earlier he might have got away with it but folks were just entering the Information Age and there were way too many eyes on that deer. So fake.
There's enough evidence and reputable scorers that held the antlers and skull plate to get my opinion that it is real. There is also enough evidence that it's real that Steve Rinella told Joe Rogan he wants to do a documentary on it. Lots of material on his fan page on Facebook that 90% of the trash talkers have never seen showing it is real.
Kind of a Sasquatch type deal. Can't really prove it or disprove it, at least without the antlers.
But one thing that is absolutely sure, whenever there is a discussion about oversized antlers or horns, some people will take time out of their schedule to tell you they don't care about horns, score or recognition. They just want you to know that. And by declaring that, they are pissing on your opinion, all the while saying "but you do you" and "I don't care".
News flash; you sure do care or you wouldn't bother commenting at all.
According to a retired well known outdoor writer that used to post on here, there is a world record typical whitetail hanging in a house in NW KS that was shot years ago. Apparently, he has seen, held, and measured it. The rancher owns thousands of acres and has decided to never have it scored because he does not want the publicity, leasing, and stress to his country the news would bring. These kinds of guys exist, and it does happen because I grew up around these types of mentalities, some of which shot quite a few Booners and never had them scored.
"some people will take time out of their schedule to tell you they don't care about horns, score or recognition. They just want you to know that. And by declaring that, they are pissing on your opinion, all the while saying "but you do you" and "I don't care". "News flash; you sure do care or you wouldn't bother commenting at all"
That's funny right there, but totally true.... "I don't care" But takes the time to comment to convince others he doesn't rather than just moving along, nothing to see here...
The more you read on this controversy, the more apparent it gets the buck was real. The multi page contractual agreement Milo Hansen brought against him is proof enough. That agreement is avaliable on line.
State your reason for thinking so, and don't start off with "drooping ears" because there are plenty of available photos of other bucks with drooping ears.
I do not understand all the hype that is still going on over this, especially since it is something that cannot be proved or disproven without the Antlers. But it is good for another laugh after all these years.
There are those who claim they have seen the Antlers and held them claiming they are for real (sounds believable). Then there are those who have never seen nor held them that claim it is fake, how do they know? We need real proof one way or the other, which it appears we will never get so it is not worth getting worked up over.
Gordon Whittington did a great article on it a while back. At one time the pictures he mentioned in the article were available and I have seen them. They look ridiculously fake.
Haha, don't think anybody is getting "worked up", it's just an interesting story... Move along now...8^)
Yeah Greg, because of that contract Milo's (people, sponsors, etc) threatening to sue back in the time was what really tipped the scales for me to think fake, basically the final aspect with Rompola admitting guilt...
We can now look at it this way, if fame Rompola seeked, good, bad, ugly or whatever, every whitetail enthusiast now knows his name, he sure archived his objective...8^)
Haters gonna hate ;) Bet Mitch could hunt circles around the bowsite blowhards! lol J/K
All kidding aside, it’s funny people are still talking about it 25 years later… hunting folklore! Makes you wonder where he got the 98” shed that he showed John Eberhart… deer farm?
He obviously put horns on does in some of the pictures I’ve seen. But it seems hard to believe you couldn’t tell if a rack was pieced together if you were scoring it? Glad I don’t kill monster bucks… too much controversy! ;)
i have my opinion but i have no idea whether its real or not. living in a bordering county when the deer was taken...ive heard so much false stuff about the rack...the area...and rompola it general... if it is real...i totally understand why he would want no part of the notoriety that goes with it.
like many others...i hope someday the truth comes out.
I for one don't understand people who say "that deer couldn't come out of that area." Even if the deer is not typical of the area, it could be an outlier. I've seen a few truly huge deer taken in Massachusetts, and there have even been one or two Boone & Crockett deer taken here. (People don't believe we have moose here or 400+ pound bears either.)
There have been a ton of wide bucks come out of that area. Just get get on the Mitch Rompola fan page. The guy has plenty of support. Posts every day from articles and proof of people that laid hands on the buck, saw the buck alive, people that have shot giants in Michigan,etc.
"There have been a ton of wide bucks come out of that area. Just get get on the Mitch Rompola fan page. The guy has plenty of support. Posts every day from articles and proof of people that laid hands on the buck, saw the buck alive, people that have shot giants in Michigan,etc."
never knew that facebook page existed. lots of info there that i was not aware of. quite a rabbit hole...but a very interesting read.
Just for the record I shoot a world record WT buck I'll get it publicly scored than to the Milo Hansen crowd bring on your lawsuit's . Notoriety, fame, money, sponsorship it'll all be mine! Insert evil laugh lol .
"Why wouldn’t he just get it x-rayed, shut everyone up for good"
The man's past criminal record and character was brought up, and personally think he'd had enough of the scrutiny and flipped the bird to everybody leaving all to wonder... Here it is 24 years latter and still in the news, he's infamous...8^)
I really don’t even think about record books, I have a couple goats and a whitetail that would beat the minimum for P&Y, but if I killed a state or world record I might change my mind. I’m not too much a public person, try to avoid large crowds and such social stuff, small gatherings of friends and family are more my thing. I’d have to weigh that against the possible benefits of fame and possible fortune. Like was said above, if I won the lottery I’d want to keep that a secret. First, I’d have to buy a ticket, and I don’t. ;-)) I do not have an opinion on whether Rompola’s buck is real or fake, but it would be nice if it was put to rest so we could get back to hating on politics, xbows, feeders, and whether Tiffany is hot or not.
