The “Vampire Buck” – A rare & very unique trophy

Tom LounsburyBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO

By:  Tom Lounsbury. Ken Martin of Cass City truly enjoys hunting local Thumb whitetails, something he has been doing since he was a kid. Having taken his share of deer over the years, he isn’t a trophy hunter, but like many deer hunters, he always has his eye out for the “big one”. Little did he know when he went to his hunting blind on the second morning of the 2020 Michigan Firearms deer Season, he would soon encounter a dandy buck, and actually a real trophy too, in more ways than one. Daylight was … Read More

The Rompola Buck

Wild Game DynastyBucks n Bears, Friends of ELO

By:  Dan Schmidt. The Rompola Buck. If you’ve been around the deer world as long as I’ve been, a few names need no introduction. That one is perhaps the most infamous.   Was it real or just an elaborate fake? And, if it were real, how could it just seemingly disappear almost as fast as it appeared? Let’s back this up. This story starts back in November 1998. The world was a lot simpler then. Relatively few people had computers (no, not tablets) with Internet access. Fewer had cell phones. Most of us were still … Read More

Through The Eyes Of A Taxidermist

Jim KushnerFriends of ELO

By:  Jim Kushner Mounting a good whitetail buck is a whole lot more than just skinning and “stuffing” it. There are certain steps that need to be followed and like a lot of specialty careers or in my case hobbies, there are some little tricks and procedures that help to make your trophy look great and last a lifetime. The actual supply list for mounting a deer is fairly small but the amount of labor involved is what you ultimately pay your taxidermist for. The most important thing a good taxidermist needs is knowledge of … Read More