The Mystery of the Ahrens Buck, a World-Record Whitetail That Vanished

The lean gray-haired man with the Cheshire-cat grin slid a snapshot throughout the tabletop to the person who sat subsequent to him. The person’s eyes opened large when he noticed the image. Quickly the 4 different hunters and antler collectors seated across the desk had been straining to see the picture. Because it handed from one individual to the subsequent, Dr. Charles Arnold, one of many nation’s foremost antler collectors. grinned and waited for his often guarded {photograph} to get again to him

 Hunters who had been at an adjoining desk overheard one thing a couple of “new world document” and one among them glanced over the shoulder of one of many collectors. His buddies noticed the joy on his face as he returned to his seat. Quickly they had been additionally out of their chairs to have a look at the picture. By the point the colour print was again within the pocket of Dr. Arnold, an East Coast dentist, greater than 50 hunters attending final April’s opening-day occasion for the Minnesota Deer Traditional had been speaking in regards to the image of the unbelievable antlers.

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One month and 1,000 miles later, Mark LaBarbera walked unannounced into Arnold’s New Hampshire dental workplace within the hope that he may remedy the thriller of the whitetail within the {photograph}.

After he and the dentist had talked about a number of the antlers that Arnold owns, such because the world-record Jordan rack and the Minnesota-record Breen head. LaBarbera confirmed Arnold a uncommon picture of Jim Jordan holding his world-record rack. The image, which had been given to LaBarbera by Boone and Crockett scorer Peter Haupt, could be the solely picture that exists displaying Jordan along with his rack.

“I’d certain like a replica of this picture,” Arnold stated, “however I don’t have something to commerce.”

“How about all of the information in regards to the potential world-record deer?” LaBarbera requested.

Arnold’s eyes moved from the Jordan image to see sideways at LaBarbera. A Mona-Lisa smile cracked the nook of his mouth as he requested, “What new world document?”

“The one within the picture you confirmed a couple of guys on the Minnesota Deer Traditional,” LaBarbera stated

 Arnold glanced once more on the picture after which again at LaBarbera. ”I can’t inform you a lot about it,” he stated. “I promised to let the man who buys it have it formally scored and to let him break the story and get all the popularity.”

At all times cautious, the 48-year-old collector would solely share tidbits of details about the thriller rack. Finally, Arnold stated that the deer, in keeping with his skilled however unofficial measurements, would rating about 211 Boone and Crockett factors -nearly 5 full factors greater than the record-holding Jordan rack. Arnold stated the thriller deer is a 12-pointer by Jap depend and that it was on show at a resort “within the boonies of Minnesota.”

Arnold refused to say anymore, besides that he supposed to promote the antlers to the best of two bidders in the course of the coming 12 months. He refused to point out LaBarbera the image of the thriller antlers.

Since that point, the rack-was seemingly offered for a determine between $30,000 and $50,000. Nobody, nonetheless, is aware of who purchased the antlers-except Arnold and the brand new proprietor, and neither is telling.

Whereas collectors tried to study of the thriller deer’s whereabouts and to substantiate the rumor that it offered for therefore many 1000’s of {dollars}, articles on the rack appeared in a looking membership journal and in a Minneapolis newspaper.

Shortly after the newspaper article appeared, Alex Martin, a taxidermist in Sauk Centre, Minnesota, known as the newspaper with details about Arnold’s thriller rack.

Martin later informed LaBarbera what he knew. He stated that his neighbor, Sal Ahrens, had been working the household farm close to Sauk Centre when he noticed a deer with an enormous set of antlers on the fringe of a area. The 29-year-old Ahrens shot the massive deer in a clover area abutting a swamp a couple of clays earlier than the 1956 firearms season opened. This would slot in with what Arnold stated in regards to the deer presumably being taken illegally.

In later conversations with Ahrens. the farmer doesn’t speak about being excited when he drew a bead on the buck. His finger squeezed the set off of his .300 Savage and he shot what some individuals now consider is the biggest typical whitetail on the planet.

In these days, nonetheless, antlers weren’t that necessary, particularly in comparison with placing meals on the desk and getting on with the household chores. The deer was so huge, Ahrens and his brother, Ferdinand, couldn’t transfer it, so that they quartered it, tossed the antlers in a swamp and hauled the meat again to the farmhouse.

Later, Ahrens recovered the rack, and his father did a shoulder mount of the top and antlers, utilizing rolled-up linoleum for the neck assist and charcoal for the eyes.

Ahrens was happy with the large rack and blissful to mortgage it, for show, to the Palmer Home Lodge the place it was the subject of dialog for greater than 12 years. Sadly, what could be the biggest deer head on the planet hung above the lads’s room door on the resort, which was hardly becoming for such a trophy.

When the Palmer Home was offered, the antlers had been moved to a bar in Beckely’s Resort the place they hung for a couple of extra years.

Whereas the antlers had been on the resort, Alex Martin was managing a neighborhood Sears division retailer and operating his taxidermy enterprise part-time. He satisfied Ahrens to let him remount the massive whitetail in a fashion befitting the big rack. Ahrens readily agreed.

