Category: Buck Pool

Not to be outdone, Rob Yaeger’s 9-year-old son Grady Yaeger took down his first deer Friday afternoon. I can’t tell from the angle of the pic, but it looks to be a doe/antlerless. Regardless, an awesome moment for Rob and Grady. Congrats to both of you!

Congrats to Rob Yaeger on a successful 2021 firearm season. Rob got this 9-pointer last Monday afternoon. Rob is an Account Manager working out of our De Pere Office. Congrats on a great buck, Rob!

No recap last week because the author was in the woods like I hope most of you were as well. A whole hell of a lot has happened since, so let’s get caught up:

Last Week

With Wisconsin’s 9-day firearms season starting and finishing since the last Tuesday update there have been several additions to the buck pool…too many for me to cover individually in this post. Check the 2021 Results page for more info. The last Tuesday update on November 16 showed 12 bucks in the pool. As of this post we are now up to 24 bucks. The big news is that Mike Weinfurter has claimed the top spot in the five year history of our buck pool with a buck that measured 154 2/8″ based on scoring done by Justin Beck. This beat Jason Everard’s 2017 buck by less than one inch. Everyone involved agreed that Jeff would measure Mike’s buck to confirm the score since they were so close and Jeff also scored Jason’s buck in 2017. We’ll call Mike the new unofficial title holder and await confirmation. One thing is certain: Mike is now firmly in first place in the 2021 Buck Pool bumping Shawn Thomas down to second.

Speaking of Shawn Thomas, I feel like one rule needs clarification at this point. Shawn technically currently holds second and third place in the 2021 pool. His archery buck scored 143 4/8″ and his firearm buck scored 125 4/8″ which is good enough for second and third place so far. However, the rules state that each participant gets one buck in the pool. If you get more than one buck in a year, the best scoring buck will be counted. Knowing that, Shawn’s archery buck sits in second place, leaving his rifle buck ineligible for third place. We do have 19 bucks that have yet to be scored, so Shawn likely won’t finish the season occupying both second and third place, but it’s worth mentioning in case anyone is unclear on the rules. Regardless, congratulations to Shawn on taking two bucks within weeks of each other that score better than any bucks many of us will get in our entire lifetimes. Keep in mind that Justin Beck has taken two quality bucks as well that have yet to be scored and could find himself in a similar situation.

Mitch Dequaine remains in third place for the time being, but with up to 19 more bucks to be scored his grasp on that position is shaky. We’ll keep you updated as scores come in.

Standings Update

1. Mike Weinfurter – 154 2/8″
2. Shawn Thomas – 143 4/8″
3. Mitch Dequaine – 118 1/8″
4. Jeff Blohowiak – 110 5/8″
5. 19-way tie – TBD

Poll Question

The Week Ahead

It looks like a relatively normal week of weather ahead of us. Deer Cast predicts a bad/poor few days for deer movement this week followed by a good day this Saturday. Muzzleloader season is now open through December 8. Archery and crossbow season continue for several weeks as well and there are some antlerless-only hunts in the future. Just because November is almost over doesn’t mean there isn’t still time to put meat in the freezer.

This Friday’s Raffle

For this week’s raffle three winners will each receive a Bushnell Prime L20 trail cam from Drew Heeter at Access Inc. Look for the announcement of the winners this Friday.

Links

To continue on the topic of remaining deer hunting seasons, here’s a link to deer hunting season dates so you can plan out what’s left of your deer season if you haven’t already.

I’m something of a stat dork and always find myself getting into these numbers every year. Here’s a comparison of the 2021 firearms season to the 2020 season and the 5-year averages. If you want to get further into the numbers here’s a breakdown of the 2021 deer kill by season. You can see totals along with archery, 9-day firearm season, youth hunt, muzzleloader, etc. separated out. It looks like numbers are down significantly this year and I’m no wildlife biologist so I won’t bother to speculate on why that is. However, I’m going to go ahead and blame at least part of the drop in numbers on cell phones. If I had a dollar for all of the deer my son didn’t see because he was playing on his cell phone I’d have enough money for several boxes of dunkers at Kwik Trip. Put your phones down and enjoy the outdoors, people!

Finally, enjoy this tale of a man who attempted to fire an arrow more than a mile and, instead, ended up in the emergency room.

That’s it for this week. We’ll keep posting more deer pics and scores as we get them, so keep an eye on the site. If you have tips, ideas, comments, or general thoughts on any of this, please let me know.

Congratulations to Brad Davister on getting his buck just before time expired yesterday. Brad is a Service Technician out of our De Pere Office. Here’s the story directly from Brad:

“Dad and I ran it hard on the last day, just as we were about to hang it up for the year we decided to do one last woods as the sun was setting on the day and the season. I covered the field with the rifle and once in position dad started to walk. He wasn’t even started and I saw the deer running out the back of the woods near me. Out came about ten deer some ran straight and some decided to run towards me . Out came this fella following the does past me about 75 yards. One shot and down he went as the sun fell.”

I speak for myself and probably a lot of other people when I say that the sunset on the final day of firearm season is a sad moment when the time of year that so many of us wait all year for comes to an end. I’ve always dreamed of getting that last minute buck. Must’ve been a cool feeling to have that come true. Congrats on a great buck, Brad, and thanks for sharing the story.

This buck has not been scored yet and we will post an update when we have one.

