Before-school chores sometimes include collecting meat for the larder and hair-on hatracks.
Many are the stories about huge bucks being seen on or near dairy farms. Maybe it has something to do with all the great feed available. Even though most big bucks usually avoid sharing quarters with cattle, all that fresh corn might be too much to resist.
Veteran deer hunter William Schaefer of Powhatan, Virginia, could probably write a book about his colorful deer hunting career. If he did, half would have to be devoted to the exploits of his wife, Bertha.
Grandson Rick Benson says they’ve both killed some great bucks over the years.
William, now retired, was a hard-working dairy farmer. Running a dairy farm is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week, 365-day-a-year job, affording little time for other pursuits.
He and Bertha cherished the time they could slip away to hunt deer on their farm in the fall. They started hunting together right after they got married.
“Grandma started hunting with Grandpa right off the bat,” Rick said. “They were both very passionate about it. In fact, my grandmother hunted quite a bit by herself. She loved to be in the woods.
“The farm is about 30 miles west of Richmond, in an area that has always been known for big deer,” Rick continued. “Maybe it’s the soil. I don’t know. But it’s always been a great place for big bucks. It still is, too, although it’s been heavily developed in residential subdivisions.
“My grandparents kept every rack from every buck they shot mounted on wooden plaques in the basement. Today, there are more than 20 racks in the collection, and all of them are trophy antlers that most hunters would have had mounted.
“Back in those days, with four children coming along, they didn’t have a lot of extra money to spend on things like taxidermy. But they hung up all of their racks and were always very proud of them,” he said.
There was one exception, however. William, now in his 80s, shot a buck of legendary proportions on Dec. 11, 1970. That’s the one buck that put money in a taxidermist’s pocket, and it has hung in the Schaefers’ home ever since.
Only now it has a fresh face because Rick, who owns Buckrub Taxidermy in Amelia, Virginia, recently remounted his grandfather’s buck.
In the early 1970s, the Schaefers’ dairy farm encompassed about 700 acres. Today, William and Bertha still live on 300 acres of the original land. The rest has been swallowed by urban sprawl.
Back in the day, the lion’s share of the farm was pastureland and cornfields planted for the benefit of the dairy herd. The old farm also boasted a fine fruit orchard several hundred yards from the house. The resident deer loved the orchard.
A secluded swamp in one corner of the property served as a natural refuge for mature bucks.
“The swamp backed up to a golf course,” Rick said. “Because of its remote location, there was very little hunting pressure on that section of the property. It was an ideal place for a big buck to hide.”
In 1970, several farmhands reported seeing an enormous buck with a very wide rack and unusually long brow tines in the orchard. A neighbor also saw it early in the season and shot every bullet in his rifle at the charmed buck, missing it four or five times.
Christmas came early for William in 1970. Dec. 11 started out like most typical school days for the Schaefers’ four children. There were early morning chores for the older kids to do before breakfast, and then it was a scramble to get ready for school.
Rick’s mom, Janet, now 50, was 5 at the time – the youngest of the three Schaefer daughters. Gene, the only boy, was the eldest.
Daylight was just breaking as one of the farmhands suddenly drove up to the house and told William he had just spotted a huge buck down by the orchard. The house immediately went into an uproar as William grabbed his trusty Winchester Model 70 featherweight .243, topped by a Weaver 6x scope with an extension tube.
“Although no one could see the buck, the orchard was about 200 yards from the house and in plain view,” Rick said. “While Bertha and the children watched from the living room window, Grandpa sneaked out the back door and quietly began stalking toward the orchard.
“He went about 100 yards before he had to stop due to the lack of cover. Everyone watched expectantly from the window as Grandpa raised his rifle, took aim and fired. The buck dropped in its tracks, but Grandpa was the only family member who knew what had happened,” Rick said.
Despite not knowing, or perhaps having perfect confidence in William’s shooting skills, mayhem broke out in the Schaefer household as everyone clambered outside and ran to the orchard as fast as they could, school forgotten.
As Bertha and the children gathered around the fallen buck, there was a feeling of disbelief and shock. No one could fathom the size of the buck’s antlers. The rack, sporting 14-inch, sword-like brow tines, was enormous.
“Grandpa almost fainted when he saw his buck,” Rick said. “He had no idea it was that big. He later got the rack scored for the Virginia record book. I think it ranked No. 1 in the state for about eight years.
After almost 45 years, the old 1970s shoulder mount was in dire need of a serious facelift. Thanks to the outstanding job that Rick did on the new mount, his grandfather’s once-in-a-lifetime dairy farm trophy now has an elegant look that causes people to stare in amazement.
Several years after William killed his megabuck, son Gene shot a similar but smaller mainframe 4x4 that also had a number of unusual sticker points.
Now an octogenarian, William, who has always been an outdoorsman, still enjoys slipping out into the woods during deer season to collect his venison. He is very proud of the fact that his family is now in its third generation of carrying on the dairy farming tradition.
Even though the work is extremely demanding, dairy farming, like deer hunting, has a way of getting in your blood.
Editor’s Note: Duncan Dobie’s new book, “Dawn of America Deer Hunting, A Photographic Odyssey of Deer Hunting History,” is now available online and through the author. Autographed copies can be purchased by calling (770) 973-8049.
This article was published in the October 2016 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.
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