Some may recall the story of my #1 2013 deer named OMG that I had to let walk due to circumstances beyond my control...only to have a neighbor shoot him with a rifle on MO opener rifle. Well the guy was good enough to let me use the antlers to have a pair of reproductions made by a guy in Rossville KS at Midwest Deer Works. I had him make one set for my landlord and one for me, the landlords is a skull mount and I had mine made into a full shoulder mount, both turned out fantastic. I drove the 150+ miles yesterday to pick everything up and was pretty much in awe when I walked in and saw the mount and then the skull mount. Bob there at Midwest did a fantastic job, the repros are completely indiscernible from the real set and he even re-created the missing point that he had on all my trail cam pics...I'm ecstatic! He did all that work of top quality and I still haven't gotten my 2013 bowkill buck back yet from my regular guy. Posted are a few pics of the repros along with a couple of post kill shots and trail cam pics.
Probably easier to just explain it again. First morning I passed on him working his scrape at 20 yards because it was at daybreak and it was so dark I was hesitant to chance a shot and not be able to see the point of impact. I figured he was fairly huntable and I'd get another chance. That very afternoon before I went back hunting I got an email from my landlord who I had sent the most recent trail cam pics to the night before. Up until then I had the go ahead to take whatever deer I wanted but he decided to ask me if I'd be too broken up if he wanted to take that particular deer. I replied it's no problem I had passed him that morning and wished him luck. I went ahead and hunted that stand again that evening in hopes that I'd get a chance at one of the other mature bucks on camera there. As fate would have it I had another chance at that deer at 25 yards that evening and let him go on purpose that time. That was the hardest thing I've ever done as a bowhunter and I stopped hunting that deer and that stand after that. That was on around November 6th I think (best I recall) and opening morning on the MO side this deer had crossed from the KS side following a doe and jumped the property line where the neighboring landowners son in law downed him with a rifle on Nov. 16th.
Haha, yeah no doubt. I took that pic at Midwest Deer Works shop when I picked him up. the center one is OMG, I think he said that deer in the upper right had in inside spread of over 30". Check out the reproduction set on the counter facing upwards...yeah that's a different set of antlers from the upper right deer. I got another pic of a set that was probably as good as the MO Monarch he had setup on his counter working on. It was 30" inside and just had mangled junk all over it. I didn't even try to count points on it but it had a huge drop tine on it. Would post that pic but it was tagged with a name and phone number so I didn't want to post it online. Had another set of sheds set on a form for a shoulder mount and it was pretty incredible too.
Thanks! Yes it did turn out very well. Turns out the guy that shot him is a pretty cool guy. The only way it could have turned out better is if I had kept the pics to myself to start with, lol....I just couldn't do it though haha. That was the most expensive deer I ever DIDN'T kill!
So you had the go ahead to kill whatever deer you wanted until the landowner saw pics and then he asked if he could shoot it? Learned a lesson didn't ya! I am curious, was that a lease or permission property? If that was a lease...you're a better man than me. Mount looks great by the way. Very nice work they do. And that was very nice of the guy that shot him to let you make repro's.
It's part of the property I farm and manage for deer, turkey and quail so I would have been sort of crapping in my own nest to shoot it. I guess I could have kept quiet about it but that's not the way I roll. I had shared pics of that deer for a couple weeks prior, I don't know what made him decide to take that course of action all at once but he was sick when he found out a neighbor shot it because of that call and cost either of us getting it and apologized but it wasn't needed. I just respect him enough as friend and business partner that it actually didn't bother me much at the time. It wasn't until after I learned someone off property took OMG that I started regretting letting him walk twice. But whatever...it worked out just fine, we split the cost of the repros and came out in good shape. Yeah the kid that shot OMG was really cool about the whole thing. He came over and introduced himself and told about the deer he took that came across the fence from our property. He said he figured someone had been watching it and would miss it and wonder what happened to it. He also was looking for some trail cam pics, which I had about three dozen of....so we worked out a trade, pics for use of the antlers for a month for the repros. We took the antlers to the repro shop together and I gave him the SD card with all my pics. I expect I'll give him a nice gift besides when he picks these antlers up.
Wow nice deer . You're a better man than I am that would be a hard deer to let him walk away of course I am still searching for my 1st mount for my wall
I'm sure it was tough to pass him once let alone twice. I hunt several farms and just let one of my buddies on board. I just like mature deer being killed whether it's me or him. Repros look great.
