BigRack
11-17-2009, 10:49 AM
This just in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix:
Canadian's world-record buck, felled near Biggar, could come up short
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News ServiceNovember 16, 2009Comments (1)
StoryPhotos ( 1 )
A replica of Milo Hanson's champion white-tail deer stands at the entrance to Biggar, the rural community about 100 kilometres west of SaskatoonPhotograph by: Peter Wilson, The StarPhoenixFor nearly 20 years, it's been a source of national pride among Canada's hunters and a symbol of the enduring wildness of the Prairies.
And if a Saskatchewan MP had his way in the mid-1990s, the Hanson Buck — a white-tailed deer with the biggest antlers of their kind ever recorded in the world — would have been immortalized on the country's new $2 coin instead of the polar bear.
But the majestic animal felled in 1993 by Biggar, Sask., farmer Milo Hanson may finally be dethroned as North American deer-hunters' ultimate prize after a Wisconsin bow hunter killed a "monster" deer earlier this month with a rack 10 centimetres greater — according to initial, unofficial measurements — than the one adorning Canada's most famous buck.
The Wisconsin whitetail is being hailed as a potential tourist boon for the state and as a million-dollar endorsement jackpot for Sheboygan Falls hunter Michael Gregoire, who followed a trail of blood to his downed quarry on Nov. 5 a few hours after sending an arrow into its chest in the woods near Lake Michigan's western shore.
"I saw it once two weeks ago and it was 85 yards away, the closest it would come," the 38-year-old tool-and-die maker told Wisconsin media after his fateful second encounter with the deer. "I didn't realize how big he actually was till we found him laying there. We were hootin' and hollerin'."
A preliminary measurement — which must be confirmed after a mandatory 60-day drying period — put Gregoire's trophy at 217 5/8 inches (5.44 metres), a total that captures the lengths and widths of each point on the deer's elaborate headgear.
If the numbers hold and the deer is classified in the same "typical" category as the Saskatchewan antlers, that would put the U.S. specimen into the record books ahead of the 213-5/8-inch set on Hanson's buck — a roadside replica of which is prominently displayed at the entrance to Biggar to mark the town's claim to fame.
The attention generated by Hanson's feat has also been credited with significant increases in outdoor tourism in the province thanks to an influx of Canadian and American hunters hoping to get another giant Prairie buck in their sights.
And in 1995, during the debates leading to the retirement of Canada's $2 bill and the launch of the toonie, the Hanson Buck emerged briefly — and controversially — as a contender to have its effigy engraved on the new $2 coin.
Elwin Hermanson, then a Reform MP representing Biggar and later the leader of the provincial Saskatchewan party, pressed the Liberal government of the day to celebrate Hanson's regal buck opposite the Queen on the new coin.
Insisting that Western Canada had suffered coinage discrimination, Hermanson pointed out that the nickel's beaver, penny's maple leaf and dime's Bluenose represented Central and Eastern Canada, that the quarter's caribou was a northern animal and the dollar's loon a marshland species.
"It so happens the Prairies were overlooked in all these symbols and so I have recommended to the minister of public works and to the Canadian mint that they consider a replica of the Hanson Buck on our new $2 coin," Hermanson told the House of Commons at the time.
"A newspaper report said I wanted to put a dead deer on the $2 coin," he added, responding to one wildlife advocate's condemnation of the "ludicrous and barbaric" idea.
"I do not know if that beaver is alive, but I know the Hanson Buck was, and was a beautiful animal," argued Hermanson. "It represents a world champion record for the nicest antlers of any whitetail ever taken. It broke an 80-year-old record held by the Americans and certainly it would be a wonderful . . . image to put on our $2 coin."
Hanson, who got his deer with a rifle, told Canwest News Service on Monday that he's well aware of the potential Wisconsin rival to his buck's record rack.
"I knew about that deer — guys are letting me know," he said.
But Hanson noted that some experts are pointing to a possible anomaly in the U.S. antlers — including two points that appear to share a common base — which would render it "atypical" or result in a deduction when the official score is tallied in January.
Gregoire, meanwhile, is holding out hope he's broken the Canadian's world record.
"We will keep our fingers crossed," he told a Milwaukee-area newspaper, "and say a few prayers."
