Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

My friends Gene and Barry Wensel got a big one in Iowa that they've been hunting for months. He' a dandy. They estimate him to score in the 260" range. Not bad for a recurve! Gene killed him. 25" inside, 30" outside, and 4 drop tines. I will post Gene's story after the pic. Here he is:

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Gene posted this on another forum:

"I guess its about time I got on here to thank evryone for the comments and expression of mutual happiness for what happened to Barry and I this past season. We're still floating. Lets face it, at sixty years old, we're almost wrinkled old men now. What hair is left is gray, our eyes and ears are not as good as they used to be and I seem to use ladder stands more than monkey seats. I used to stand in my treestands until my feet got sore then sit for a while. Now I sit until my ass gets sore, then stand for a few minutes! My dad used to say there is a fine line between wisdom and senility. Many of you know we've been at this game all our lives. A lot of time, effort, teamwork, mental stress and lost sleep went into this one. We constantly worried about multiple close gunshots, poaching, pressuring him too much, etc. Having it all come together, taking him fair and square the right way was most important to us. Just knowing he was out there made use of alarm clocks unnecessary. Understanding the passion guys like us share is a special thing. This is more than an accomplishment for my brother and I. It is who we are. I am planning to write a magazine article with all the details but here are some to fill in a few of the blanks. I named this buck Woody...not as in Woodsman and not as in woodpeckers. Enough said. Woody is a very special deer. He has it all. Brains, dominance, unpredictable movement patterns, good tine length, bladed tines, good mass, a wide spread (he's 30" outside) and four droptines. He had a dark forehead, lots of character in his face and scars on his muzzle from fighting other bucks whose racks fit inside his main beams. We have at least three set camera pix of him (three more rolls are undeveloped as of this writing). Last night I discovered I have one his right sheds from two years ago before he grew droptines. There is no question it is his antler. I think he is 5 1/2 years old. Cementum analysis will confirm this later. I spotted him first in September of 2003. Barry and I saw him twice each last season and Barry almost got a shot at him one time. A couple friends hunting the same area also had close encounters with him. We never found his sheds last spring. Barry got footage of him on October 17th this season. He disappeared when the rut kicked in. I suspect he hit the road to spread his seeds. Both of us killed great bucks in early November, filling our tags. Each of us saw Woody half a dozen times before our late season primitive weapons buck tags kicked in after Christmas but he was always out of bow range or in low light anyway and never in the same place twice. I was lucky enough to take almost 40 minutes of video footage of him during gun season and could have legally killed him but since we don't hunt with guns, I had only the video camera with me. I got more video footage in late November and we filled some doe tags. Barry even got great footage of a bobcat that stalked and killed a squirrel only ten yards from his treestand. I still don't understand the reason why a guy can't hunt with a bow and arrow during gun season here in Iowa but thats another topic. By Christmas, Woody's preferred unpicked soybean field was pretty depleted of beans and he moved to a neighboring property to feed on standing corn nightly. When we learned several mature bucks were already shedding their antlers last week, we decided to get more aggressive in our tactics a few days ago. I will save the details of that for the magazine article but we were blessed with good luck, good friends, good wind, good weather, good stand placement and plans that fell into place. And as they say, the rest is history. You hear about all this wild stuff that happens when someone kills a monster. My phone has been busy more often than not. Emails are relentless. Biggie Hoffman had to be hog tied to keep him from driving from Georgia to Iowa just to fondle the rack. This morning I was offered $20,000 for Woody's nuts if they were still warm, presumably for semen. I told the guy they had assumed room temperature but I would sell him Barry's family jewels for only ten grand. I'm sure rumors will arise but they will all be untrue. When a guy loves this sort of stuff and spends a good portion of his life pondering choices, you can't help but wonder about deer and people as individuals and ask oneself why we do what we do. I once heard a guy say if he killed a giant nontypical he would give up bowhunting because he had "done it all." I know another guy who did in fact hang it up. I can't help but wonder if they ever really loved it in the first place. I'm fairly certain I've now taken the biggest buck of my life. I'm not only grateful for the opportunity and outcome, but thankful for close friends, an understanding wife/family and a brother who shares this outdoor passion with me. I'm a lucky and blessed guy. You know that feeling of hunter remorse and sadness that sets in after the fact? It ain't gonna happen this time. I feel GREAT! Thank you one and all. May all your hunts get better. I hope you get to meet my Woody or your own someday."

