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RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

Those are some pretty good points sooner

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quotequote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>One big difference between the Hanson, Beatty, Rompola, bucks and the Zaft buck. Those others had the entire carcass including the all important hide and meat to prove their bucks died as a result of their direct shots. <hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>
I disagree with the Rompala buck here, he was an idiot to run around claiming "World Record" bu no I wont prove it to anyone other than my close ,private friends.
Milos Buck was killed by gun on a deer drive, I have my own issues with the ethics of that.

Beatty was just an average Joe that was at the right place at the right time, a good guy with nothing to hide about the way he got it, just a average hunter who got lucky. He admits that. I give him all the respect for doing so.

As for Zaft, he is the only one who knows, He may have described that buck to others, I dont know, I was willing to give him the credit based on his word and no proof that he is not an upstanding hunter and guy.

I would have to maybe reconcider that record though, due to the current #1 like you said. I would suck to be the current #1 and have turned in all the vital info to proved you took a record and the next guy gets it based on his word, I will take Zaft for his word, but I cant control the "record status".

While on the subject, who ever put into "LAW" that you cannot claim any type of deer record with out going through P&Y and B&C what about Guiness????LOL. How do these orgs. hold the rights to say if something is truely a worl record and if they dont say it then its not? I would not enter anything in either, I am not a menber of one or the other,I have no desire to be. If i do take a "record book" buck then I will know and every one that sees it will know it is a record despite what P&Y or B&C says. You can look at an animal and know if its the biggest you ever saw in the field , in a magizine or on video. B&C and P&Y dont have to convince me if its huge. Just my opinion ofcourse.

Hunting ; an act of love for nature guided by the strongest spiritual forces.
http://www.adventuresoutdoors.freehomepage.com/

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

Only two reasons to try and have it scored money and notoriety.

I killed a large 8 pt one year that the coyotes found first,didn't even bring the rack home.It really bummed me out.Didn't go around bragging to all my friends about the big deer I killed etc.,because it upset me that I couldn't eat the meat.

I know how I felt when I walked up on the deer I shot, wonder how Mr.Zaft really feels when he looks at the head on the wall.

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

Didn't really think this topic would go this far, but I am surprised at the number of guys who think it should only go under the find catagory.

Are you sure that you would want it under the find catagory if you shot it? Maybe my information is wrong but I have heard of figures in the several thousand dollars for appearance fees to different whitetail shows.

I don't know about you but if you offered me 1 thousand dollars for my whitetail to be shown I would have it there. Maybe some others don't need the money.

I also read the story from P&Y about how they went about verifing Zaft's story and it included talking to some of the people he told about the buck between the time he shot it and the farmer found it. They all told them that he mentioned the dried velvet around the horns. He also knew the exact area, was looking for a large large buck in the exact area that one was found.

Having hunted coyotes and around coyotes all my life I would have to say that no coyote would be able to drag that buck out into the field until it had been almost completely eaten. Then they usually drag back into brush. This would lead me to believe that it died on the spot on way or another.

Did the coyotes finish it off? Maybe but I would believe the arrow was the reason they were able to finish off a buck that size. I also believe it was probl. dead when they found it.

How many here have ever taken a walking shot? I know that you wouldn't like to but if there was a world class buck walking out of your life and you had a 30 yard walking shot wouldn't you take it?

I think he shot the deer, a farmer found it the next day, coyotes had ate it, he recovered what he could and should get credit for the kill.

" Anyone can be a father, but it takes a real man to be a Dad"

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

<BLOCKQUOTE id=quotequote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>
Are you sure that you would want it under the find catagory if you shot it? Maybe my information is wrong but I have heard of figures in the several thousand dollars for appearance fees to different whitetail shows.

I don't know about you but if you offered me 1 thousand dollars for my whitetail to be shown I would have it there. Maybe some others don't need the money.

<hr height=1 noshade id=quote></BLOCKQUOTE id=quote>
So this is what hunting has become. Honoring the man and not the deer. The almighty dollar rules.

Sorry, there is not proof that I have seen that that deer is anything other than a pickup/find.

