Living here in Michigan, I can say it was the "talk" of all off season the year he shot it. Then the "conspiracies" chatter started. He never had the deer scored by Commemorative Bucks of Michigan (CBM) and registered in the book. Nor was the rack X-Rayed for its authenticity. He was interviewed by a well known author here in Michigan (Richard P. Smith) for a story about it's authenticity in his words. Some talk was that it never looked like any other deer he shot in the year's past in the area (county he shot it) and that he shot it on a family own penned farm. Quiet guy who didn't want any publicity I guess.

 

www rompolawhitetails com

 

http://archerytalk.com/vb/search.php?searchid=17043614


Many threads have asked the same question. I even started a thread with the same question. There is a video of him when he tracked the deer and walked up to it. The deer is big and he went thru an aful lot IF it was a hoax. Check youtube for the video.

The fact is he was a great hunter before the buck and still is to this day. I think he was paid to go away.:zip:

 

http://archerytalk.com/vb/search.php?searchid=17043614


The fact is he was a great hunter before the buck and still is to this day. I think he was paid to go away.:zip:

agreed...too much money for old myles to not want this to go away!

 

i think he used bad bondo or wood filler when he sculpted the rack.. think it i heard it fell apart or something... dunno... just hearsay...

 

You suck! Dammit...I was about to say the EXACT same thing...lol. After awhile the Bondo started cracking...next time use fiberglass Mitch!

 

Well, I don't know forsure but I believe it is real.

at the age of something like 13 he held the Missouri record with a bow I believe. It has since been broke but still thats pretty amazing.

 

Mitch has entered other bucks into the Michigan books so why not the possible world record??? He either got paid to drop out of sight or it was not a free range whitetail.

 

Paid to go away... yea i'm sure Ol' Myles pulled out the check book and cut Rompy a check... Yeeeaawww ok... Hope some of you guys aren't serious...

Ever consider he didn't enter it because it is fake and he refused an x-ray scan?

 

I've read numerous articles and such on the Rompola buck. To this day I still don't have an opinion on whether or not the deer is real.

Some things I have read......but never seen any evidence to back it up:

The buck was fabricated as Mitch Rompola has taxidermy experience-??

He claims to have pictures of this buck shortly before it was killed-??

The buck was an elaborate story to take center stage because Rompola had criminal charge against him at the same time and wanted something else to be in the limelight-??

The buck was never x-rayed by someone that could document it...but Rompola said he had had it done-??

Milo Hanson sued Rompola over the comment that it could be a world record and the buck and Rompola went into confinement-??

The buck was pen raised-??

Then buck should have been seen before in the area if it was real-??

The buck was green scored but never officially scored-??

The mount was sold but locked up shortly afterwards-??


I just don't know what to believe on it. The buck could be fake, but it would be a heck of a lot of work to go through to make something up like that.

However I've read Rompola is well known for being a great hunter so maybe he let his ego get in the way and wanted the record??

Who knows...hopefully one day the rack will surface, be x-rayed and scored to see if it could be a potential world record.

Anyway you look at it fake or not, it is one monster rack!

 

It looks real but what are the chances of a deer being that perfect. If it was real why not do what ever was needed to prove that it was real.

Unless it was pen raised or fake.

 

I can not say it is or isnt real...But isnt perfection what they strive for. isnt that why there are deductions (which I think is stupid)

His state record looks close to perfect

 

I have read the part about Milo having him sign an agreement before but not the last part. Maybe he's been faking his way through the whitetail world for quite some time. Is the story about his family raising whitetails true? I figured if that were true he could have raised a few giants.

From the photo I have seen Mitch does a good job making antlers, maybe he can make me a huge non-typical to show off at work. Looking at it up close might be a different story.

 

I find this fasinating (sp) I think one of the cable channels should do a documentary or should I say mockumentary on this story kind of like the hogzilla show that was on awhile back. I couldn't tell you if this is real or not but from everything I've read I just don't see it possible that a deer like this just pops up escpecially in a county that doesn't have very many if any B&C bucks in the books.

 

I think it was a fabricated rack.

