This story is back in the news after someone posted a score sheet on social media recently, I remember he was an interesting dude that had shot some world class whitetails in his past. World Record or Hoax?




https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/mar...146d8781ba4856beeeef37ef593248&ei=20

I think the deer is ugly whether it's real or not.

The world may never know.

Why would it be a hoax?

As I remember when this guy got questioned he pulled back and disappeared.

I think there's a lot of disbelievers that can't comprehend someone shooting a world record whitetail and not having it officially scored, in addition to not monetizing the marketing opportunities presented by such trophy. He's not a people person for sure and probably doesn't give two (you know what's) about a score sheet.

He was pretty reclusive before he killed it anyways. Ugly or not, I’d like it hanging on my wall…..

Definitely a hoax IMO. Listen to the podcast “deer hunter”. They did five or 6 episodes on it. Dove in deep,interviewing people that knew him personally. The guy was caught putting antlers on doe before this buck. Hard to listen to that series and think there’s even a slim chance it’s legit.

Which one is the ugly one? And how would you be able to cheat with the buck right there? Do you think it came form a game farm or something? Dont understand how you can cheat when you have the deer in your possession???......jk

Northern Michigan doesn't produce big bucks. A giant around there is 140 inches. Ranch deer in my opinion.

They said the horns weren't attached to the head based on how much the ears drooped in the pic

Who said? "They"

Probably a hoax but I'd like to know official details

Fake all the way. His other record book deer were most likely faked as well.

If I remember right when they wanted to xray the mounted buck he said no.

I have said legit from the start.
The guy is different, but he's been a big buck killer since he was literally a child. I have no proof, but I still say it's real

The Jordan buck of 1914, scored 206-1/8, Jim Jordan passed away 2-months before his buck became a world record, the Milo Hanson buck of 1993 scored 213-5/8 and a zoo ensued after the news broke about his trophy.
The Rompalo buck allegedly scores 216-5/8.

he had the skull plate encased with bondo in the pics I saw, and they were stained purple from magnesium permagnate to blend in the seams where antlers were joined togather, a convicted felon who wanted 15 minutes of fame.

Who cares? Its just a fence busting hay and crop eating deer. Antlers are good for flintknapping, knife handles maybe light fixtures or furniture, but their true value is in selling to Asians as "medicine". I do hear rumors though that there are people in the U.S. who worship antlers and will pay crazy amounts of money to someone who will show them a deer with large antlers so they can shoot it and also are willing to just buy the antlers outright, Usually so they can just say they shot it.

Heard it was a fake years ago but that could be just jealousy

Quick glance at the score sheet, tip to tip spread should not be greater than the inside spread on that buck. Probably more errors too.

Regardless of score or record book, great buck IMO

Please post some links of his criminal past, if he has one. thanks

Amazing isn't it?
I heard there are guys who care more about the antlers than the meat, hard to believe I know but I can assure you its true.

I'm all about big antlers when I can find them. Seeing does on my trail cams doesn't keep me awake at night.

Google Deer & Deer Hunting along with Rompola and it will link you to some insider info on the buck in question. Almost assuredly a fraud.

Who cares. Sheesh

Where is the mounted head at now?

Great Article
Thanks

If is real and taken legally that is great If he somehow altered the antlers or is claiming it be some thing other than what it is than again it really only reflects on his ethics .In the grand scheme of life it makes no difference to the rest of the world The size of the antlers does not always reflect the degree of effort needed to take the deer . I hunt to please myself If I shot a nice buck I am thrilled If I kill a small buck I am still thrilled .A large part of why I hunt is to put meat on the table For some they are more interested in the size of the rack .They might pass on many buck and not shoot a deer for many years because it is not what they want to do Others like me would love to kill a truly large buck but generally kill the first legal buck that they have a chance at. .To each his own and it is not a competition with someone else or with the size of the deer I t is simply a choice I make that makes my happy with that decision .

most of the land around our farm is controlled by big horn hunters almost to the degree of looking down on the anyone shooting meat bucks i always though the trophy is whatever u think it is like most deer hunting shows most come across to me as just blowing their own horn i like the meat hunter show.

Scroll down in that article and watch the interview with him.I don't think this guy needs to fake anything.Just my opinion.

He may have simply raised a middle finger to the establishment after he saw what Milo Hanson and family went through 6 years earlier- I remember reading that Hanson got to the point where he hid his deer at night because so many people were swarming his farm and was worried at one point of it being stolen.

The real problem I think,is where it came from.The area where he took it is not noted for large racks,I've hunted a season a little north and hunted for years just south of his area,a buck a quarter of this size would be note worthy.Nobody ever saw this buck when alive,and this county has a pretty fair size population,its not a remote back country location.Its not an intensively farmed area that because of the feed produces large racks.Odds are against it being legit.

Legit or not, and frankly I don't care, Mr Rompala exposed the true nature of what passes for deer hunters today.

well said warroir

Pretty much people in general

Supposedly lost in a fire.

Guess I’m in the minority, my passion is turkey hunting, but let me find a buck with potential and I’ll learn everything I can about him and watch him grow until I want to take him. Here in Georgia I can shoot 2 bucks and 10 does. No such thing as a meat buck, lol. We try and let bucks reach 3.5 - 4.5 before pulling the trigger. Any 8pt or smaller at 4.5 will get a bullet because that’s all they’ll ever be. 10pts or better get to at least 5.5 and then it’s up to you. We talked a guy into passing a deer last year and I found his sheds Sunday. It scores 133” as a 4.5yr old 9pt based on a 15” spread. That deer could potentially be 150” next year and will be this young man’s biggest deer ever. The fact I know he wanted him, I won’t shoot if he comes by me, not that he’s anywhere near my area, but if he did, lol.