Congratulations to Jim Vitort for taking down this buck with a rifle back on November 13. Jim is a Virtual Designer/Sheet Metal Labor Coordinator out of our Wisconsin Rapids Office. If you’re wondering how Jim got a buck with a rifle on November 13, he actually got this buck in Nebraska. It has not been officially scored yet. Great job, Jim!

Congrats to Ben Mleziva for getting his buck on opening weekend of gun season. Ben is a Project Manager currently working on Project Bronco in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Ben was not in Michigan when he got this buck, but was in fact behind his house in Kewaunee County. When I hear it was “behind his house” I really hope Ben was in his living room watching TV when a buck walked through his backyard so he grabbed his gun and shot from the back porch. This is likely not true, but that’s the dream, right? I’ll wait for Ben to confirm or deny that story. In the meantime, Ben’s buck has not been scored and we will add him to the list as TBD.

A quick note on scoring: if you’re looking for score updates please refer to the 2021 Results page. Anytime Jeff or someone from the measuring team scores a buck I update it there. As of this posting, five bucks have been scored so far this season, but I expect a lot more in the coming days/weeks so please keep an eye on that page for updates.

Congratulations to Zeke Peters on a successful hunt. Zeke is a plumbing foreman currently working on the Davita Dialysis project. Zeke took down this buck last week in Kewaunee County. We don’t have a lot of other detail on this hunt, or on the score, but we will update the score when we get it. Congrats again, Zeke. Well done!

Congrats to young Andy Brawner, son of Project Scheduler Charlie Brawner, on his first gun buck last weekend. He shot this guy in the opening minutes of Sunday morning. Despite a lot of practice and a relatively short shot at a stationary target, Andy shot a bit higher than he should’ve but still got the kill. After the deer dropped he said, “You’re right dad, shooting at a buck is a lot harder than shooting at paper.” A great lesson for kids getting into hunting, but a better moment for dads who don’t get to hear the words, “You’re right dad,” from their teenage children very often.

Congratulations to Tanner Weise on taking down this massive 8-point buck last Sunday. Tanner is a Project Manager who has spent the past several months in Kalamazoo, Michigan, managing Project Bronco. We don’t have a lot of details on the hunt, but here’s what Tanner sent:

“PLM “Public Land Monster” 8 pointer I got this gun season up in Tipler, Wisconsin.”

We will update the standings when we’re able to get this PLM scored. Great job, Tanner!

A four-year record for best buck in the TG Buck Pool might have finally gone down. Congrats to Mike Weinfurter for taking down this stud in the Wisconsin Rapids area. I’ll let him tell the story:

“Spent many hours in the woods chasing this buck, finally happened a half hour before dark when he came in chasing a doe, had a close encounter with him a couple weeks ago with my bow but just couldn’t make it happen, feels good to finally get my hands on him.”

Mike had this buck measured by Justin Beck and he gross scored a 154 2/8″ which puts him ahead of Jason Everard’s 2017 buck that scored 153 3/4″. Mike and Jeff Blohowiak both agreed that Jeff is also going to put the tape to it since we have a potential record breaker on our hands.

Regardless, it’s great to see persistence pay off for Mike. This is an amazing buck no matter what it scores. He has certainly moved into first place in the 2021 standings and we’ll go with the 154 2/8″ score until Jeff is able to score the deer as well. Congrats on the buck of a lifetime, Mike!

Justin Beck is back quickly with another quality buck, this time during gun season. We haven’t gotten many details on this one yet, but Justin is on the board once again. We’ll post more information when we get it, but we’ll add this one to the list as TBD and update when we know more. Congrats again, Justin!

Congrats to Casey Liegeois for taking down this amazing buck with his bow a while back. It took time to get the pictures and all the details from Casey, but he sent us a great recap of his hunt and I’ll let him take the story from here:

“After a tough tag sandwich and losing a buck in Kansas I didn’t think I was going to get a chance when I got home. But with some good intel from my cell cameras I knew I had some decent buck moving in daylight on a new lease I got this year in the Wayside/Morrison area. Then on the Monday of November the 15th I found out I got COVID for the second time. But with having minor symptoms I wasn’t going to let that stop me from hunting. Watching the weather I knew the Thursday before gun hunting was going to be my day. That morning started off bad. I woke up late because I didn’t set an alarm the night before. So I didn’t get a chance to shower. Just grabbed my stuff and ran out the door. By the time I got to the property I still had enough time to sneak in before day break. So I made the hike back in the woods and through a swamp to my stand. Once I got in my stand and got everything out and situated it was just starting to break light. That’s when I looked down and realized my release wasn’t in my bino harness where I always keep it. I started to panic And looked all through my backpack. The only place it could be is my truck. So I had to climb down walk all the way back to my truck where I found my release and then proceed to hike all the way back to my stand. Finally I got back settled in and within 15 minutes a little buck comes by me. About an hour after that I heard a noise from the direction the little buck went so I didn’t pay too much attention. And it was super windy. All of a sudden I hear a branch break to my right. I look and this buck is stand 20 yards right down wind of me. He knew something was up but couldn’t tell exactly. I was sitting down and my bow was hanging up. He turned to go back the way he came and I stood up grabbed my bow as he started moving faster. I drew back stopped him in a clear spot and guessed the yardage at 40. Settled my pin and watched my arrow hit. He ran a big circle and ended up expiring at the end of an easy blood trail.”

Thanks for sharing, Casey. Sometimes the worst mornings end up making the best stories. Congrats again on the great buck. I have not received a score on this buck, so for now Casey will be added to the TBD list.