Just as in life, the combination of patience and persistence pays off in hunting and fishing. For many of us, traipsing the woods during the early spring and later winter months looking for antlers discarded by last year’s target buck(s)is often the only outdoor activity available to us.
While many of us have that friend with access to deer-heavy farmland that always seems to turn up big finds, for the most of us, finding a spike in the snow melt is enough to get our motors running after a long winter season.
But every now and then, we hit it big and find something truly special – outside of the enjoyment that comes with being outdoors for an extended period of time.
When it comes to special finds, Jesse Schroeder of Minnesota had the find of a lifetime while wandering his brother’s 32-acre farm this past April. Sticking out of the scenery like some sort of mirage, he spotted the massive tines and quickly charged in to investigate.
“I’ve picked up some nice sheds there over the years, but nothing that came anywhere close to this,” he told Field & Stream. “I spotted the tines and walked toward then, and then I saw stuff sticking everywhere and my walk turned into a quick little sprint, followed by a high-school-girl scream when I kneeled by the buck. My shed hunting was definitely done for that day!”
After analyzing the deadhead, it was tough for Schroeder to decipher the cause of death – something that will likely remain a mystery. His find immediately garned national attention, including the record keepers over at the Boone & Crockett Club who are working to finalize the exact measurements.
Field measurements estimate the buck at 277-⅜-inches, a measurement that is expected to eclipse the 268-⅝-inch state record set 49 years ago, as reported by Field & Stream. Once the measurement s are confirmed, the deadhead is expected to become the 25th largest all-time in the nontypical whitetails category.
While the deer’s death remains a mystery, the legend will forever live on through the stories of those who believe they had encountered that very deer while air still moved through his lungs.
“A friend of mine was hunting the property one afternoon and told me he saw a buck that looked like it had a tree on its head,” Schroeder says.
Schroeder and the rest of us trust that no matter where this buck ends up in the record books, he will forever be a special memory to those that were able to behold him – dead or alive.
