Iowa Pickup Turns Heads at 2024 Deer Classic
By Patrick Dunning
We’ll never convince die-hard anti-hunters that regulated hunting seasons are the best way to help wildlife, but we should strive to educate those who don’t hunt (but aren’t opposed to it) about nature and pecking orders in the animal kingdom. Nature is beautiful, but it’s often brutal and unforgiving, too.
Anti-hunters promote an image of Joe-blow stumbling drunk from his lifted four-wheel drive into a deer stand shortly before killing Bambi. Truth is, state-licensed hunters across the country are front-line soldiers in the modern wildlife conservation movement.
Yes, we maintain healthy wildlife populations by legal and ethical means, and our hunting and fishing licenses dollars support all wildlife management, both game and non-game species. But more than that, every time you purchase a bullet, fishing lure, firearm or the latest Mathews bow, you’re paying an excise tax via the The Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Act.
Many outdoorsmen aren’t aware this federal program exists, or that they’re first-hand stakeholders in an extensive wildlife preservation effort.
The P-R Act is basically a massive fund administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The fund is made up of tax money collected from the sale of hunting and fishing gear. The USFWS then delegates the money to state wildlife agencies to support their conservation efforts. This includes wildlife education programs, research and maintaining state lands and parks – even protecting species that aren’t hunted or fished.
The next time you buy a bow or fishing rod from your local sporting goods store, a birdwatcher somewhere is benefiting (not to mention the birds).
Despite our conservation efforts, Mother Nature’s cruel side still rears its head.
Central-Iowa native Michael Weatherly was on the heels of this mainframe 6x6 for four years. After finding the buck’s remains last March, he suspects dry spells and EHD shortened its life.
One spring morning, Michael went to the 360-acre farm where he hunts to take down a ladder stand for an older gentleman who also hunts the property. While unhooking the stand, he noticed something white out of the corner of his eye.
“I went out there to take down his treestand, and as I went to pick up the stand I caught something out of the corner of my eye,” Michael said. “I looked up the hill, and there he was 100 yards away. I knew exactly what deer it was. He had crawled underneath a big evergreen tree with limbs that have branches hanging clear to the ground and died there. The only reason I saw him is coyotes drug him out from under the tree.”
The 64-year-old’s history with the buck began in 2019 when it was a 3-year-old. Michael nicknamed it Moose after it broke its nose in a fight during the rut as a 4-year-old. Michael says he dedicated more than 150 hours to the deer and knew exactly where it bedded, but couldn’t get within 100 yards of Moose because he was too crafty.
“Problem was, you couldn’t ever sneak up on him,” he said. “There are two big hills on my lease — on the south hill there’s a big patch of oak trees, and he’d lay at the very top next to this felled tree. He could see the whole farm if the wind was out of the south.
“If the wind was out of the north,” he continued, “he’d be on the opposite hill where there’s a big evergreen patch at the very top. This deer was always on the move and very smart. I was heartbroken to find him like this because of our history.”
Michael had the 18-pointer shoulder-mounted and fitted to a whiskey barrel. He took it to the 2024 Iowa Deer Classic in Des Moines to be scored and showcased. It won first place in B&C’s nontypical historical category at the show.
Buckmasters master scorer Joe Lautenbach got his hands on the rack recently and officially scored it at 214 1/8. Michael’s Marshall County buck was also good enough for the BTR’s #3 spot in Iowa’s deadhead category.
Both first circumference measurements posted matching 7 1/8-inch bases holding 25- and 26-inch main beams.