Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511280002
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Two Novembers ago, the town became known as ``Home of the Hanson buck,'' when Hanson killed a deer on his farm carrying the largest typical antlers ever scored by Boone and Crockett. Its 2135/8 measurement unseated a record that had stood since 1914.
Hanson has a word for hunters afield this season who dream about killing the world's biggest buck: If you do, it will change your life. He tells how in a new book titled ``World Record Whitetail: The Hanson Buck Story.''
It was a friend, a school-bus driver, who alerted Hanson about the buck one day when he mentioned, ``Milo, there's a baby elk out by your place.''
The bus driver had seen the buck several times while driving his route. He described it as having ``a rocking chair on his head.''
When a neighbor saw the buck, too, Hanson's interest began to swell.
On the second Monday of the deer season, heavy clouds came in from the west, and snow fell that night. Conditions were ideal for killing a buck the next day.
Hanson had some farm chores to do Tuesday morning, and by the time he caught up with his hunting partners they had spotted the big buck. Several long-distant shots had missed their mark.
Tracks in the snow revealed the buck had galloped into a clump of willows. Hanson and a couple of buddies covered escape routes while a fourth hunter followed the tracks and spooked the buck.
``This was the fist time I had ever seen him,'' Hanson said. ``His rack was extraordinary - which was obvious even at a great distance.''
Hanson and a friend fired shots, but they missed. They continued their tracking and set up another ambush. When the buck bolted from some brush and raced broadside across a field, Hanson took a shot that sent the great buck to its knees.
``You got him!'' a friend shouted.
Hanson wasn't as certain. The buck ran about 450 yards before disappearing into a bluff. Hanson followed and put a final bullet into the deer.
``We agreed he was the biggest any of us had ever seen,'' Hanson said. ``Still, none of us ever dreamed this buck was destined to be a world record.''
Hanson spent the next several days hunting, then had a friend measure the 14-point buck. He scored it 214.
``I think you may have a new world record,'' the friend said.
Hanson brought in a second scorer who measured the buck at a fraction over 214. That's when he got his first offer for the antlers: $50,000.
Instead of selling, Hanson hid the rack in a pile of barley grain.
When word of the buck spread, writers and TV camera crews begin showing up. Friends had to help with the telephone calls.
``I never thought anyone would want my autograph - except maybe the bank,'' Hanson said.
Four-hundred people showed up at Biggar for the official Boone and Crockett scoring.
So, what's the value of the rack?
Hanson hears that question often.
``Everyone has a different opinion,'' he said. ``All I know is the buck is invaluable to me, and that he's not for sale.''
Hanson's 128-page book is available from Krause Publications, 700 E. State St., Iola, Wisc., 54990, for $9.95. The phone number is 1-800-258-0929.
by CNB