I don't blame Milo for suing him. Milo had the world record (which some say was also questionable as to method of harvest) and here comes Mitch saying I shot a new world record. This starts cutting down on Milo's paycheck. It makes perfect sense to tell Mitch, if you're saying it's a world record, then you need to have it scored. Instead of scoring the deer, mitch acted shifty for a few months and then finally went away.

 

I think it was a fabricated rack.

I don't blame Milo for suing him. Milo had the world record (which some say was also questionable as to method of harvest) and here comes Mitch saying I shot a new world record. This starts cutting down on Milo's paycheck. It makes perfect sense to tell Mitch, if you're saying it's a world record, then you need to have it scored. Instead of scoring the deer, mitch acted shifty for a few months and then finally went away.

I heard two different stories about it:

1) Milo shot the deer on a deer drive

2) He shot the deer from his porch while has was in his p.j's

Not sure which one is true

 

It's a Fake.......................

 

Sorry kids, it's a FAKE. Mitch destroyed his 'good' name for nothing it appears. He could shoot 10 more WR bucks and unless he ponies up some X-rays of this one, his name is gonna be like a nice soggy turd. And we all know ya can't polish a turd.....


99 reasons this turd buck is fake......ZERO proving it's legit. All it takes is ONE X-ray. Now all of you Mitch fanboys KNOW that if it was on the up-n-up, he would at least have it X-rayed, to save his reputation, if nothing else.


Pen raised? I doubt it. Somebody would have seen it somewhere, or it would have been registered as said before. PLUS, are you ready? If it WERE pen raised, it would be REAL BONE, which means it woulda been X-rayed, and the BOO-YA!! Mitch is on EZ street for life. Too bad Bondo doesn't X-ray well.

It is a pretty nice rack for a fabricated deer, I'll give him that. :darkbeer:


Carry on......lol.....

 

hehe.. word...:darkbeer:

 

The reason I wondered if it was a pen raised deer is the photo and video of him walking up on the deer after he shot it. Is the picture a photoshop? Is the video tape altered?

 

Consider...

I'm not normally one to stir the pot but having studied this a bit over the years I'm compelled to express my opinion. Try if you will to disregard the "world record" fiasco and whatever truth or lies are associated with it. Then put aside any personal...ummm..."indiscretions" unrelated to bowhunting that Mitch may have committed over the years. With me so far?

If you do some research, study the Michigan record books, and listen to those who know Mitch and his accomplishments you will arrive at one inescapable conclusion. The fact is that Mitch Rompola is a flat out bowhunting genius who lives to hunt big whitetail bucks and has perfected the art of stealth, thinking like a deer, and hunting monster bucks where they live. He has forgotten more about bowhunting than 99%+ of those who have ever entered the woods with a bow will ever know.

:behindsof Hey, everyone has an opinion and that's mine. Good luck in the whitetail woods this fall!

 

I'm not normally one to stir the pot but having studied this a bit over the years I'm compelled to express my opinion. Try if you will to disregard the "world record" fiasco and whatever truth or lies are associated with it. Then put aside any personal...ummm..."indiscretions" unrelated to bowhunting that Mitch may have committed over the years. With me so far?

If you do some research, study the Michigan record books, and listen to those who know Mitch and his accomplishments you will arrive at one inescapable conclusion. The fact is that Mitch Rompola is a flat out bowhunting genius who lives to hunt big whitetail bucks and has perfected the art of stealth, thinking like a deer, and hunting monster bucks where they live. He has forgotten more about bowhunting than 99%+ of those who have ever entered the woods with a bow will ever know.

:behindsof Hey, everyone has an opinion and that's mine. Good luck in the whitetail woods this fall!

I have read a few things about Mitch and his success and they all said the same thing you did. One piece I read said he worked construction 6 months or so out of the year and spent all of deer season hunting. If he had a buck that could be the new world record why would he do nothing with it? The money he could make would allow him to quit working construction and he could spend all of his time hunting, scouting, buying property, or whatever else he wants to do. Some have said he was not happy with B&C and that's why he won't have it scored or get an x-ray, I don't think anyone buys that at all. He put his other bucks in the record book but decided to pass with the buck that could change his life in a huge financial way. Signing the legal papers with Milo Hanson was the nail in the coffin, we would all be fools to not think this buck and his story is fishy.