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

WOW, just WOW

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

congrats nice one

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Great googley moogley!

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

He's a dandy buck . congrat's and I really enjoyed your story,unfortunately you lost the income because his nut's were cold, but you still have that great buck to put on the wall.

nubo

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

LMAO!
sorry couldnt resist!

great story great deer!

-moose

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

That is one big Woody! ;)

If he scores in the 260's that won't even be close the to world record nontypical. It would however be a State record.

Whatever the score he is an outstanding world class buck.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

WOW awesome deer

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

I have always been a big fan of Barry and Gene Wentzel. These brothers have probably forgotten more about hunting deer than most of us know.

Thanks for posting the picture and that is one great story!

By the way........someone on another website who contacted Gene over the phone was told it grossed 231.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Beautiful buck as well as story.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Sweet!!!!

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

great buck, espically since it was taken with a recurve bow,wow, bet it was a great feeling, good luck with the scoring,

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Is there anything to say other than UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

Personally, I would have thrown his nuts in the microwave and warmed up back up for $20,000.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

That is a great buck, but i don't know if it is world record material, certainly state record, but beyond that ???

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

All I have to say is good gosh man! That buck is HUGE.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

World record i dont think so,whether it scored 231 or 260 something it is one heck of a beautiful deer.
Or would it be the biggest deer on record taken with trad equipment?

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Awesome buck!

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

I agree completely. When I was but a wee lad my dad took me with him to a seminar that they put on and I sat through the entire thing, half the time laughing my butt off. They are truely amazing people, and amazing hunters. I can still watch Bowhunting October Whitetails and get a good laugh out of it.

Congrats to the entire Wenzel family, that's an awesome buck.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Not sure which I enjoyed more, the photo of the buck or the story.

Congratulations. Nice to see good things happen for good guys.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

I too have been a fan of the Wensels for a long time. I have all their books, from Hunting Rutting Whitetails that came out 20 some years ago to the signed copy of Come November. I have been to a Wensel seminar and talked with Gene several times at the annual Deer Hunting Expo in Ohio. These guys are a class act and have more passion for bowhunting than most of us will every have. How many of us would pick up and move to another state solely because it has better deer hunting? That's just what Gene did when he moved to Iowa. They already have a ton of beautiful bucks and it is great to see another one on the ground.

Edit to add - what other forum are you guys referring to? I would like to read more about it.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

I believe its a record using trad. equipment.

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Congrats to the Wenzels! They're great hunters. that buck is HUGE. World record, no. Del Austin shot his with a recurve i think and this buck won't beat it. it's still gonna rank up there with teh best of them. i dont think its bigger than the Andrews buck shot last year or the year before in iowa with a bow. it's gonna be close those. Andrews buck is like 258 non typical, I think.

slayer

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

yeah!

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Who says you need a $500 compound bow that shoots 315fps to kill a record buck RECURVE SALES ARE UP!!:D
Congrats Mr. Wensel

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

Very nice!! Great story too!

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Great gooma looma.......I am pretty sure I would die of a heart attack if something like that walked by..

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

A truly awesome buck indeed!!! I also received a pic of the buck shortly after it was downed and was very happy for him! Talk about a buck of a lifetime. I do feel the need to correct the badly inflated score however. Gene told IL tophy hunter and friend Don Higgins (you can confirm this with Don on the IBS site) just the other day on the phone that the 10x9 GROSSES 231". A solid B&C class buck but I seriously don't know where the 260 figure came from??? Just an absolutely awesome IA whitetail, that's for sure!!!

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absolutely awesome buck.

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Truly an amazing buck. Congrats!

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Wow!! Thats a true monster!! What a trophy.....and traditional besides!

Great job!

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Awesome buck, gotta love those drop tines!!!!!!!:D

RE: Potential New World Record Killed!!
 

The current P&Y world record typical and nontypical whitetails--the Johnson & Austin bucks--were both shot with traditional equipment. Of course, back in the 60's, it was just called "archery equipment".