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix
Canadian's world-record buck, felled near Biggar, could come up short
By Randy Boswell, Canwest News ServiceNovember 16, 2009Comments (1)
StoryPhotos ( 1 )
A replica of Milo Hanson's champion white-tail deer stands at the entrance to Biggar, the rural community about 100 kilometres west of SaskatoonPhotograph by: Peter Wilson, The StarPhoenixFor nearly 20 years, it's been a source of national pride among Canada's hunters and a symbol of the enduring wildness of the Prairies.
And if a Saskatchewan MP had his way in the mid-1990s, the Hanson Buck — a white-tailed deer with the biggest antlers of their kind ever recorded in the world — would have been immortalized on the country's new $2 coin instead of the polar bear.
But the majestic animal felled in 1993 by Biggar, Sask., farmer Milo Hanson may finally be dethroned as North American deer-hunters' ultimate prize after a Wisconsin bow hunter killed a "monster" deer earlier this month with a rack 10 centimetres greater — according to initial, unofficial measurements — than the one adorning Canada's most famous buck.
The Wisconsin whitetail is being hailed as a potential tourist boon for the state and as a million-dollar endorsement jackpot for Sheboygan Falls hunter Michael Gregoire, who followed a trail of blood to his downed quarry on Nov. 5 a few hours after sending an arrow into its chest in the woods near Lake Michigan's western shore.
"I saw it once two weeks ago and it was 85 yards away, the closest it would come," the 38-year-old tool-and-die maker told Wisconsin media after his fateful second encounter with the deer. "I didn't realize how big he actually was till we found him laying there. We were hootin' and hollerin'."
A preliminary measurement — which must be confirmed after a mandatory 60-day drying period — put Gregoire's trophy at 217 5/8 inches (5.44 metres), a total that captures the lengths and widths of each point on the deer's elaborate headgear.
If the numbers hold and the deer is classified in the same "typical" category as the Saskatchewan antlers, that would put the U.S. specimen into the record books ahead of the 213-5/8-inch set on Hanson's buck — a roadside replica of which is prominently displayed at the entrance to Biggar to mark the town's claim to fame.
The attention generated by Hanson's feat has also been credited with significant increases in outdoor tourism in the province thanks to an influx of Canadian and American hunters hoping to get another giant Prairie buck in their sights.
And in 1995, during the debates leading to the retirement of Canada's $2 bill and the launch of the toonie, the Hanson Buck emerged briefly — and controversially — as a contender to have its effigy engraved on the new $2 coin.
Elwin Hermanson, then a Reform MP representing Biggar and later the leader of the provincial Saskatchewan party, pressed the Liberal government of the day to celebrate Hanson's regal buck opposite the Queen on the new coin.
Insisting that Western Canada had suffered coinage discrimination, Hermanson pointed out that the nickel's beaver, penny's maple leaf and dime's Bluenose represented Central and Eastern Canada, that the quarter's caribou was a northern animal and the dollar's loon a marshland species.
"It so happens the Prairies were overlooked in all these symbols and so I have recommended to the minister of public works and to the Canadian mint that they consider a replica of the Hanson Buck on our new $2 coin," Hermanson told the House of Commons at the time.
"A newspaper report said I wanted to put a dead deer on the $2 coin," he added, responding to one wildlife advocate's condemnation of the "ludicrous and barbaric" idea.
"I do not know if that beaver is alive, but I know the Hanson Buck was, and was a beautiful animal," argued Hermanson. "It represents a world champion record for the nicest antlers of any whitetail ever taken. It broke an 80-year-old record held by the Americans and certainly it would be a wonderful . . . image to put on our $2 coin."
Hanson, who got his deer with a rifle, told Canwest News Service on Monday that he's well aware of the potential Wisconsin rival to his buck's record rack.
"I knew about that deer — guys are letting me know," he said.
But Hanson noted that some experts are pointing to a possible anomaly in the U.S. antlers — including two points that appear to share a common base — which would render it "atypical" or result in a deduction when the official score is tallied in January.
Gregoire, meanwhile, is holding out hope he's broken the Canadian's world record.
"We will keep our fingers crossed," he told a Milwaukee-area newspaper, "and say a few prayers."
© Copyright (c) The StarPhoenix