Mitch might be a good guy and a whitetail expert but the things he did after he shot this buck are more than a little suspicious.

 

I enjoy the debate about this deer.

It fascinates me to think someone might have fabricated this whole thing, or actually shot a deer this big and wouldn't enter in a record book, or let anyone else see it for that matter.

It seems though the naysayers have many arguments and the believers have only one.

I really hope that rack is around someplace and surfaces one day. It would be awesome to put a period on the story.

 

IMO he made the antlers. Why wouldn't he let them get X-rayed if they were real? I don't buy that he wanted to remain low key.

 

Anyone ever think maybe it was a smaller prank on friends of family and it just got out of hand?

 

IT LOOKS FAKE.........the configuration of the main beams looks really odd......if its not fake I'll quit hunting !!!

 

i love the rompola buck!!! we will probably never know the real story, but so many in the hunting press, and websites like this know SOOO much about it, but theyve never met him, seen it, ect....

i wish it was real. its bad enough how jealous some are, would be funny to see em eat there foot too.

 

Couple things I never understood about the whole thing was at the start of all this he never really tried to come out and pound his chest and say look what I shot he was very low key about the whole thing. Why fake something then shy away from the spot light? I didn't see where he tried to gain anything monetary from it. And the other thing is if the rack is fake whoever has it why not display it at trade shows? I am sure there is a lot of people who would like to see the so called rack that was at the center of all this attention.

 

Ummm....because someone might find out it's, I dunno.....FAKE?

He was on some synthetic line of deer scents, and was seen in some CSS bow ads off the top of my head.

Once again, if you FAKE a rack, and cause all of this hoopla, why prove you lied by going to trade shows?

Only Mitch and maybe a few close friends know the deal. Hell I think Mitch would gain more credibility if he came forward now and confessed to the whole thing. Maybe one day the truly will be known.

I do agree on one thing though; it's definately fun to debate!

 

Fabricated antlers.

 

I don't know what to believe. I have heard so much about this over the years. My opinion, and that is all that it is, is this. I put myself in his shoes from both sides of the spectrum.

View NO.1 I have just downed a really nice Deer that I know is going to be the State Record and maybe even better, but I know that I DID fabricate the rack in a way that if xrayed I will get busted what do I do?? If I get busted what will it do to the credability of my other trophy deer?? I know what I would do!!

View NO.2 Same story, but this time I have in no way altered the deer or rack. I may have the world record, but need to have it Xrayed first. What would I do?? I know what I would do!!

Again I am not saying I think he did or didn't alter the deer in any way. I am just saying that after many many posts and story after story this is the angle that I look at it from. Just my .02

 

I read an article on shooting a world record buck and the money associated. They ran the numbers and a world record isn't worth as much as people think. To make $$, you have to license all the photos and merchandising and book shows where the mount is showcased. After all the expenses associated, it's not millions and millions like people think. It's in the hundreds of thousands (300K is the number sticking in my mind from the article) which can be a life-changing number, but not enough to allow you to not work anymore.

When the news of Rompala's buck came out, Hanson wasn't being booked for shows, which prompted him to have his lawyer to send a letter to Rompala to either register his buck as the record, or disappear. If not, Hanson was gonna file a civil suit. If I remember, Rompala agreed to never register his buck as the WR until after the Hanson record was broken by someone else. Was there a payoff for this? Only Hanson and Rompala know.

Now, if I shot a WR buck, it's gonna be everywhere. But that's me. Maybe a reclusive or private person wouldn't be comfortable having to do shows and/or give speeches about his buck? I don't know. Only Rompala knows the truth. For everyone else, it's just guessing and armchair quarterbacking.

 

Milo killed his buck almost 16 years ago, he still has a partner from Arkansas, and he spent the money for an attorney to quiet Mitch. I'd say he's made a lot more than $300,000 over that time and it's still rolling in. Why share your proffits with a partner if there's not much money coming in?

 

Fake, nothing but a fake. If its real why come out and say you shot the world record and then say " nah, i just wanted to tell you, but not prove it, i dont want attention, Im a quiet guy". Who really can sit here and say they believe that crap. Either he mans up, or else he is a turd...............