“I do not forget that deer’s rack was seven inches across the base — huge round as a person’s wrist,” Martin stated. He displayed the brand new mount at his Sears retailer for about 9 months and had it in his basement workshop for one more 12 months. Throughout all that point, neither Martin nor his relative, recreation warden Hank Nelson of Appleton, Minnesota, bothered to attain the rack. The one measurement they made was of the surface unfold by laying the rack sideways, as if the deer had been mendacity on its facet.

It measured a whopping 31 inches, Martin stated, almost a full yard of antler width. The explanation Martin says he remembers that measurement is as a result of the rack was greater than the stools on the Palmer Home.

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Ahrens finally took the top again to his home however rumors had already begun to flow into in regards to the deer in that a part of the state.

Phrase of Ahren’s enormous rack finally reached Dr. Arnold, who stated one among his contacts talked in regards to the antlers in the identical breath because the Breen head-the Minnesota state record-so he knew it needed to be huge. Arnold flew to Minnesota a variety of instances to view the rack and measure it. He even reported as soon as shopping for a kids’s fare ticket in order that he may deliver alongside, on the seat subsequent to him, one of many racks he already owned. Arnold needed to point out the then proprietor of the thriller rack that it could be in good firm as a part of his assortment.

Ahrens didn’t know he had a possible world document, not that it could imply a lot, he admitted, to a person who merely shot the deer to place meat on the desk. Truly, he couldn’t perceive why anybody would pay cash for another person’s deer antlers.

Ahrens stated to associates: “I informed the man he was loopy.” Describing the sale, he stated, “Arnold had a cash belt round his waist and pulled out $8,100. I informed him he was out of his tree. Now, I suppose he knew what he was doing.”

Ahrens by no means noticed the rack once more. Neither has anybody else, apparently, besides Arnold, his spouse and the one who reportedly purchased it subsequent.

Montana antler collector Dick Idol was one of many two unique bidders on the rack after it modified fingers and was held by Arnold. Idol had seen a photograph of the rack and needed to examine and measure it earlier than discussing a value.

“Chuck Arnold informed me there was no must rush, so I went on a looking journey,” Idol later stated. “After I returned, he stated he had offered the top to somebody in Texas. I requested him if it was McLean Bowman, who can also be a collector and who was the opposite bidder, however he stated it wasn’t. None of my contacts know who has the top now.”

As this situation goes to press, Bowman, who’s a Texas resident, would neither affirm nor deny rumors that he owns the Ahrens rack however he was anxious to study extra about it. He requested LaBarbera for copies of what had already been written in regards to the rack as a result of as he stated the information matched what he had already heard about it. Bowman additionally requested for taxidermist Alex Martin’s deal with and telephone quantity. When insisting that Out of doors Life present the taxidermist’s telephone quantity, Bowman stated, “It could be in the most effective pursuits of a author looking for out the information to remain within the good graces of the person who has the rack in his fingers.” That’s as shut as he got here to saying that he truly owns the rack.

Later within the dialog, Bowman stated to LaBarbera, “I can inform you one factor for darn certain. The rack exists. It’s actual. I’m one of many solely individuals who is aware of what its measurements are. I may inform you inside 1 / 4 of an inch.”

However he wouldn’t. He did admit that he has already checked with Wm. Harold Nesbitt, administrative director of the Boone and Crockett Membership, to search out out if an illegally taken deer would nonetheless be listed within the document books. “Nesbitt intimated that it could,” Bowman informed LaBarbera.

The San Antonio-based collector urged that Out of doors Life not publish the story of the thriller rack till we had information — not rumors — to go on. However so long as the proprietor of the rack retains it from the looking neighborhood, the true information will stay buried — as ineffective because the antlers can be if Sal Ahrens had left them in his swamp.

Bowman stated publicity would possibly muddy the waters and trigger the proprietor to maintain the rack hidden for one more 12 months. The present Boone and Crockett scoring interval ends December 31, 1985, so the rack must floor earlier than then whether it is to be acknowledged within the subsequent awards program.

Dr. Arnold additionally denies that the Ahrens whitetail is the thriller deer. He stated the information in regards to the thriller deer haven’t been uncovered and that the Ahrens deer is a special rack. Arnold claims the Ahrens rack scores near 205 factors — a brand new Minnesota document however not a brand new world document. Individuals who have been following the thriller consider that appears like a last-minute smoke display. They consider that the identified information of each deer arc too just like be coincidental.

In line with Boone and Crockett director Wm. Harold Nesbitt, nonetheless, photocopies of images that finally surfaced by Alex Martin point out the Ahrens deer can be scored as a typical whitetail.

“A deer can’t be acknowledged as a world document, nonetheless, till it has been entered within the Boone and Crockett Awards program and formally measured by a panel of judges at a rating greater than the prevailing document,” Nesbitt identified.

Nesbitt likened scoring trophy recreation animals and managing the information to operating the Miss America Pageant. There are at all times loads of rumors about prettier heads.

“Similar to these individuals who say they know of a better-looking girl from Texas who may have gained the Miss America title,” he stated, “there are hunters who inform me they know of deer that might rating greater than the present world document. Nothing is formally acknowledged, although, till it measures as much as the factors of the competitors.”

