Local Sports

Don’t put your dog in this fight

Mitch Rompola.

If you've paid even a little attention to record book deer during the last three decades, you've heard his name and seen him in photos with the giant buck he killed on Nov. 13, 1998. When he zipped open his buck's abdominal cavity to field dress it, he also zipped open one of the biggest controversies the whitetail world has ever seen. Not long after that, like a reclusive buck, Rompola has stayed out of every hunter's spotlight.

Rompola's renown as a hunter began early in his life, and he has been a whitetail hunter and antler enthusiast for a long time. He became active in the world of antler scoring with the Boone & Crockett Club, the Pope & Young Club, and Commemorative Bucks of Michigan.

Details about the buck are difficult to track. A recovery video -- but maybe it was staged. An antler scoring session -- but maybe the experts are wrong. A controversy over his refusal to have the antlers authenticated by X-ray -- but it was a private citizen (not a scoring organization) who asked for X-rays. A third-party contract prohibited him from entering his buck as the number one buck in the Boone & Crockett record book -- but no other buck has been prohibited entry into the record book due to a third-party contract. For 28 years, suspicion of fraud has not subsided. And it's not surprising that people are divided. It's easy to divide people today.

Nobody has seen Rompola's antlers in decades, but with last winter's passing of whitetail world record holder Milo Hanson, the chatter about the Rompola buck has increased. Some people think that with Mr. Hanson gone, Rompola should be free to enter his buck in the record book, but that's not true. The contract stipulated that he could not enter his buck until some other buck supplanted the Hanson buck as the world record.

The contract had nothing to do with Mr. Hanson's longevity, but his passing does raise a question. When Rompola (now in his late 70s) comes to the end of his life, and if his antlers pass to an heir or someone buys them from his estate, perhaps the contract would be null or

could be challenged. Perhaps then, a new owner could have them authenticated as the world record. Of course, all of that assumes the antlers are real and they still exist.

The background to this story could go much deeper, but that's the smallest nutshell I can cram enough information into to set the stage for my point today. People ask me, "Do you think the Rompola buck is real? And do you think the Boone & Crockett Club should allow it to be entered into the record book as the number one buck of all time? In other words, what's my opinion?

Here's my answer.

I don't -- and most people don't -- need to have an opinion. Good people who all know the same information don't arrive at the same conclusions, so if I knew what they know, I might get it wrong. I've never seen Mr. Rompola's buck, I've never met him, and it's unlikely that I ever will meet him. I've never talked to anyone who has seen the antlers. I don't need to take a stand, and you probably don't either.

For me to take a stand, I'd be standing with or against a guy I don't know, and other people I don't know. Some are believers; others have strong doubts.

Not only do I not know, even if someone could force me to take a stand, that stance would mean nothing. If I give Rompola's buck an 80/20 probability of being authentic, or reverse it to 20/80, that would advance us toward settling the issue by exactly zero eights of an inch. You're probably like me; you don't know either. So, let's say it together: "I don't know."

This deer hunting controversy may never be settled. So maybe it's a good idea to take a deep breath and to realize almost everyone is in the same situation. We probably know all we're ever going to know, and any stand I (or you) take will have no impact on the issue.

Besides, in the grand scheme, I have no reason to put a dog in this fight, you probably don't either, and all of us have bigger fish to fry. So, drag your dog away from this fight, and let's go kill our own bucks. Let's enjoy them whether they're big or small, and stop worrying about whether someone else's buck is legit or not.

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When "The Everyday Hunter" isn't hunting, he's thinking about hunting, talking about hunting, dreaming about hunting, writing about hunting, or wishing he were hunting. If you want to tell Steve exactly where your favorite hunting spot is, contact him through his website, www.EverydayHunter.com. He writes for top outdoor magazines, and won the 2015, 2018, and 2023 national "Pinnacle Award" for outdoor writing.