"The man's past criminal record and character was brought up, and personally think he'd had enough of the scrutiny and flipped the bird to everybody leaving all to wonder... "
based on some of the things weve seen posted around here lately...if past criminal records are an indication of whether or not a record book buck is real...some people around here better hope they never shoot one. lol
"Criminal record" is a loose term used to mar just about anybody that somebody else disagrees with. You can get a damn misdemeanor in Kansas for slingshotting a water balloon in a state park. I don't even blink unless the accused has committed a "person felony" and even then, I still want to know what really happened.
There are a lot of people with "criminal records", who got busted for pot 30 years ago. Today, those same people walk into a store and buy the stuff legally. Are they still "criminals?" If they shot a trophy deer tomorrow, would that trophy be invalid?
"There are a lot of people with "criminal records", who got busted for pot 30 years ago."
there are a lot of people with criminal records...period.
if every hunter held themselves to the same standards that they seem to hold those who kill potential world records...the record books would be pretty thin.
Well, I'm not going to say what it was but from what I read back then they're were not talking about a minor traffic violation, it was more in the line of 'perversion'...
Is that a matter of public record or some rumor some jealous *** started? So much of this 'controversy' sounds like jealous griping to me. Same as back when the story was new.
From what I remember reading about it back then. Mitch recieved several Michigan big buck awards that he didn't mind all the accolades over it . But when challenged over the world record he seemed to have a problem with it.
Personally I don't care about the man and his character, I learned enough from the recordings to form my own opinion.... I'm only interested in the deer and if it is real...
Since you guys don't believe about the man's character and won't do an internet search on your own, here a go, see the following link:
"Just ask the Traverse City Police Dept. They arrested him for videotaping up girls skirts at the cherry festival. (I have a copy of the police report / dated 7/6/94 Case # 94-0001885 / reporting officer Preston, badge # 239)"
"So let's see now... he was fired from the US Post Office for mail fraud and also arrested for videotaping little girls"
Some of you should take a ride up to Traverse City. There never has been nor ever will be a wild Boone & Crockett whitetail taken anywhere in that county. Any “wide” bucks up there don’t break 20”. Even with a decade of “QDM” there and pumping minerals and food plots they can’t bring in 150”s. When Mitch faked those deer that area was the epicenter of “up north” and “if it’s brown it’s down” with 750,000 firearm hunters mowing everything down they could for 20 years. It’s just laughable people think there is one thread of truth in the whole story. Mitch wanted all the glory right up until the fake didn’t work. He had all the sponsors lined up with “artwork”; ScentLock, Buck Fever synthetic deer lure, and CSS bows to name a few. Leopards don’t change their spots boys…he became the “recluse” after he got exposed.
Shrewski - take a look at the Michigan Buck Pole website and search Grand Traverse County. There are some damn nice bucks that are being killed up there, nothing like down state but a couple that I bet would be damn close to BC. That being said I have no idea if Mitch's buck is real or not, but it'd be cool if it was :)
Shrewski- That Facebook website proves there are quite a few Boone and Crockett bucks in your state. In fact quite a few hunters have voluntarily posted their bucks that are obviously way over 20". Your reply is typical of a jealous hater, incapable of killing anything big. I hunted an area in Manitoba some years back and took a shot at a running buck way over 200" nontypical. The guide has lived there 40 years and his dad longer. The guide said it was the biggest thing he had ever laid eyes on. Even here in Kansas, there are areas that do not produce much over 140"-150". My farm is one of those, and in 13 years I've seen one-for-sure Booner with very little hunting pressure and high deer densities in a mile and a half.
“I’m convinced the deer and the antlers are real,” he told me. “I’ve seen them. How can anyone who hasn’t seen the deer claim otherwise?” Good question
"The don’t make deer like that in Michigan. Especially that area of Michigan. There hasn’t been a net B&C buck taken within 100 miles of Traverse City in the history of the record book."
actually there a couple b&c bucks in the book from counties that border traverse city.
When you get your information from the “Mitch Rompola Fan Club” on Facebook, there is no use injecting any logic or personal experience from a 55 year Michigan resident who was at his peak in 1998. I’ve seen and done much more than most and I’m jealous of no man, especially a fraud like Rompola. When he proves the rack authentic I’ll admit I was wrong. Until then I’ll just continue on with what logic and experience tell me from the area and how the perpetrator acted pre and post “world record” Hah.
I do recall some mathematician calculated the odds of Mitch killing that buck; it was 1 in 238 followed by one hundred zeros.
I was pretty interested in all this “Rompola” stuff during the time. Nothing after the first few days of the “harvest” has done anything to prove it anything but a giant ruse.
One last question for all the proponents; why did NONE of Mitch’s “sponsors” stand by him? They had a lot invested…
Where's your fan club, Mr. "55 year Michigan resident"?
You sound like my buddy John, who lives in Michigan and shoots a 2 year old 6 point or a doe every year because "there are no big bucks in my area" then his neighbor shoots a 140" he'd never seen before.
Yep you guys are right, B&C is bursting with bucks “surrounding” Grand Traverse County.
:-))
All those 140” bucks the neighbors get turn to 220s with a little age. Just nobody out there anymore as good as Mitch was 30 years ago.
It is shocking though, not more of the serious trophy whitetail guys have moved to Traverse City? Maybe I’ve missed that, probably most of them want to be recluses, it’s just the Iowa guys that are looking for the recognition and publicity.
I won’t ask any more questions here you guys go on ahead with the “facts” and the data. I feel bad I’m a jealous hater now.
"Yep you guys are right, B&C is bursting with bucks “surrounding” Grand Traverse County."
no county in michigan is bursting with b&c bucks but thats not the point. when you make statements like the one you made...you just become part of the internet rumor mill grinding out false information.
you say something false...then someone repeats it...then ten more people repeat it and before you know it...it becomes "fact" for some people.
i said before...i have no idea if the rompola buck is legit...but the false internet rumors turned into "fact" in some peoples minds surrounding it have become more legendary than the buck itself.