The Head Hunters

Many individuals assume that the brand new world-record deer is a deer that has simply been shot or one which has but to be killed. However because the thriller deer, which was shot in 1956 proves, this isn’t essentially so.

Including to the aura of record-book bucks is the best way most of the heads arc tracked down and traded by a bunch of people that accumulate antlers the best way different individuals deal in stamps or artwork work. Each the Jordan head, which at present holds the world document. and the Breen head, which is the highest rack in Minnesota, are examples of what can occur within the ins and outs of capturing. monitoring and recognizing a document.

The Jordan head, the world-record typical rack, was taken from a deer shot in 1914 by 2I-year-old Jim Jordan close to Danbury, Wisconsin. Jordan gave the deer to a taxidermist for mounting. The person moved a few instances and the rack ended up at a rummage sale in Sandstone, Minnesota. A distant relative of Jordan’s purchased it on the sale for $3 and had it formally scored.

In I 964, Boone and Crockett measurer Bernie Fashingbauer scored the antlers at 206 6/8 factors, which set a brand new world document. A panel of judges that remeasures all potential world information adjusted the I0-pointer’s rating to 206 1/8 and acknowledged it because the No. I whitetail. The “location of kill” was listed as Sandstone, Minnesota. and the “hunter” was proven as unknown.

Jordan came visiting his relative and acknowledged the rack from the deer he had shot 50 years earlier. Dr. Arnold purchased the rack in 1968 for $1,500. In 1977, a Minneapolis outside author informed Jordan’s story, which set off an investigation by Boone and Crockett. In 1978, the membership acknowledged Jordan because the hunter and Wisconsin as the placement — 64 years after the buck had been shot. Sadly. Jordan died two months earlier than his achievement was acknowledged.

The ten-point Breen head is the Minnesota document typical whitetail nevertheless it’s truly larger than the Jordan head. This rack, taken by John Breen close to Funkley, Minnesota, in 1918, can be the world document with a rating of about 210 factors, besides it was penalized eight factors, in keeping with the Boone and Crockett system of measuring. due to six freak antler formations. The Breen head ranks fourth on the planet at 202 factors. Dr. Arnold purchased the Breen rack for $1,500, too.

Why do these individuals go to such lengths to trace down document heads? A lot of Arnold’s satisfaction comes from the detective work that’s essential to hint a document head. This includes following up rumors overheard by a taxidermist or a sporting-goods store proprietor.

”I get the most important thrill out of simply discovering these huge heads,” Arnold stated. “You wouldn’t consider the telephone payments I run up whereas making an attempt to trace down these rumors. And 99 % of the leads are useless ends. I accumulate heads for his or her magnificence: for what solely nature and the deer’s genes may produce.”

This angle helps clarify why, after dealing with 1000’s of record-book racks, Arnold has saved solely about 12 typical and non-typical antlers. When Mark LaBarbera interviewed Arnold at his residence, these units of JO-pound symmetrical and nonsymmetrical antlers lay at his toes ready to be recapped so that they may very well be proven off to their greatest benefit.

Secrecy can also be a necessary a part of profitable antler gathering. Over the previous 25 years of gathering, Arnold has discovered that “Unfastened lips lose antlers.” Because the dentist has traveled all through the USA and Canada he has patiently paid his dues to turn into the dean of antler collectors and, on the similar time, has discovered and forgotten the areas of extra record-size racks than every other sportsman.

Now Arnold’s devotion to his assortment has led him to find, purchase and promote a thriller rack to a thriller purchaser. The place it’s and when and if it is going to ever reappear solely provides to the buck’s unusual story. However because the historical past of the Jordan head bears out, riddles and enigmas can play a big half in setting a world document.

What Makes A Report?

How huge is a world-record whitetail? The No. 1 Jordan head, which Charles Arnold is holding within the accompanying {photograph} (above), has beams that measure 30 inches lengthy and an inside unfold of 20 inches. Which means every most important beam is longer than an ordinary desk is excessive. The smallest rack in the newest (1977) Boone and Crockett listings has most important beams that arc greater than 23 inches lengthy and an inside unfold of 20 inches. That deer, which was shot in I 974 in Missouri, ranked 392.

Report-book whitetails, nonetheless, usually are not judged solely on dimension. Different components, such because the size of the factors and the circumference of the principle beam between totally different tines are thought-about, too. Deductions are also made for such gadgets because the distinction in size between reverse tines. The ultimate rating is reached when tile deductions are subtracted from the sum of the measurements. To be thought-about for the Boone and Crockett listings the standard whitetail deer should rating 170 factors and the standard Coues deer, a whitetail subspecies, should rating 110 factors.

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If you happen to, or somebody you already know has a big whitetail rack, you may order a scoring chart and measurement directions from the Boone and Crockett Membership, 205 S. Patrick St., Alexandria, VA 22314. One scoring sheet prices 50¢ and 4 sheets value $1.

This story, “World Report Whitetail? Monitoring the Thriller Buck,” appeared within the February 1984 situation of Out of doors Life. In line with varied sources, photos later surfaced that confirmed two irregular factors had been eliminated to enhance its typical rating.