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

As to the original question, if I found it, in the situation Zaft described, I would defintiely claim it. If it was a normal deer, and someone else found a dead one a couple of days later, no, I wouldn't. It'd be a pick up, and I wuldn't tag it. However, the fact that the rack was so large and distinctive, would lead me to guess I would know 100% if it was the one I shot or not. Also, the financial considerations for my family would override just about anything, and if P&Y was OK with it, I sure would. I would not claim it if it was just another 8pt, I couldn't be sure if it was the one I shot, and I personally wouldn't consider it a "harvest". Just my opinion. That much money involved for my famuly, I'd make a special case for what I considered a "harvest", if P&Y is OK with it, so am I. <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>
As for all the skeptics about world records, I think many are missing the point. Of course you have whiners and naysayers for every record deer, you have them in every small town for every big buck contest winner, as well as any other success in life, there'll always be that type of person out there. However, I disagree that it is prevalent in world recoed deer. The only case where guys jumped all over someone and called them a liar and poacher constantly was that Michigan buck, and since a gag order was signed by the hunter, and he's disappeared, I'd have to guess they were right on with that one. Nobdy, well, nobody of subsance, has said a word about any other record buck, not the Hanson buck, not the Beatty buck, not the Zaft buck. The only complaint about the Zaft buck is over the P&Y acceptance, I haven't heard anyne claim he shot it with a rifle, or at night, or on unhunted land, etc. Just whether the circumstance surroundng the kill and recovery meets P&Y standards. Nothing wrong with that, and it certainly doesn't call into question Zaft's ethics, just the policies of P&Y. Zaft was very up front about finding the deer eaten by coyotes later, about the farmer telling him it was there, he never lied about it. I just don't see, other than a few faceless cowards on the internet, people jumping all over record holders, like I said, there'll always be whiners, but who cares?
Anyway, P&Y is a private club, they can maintain any standard of record keeping they want, who's to judge, unless you are a member? From the endorsements I've seen recently, Beatty hasn't suffered financially after killing the largest deer ever by bow, just because a particular club doesn't put a stamp on it. B&C is another private club, they can keep whatever record they want as well, doesn't bother me, same with Buckmasters, SCI, Rowland Ward, etc.
The largest whitetail ever killed was with a gun in Mississipi, and the largest deer ever killed with a bow was the Beatty buck, who cares what record book stamps them "approved"?
It's fun to debate whether it was a pick up or clean harvest, but the fact remains, it's based on entry to a privatee club, and if you're that worried about a private club, join already and be heard, or stop whining about their actions. Otherwise you sound like that fat, ugly woman crying about Augusta Naional.

"In heaven, even the fish have antlers"

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

It would have perfectly legal for the farmer to obtain a found wildlife permit and claimed this deer for himself, is that not correct ? Had the farmer wanted to, he could have done this. The game warden would have found a dead and eaten up deer with no proof of death and no certainty of the time frame and we all know the farmer would have been granted that permit. He could then have submitted the rack to the B&C club and he would have made a good bit of $$ himself doing shows and replicas etc due to the sheer size of the rack.

And this is the deer we want to be crowned the P&Y archery world record ?
Stealthycat's Photo's

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

6ptsika,

"The largest whitetail ever killed was with a gun in Mississipi, and the largest deer ever killed with a bow was the Beatty buck..."

Actually, the Fulton Buck, from Mississippi scored 295 6/8, while the Beatty Buck, from Ohio, scored 304 6/8. I couldn't even imagine ever seeing an animal like either of those in the wild, let alone taking one. Just boggles the mind.

JRW

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

Thanks for the coorection JRW, I thought the opposite to be true.
Heck, I was watching that Primetime video last summer and dropped my beer right onto the floor when that Iowa buck walked out in velvet.

"In heaven, even the fish have antlers"

RE: Would you claim the Zaft buck?

Just a little side note for those who may be unaware.....P&Y does not have a found/pickup category.

B&C enters bucks harvested by any legal hunting method, pickup, roadkill, etc.

NRA,UBP,BASS Member
New Stanton,PA