I can’t speak for everyone, but I will say this, after killing a big deer something changed inside me. I’m no longer about “me” a big deer. Don’t get me wrong, if I find a nice buck, I will hunt him or keep up with him. But now it’s more about helping someone else, who has put in the time, to kill a big buck. To watch the progression of just wanting to shoot anything with antlers to showing restraint and it finally come together for them is just something I can’t explain.

Now this coming season will be a doe slaughter because we didn’t kill near enough last year.

And we also manage for turkeys as well. 2500ac and we take no more than 3. Some years only 2 and only one year I can think of we took 4. We had some kids that had never killed a turkey and we had to help out. No jakes no matter how old you are. There’s plenty of gobblers to wait on and kill.

2500 acres and you take 3 that is interesting never thought about that much land per taken on a tom bird guess its population related.

Well didn't look to close but one MISTAKE that stands out is g-3 score . Even a dumb hick from Ky can subtract 12 3/8 from 13 3/8 and get 1 inch. His score sheet says 3/8 difference.

I was just looking at a 225 gross in typical that came from Ky this year . Guy has the sheds from last year and if the deer hadn't grown a new point it would have beaten Milo buck by 3 inches.

I hunted up around the Bigger area where Milo is from. And I stopped and talked to many landowners in the area while I was up there guiding Waterfowl hunters. Many of the locals told me it was run down with a pickup is how it was shot. I dont know if it was or not, just repeating what I was told.

well you're here so you must?

He supposedly took many live pictures of the deer while hunting it………post one live picture story over
Burnt in a fire……..I’d bet none of the ones in the video he was talking about burnt
He was offered $10000 from two different Michigan hunters to X-ray the rack and keep the money for himself…….passed
The amount of money he could of made with that deer was in the millions……passed
Signed the paper with Milo Hansen because he would have had to prove it was real or get caught with a fake
Look at any whitetail pictures of fresh killed deer that you have shot……ever seen ears droop like that…….it could be possible though


As for the Hanson buck he’s made millions off of it. He has recently sold it to bass pro for seven figures……..wish I had shot the “rompola buck”

Could it be real….sure but if it is he’s not very smart……
I hope one day he posts one of the many pictures of the LIVE deer he took while he was hunting it……my guess is you will never see one

Interesting story but it’s not true…..he also shot another Boone and Crockett whitetail the next season( maybe two seasons)after he shot that one.

Not a huge fan of Whitetails. They led to leasing and radically changed access to land for everything else. We own some good deer land in Eastern Kansas and let a few guys hunt each year. The reaction one would expect would be gratitude. The reaction we usually get is "Hey, is it OK if I bring my brother, brother in law, cousins, neighbor, boss, kids......?". You get the idea.

Nope, it still is in Mitch’s possession!

Did any of you read the link to article Dirk posted? It will answer all of your questions.

…. How do people explain these though ?

… that yankee was going out of his way bs looks like to me

Most of what you mentioned is all hearsay. There hasn’t been one shed of facts ever that this deer was fake or a ranch deer. Until someone comes up with facts it’s fake then I’ll believe it. Lots of misinformation out there and most on this thread have mentioned a lot of jt. People hear something and instantly believe it as truth. Not picking on you here saskbone so don’t take it personal. But a lot of what is mentioned on this thread had been laughable. There’s not facts to back up the claims to this date. People can speculate till the cows come home about it being fake but no different then a crime you need facts and proof to be guilty of it.

We have gobblers that will die of old age, lol. We have plenty of gobblers, just choose to always have plenty of gobblers. Nothing like sitting in one spot and have 6-7 different gobblers you can hear. Last year I skipped the first 3 weekends so my son could take his wife. They were close several times, but she didn’t connect. I killed mine the first weekend I went. My son took his sweet time and finally killed one a few days before we headed to Washington.
A lot of folks around here set self imposed limits on the amount of birds killed on their properties. We have birds gobbling and breeding already.

I did read the link and all of those mentioned in it are also mentioned in the Deer & Deer Hunting video I mentioned. According to D&DH, the antlers were supposedly lost in a fire. If you have a link to any current pics of them I'd like to see it.

Maybe he was bought out by the Hanson buck. They stood to lose a lot if they had the number two deer. No more tours for the number 1 mount to be paraded around etc. would the number 2 deer mount fetch 7 figures. Probably not. I don’t know if it’s real or fake and don’t really care to give it any thoughts.

What is hearsay about the first line in the post. In the posted link the writer said he took many pictures of the buck live. One picture could have solved all the grief. Funny one picture wasn’t produced

Better read that again! 12 7/8 is the right G3 and 13 2/8 is the left G3 making 3/8” difference. I realize you might not know that the way the 7 is written may not be familiar to you Kentuckians.

Saskbone, here is one picture.

That pic looks as legit as the Loch Ness monster.

Nobody turns down the $ a wr whitetail brings. Nobody.

I’m I was Rompola I would have a “Rompola Deer Blend” plot seed, “Rompola Boots”, “Rompola Bow”, “Rompola Toque”, “Rompola Trail Cam”, “Rompola Camo”, “Rompola Hunting Gear”, etc.

I’d have Rompola every where! That name would be worth $250,000,000. Missed opportunity…

Don't buy that. I've known several people that have inherited enough $ to consider wealthy by about everyone and could careless about the $. Both lived lifestyles that most everyone would think they were barely getting by. Know one right now good enough I would call him a friend. Know exactly what he has inherited and he could careless about the $.

As do I. Matter of fact I've known quite a few that to look at you'd think we're living on a pension.

Truett Cathy lived in a 1950s brick ranch till the day he died.

It’s easier to not care about the $ when you’ve got it. Lol
People that plaster their new wr buck out there are interested in something, he did just that. He just vanished when asked to prove it was real via x Ray.