New MI B&C record buck?

[Scott M]

Unexpected find may put Clinton woman in record books

by Dennis, Pelham

Adrian Daily Telegram

April 5, 2010

CLINTON, Mich. —

A Clinton-area woman with no interest in hunting has become famous among Michigan deer hunters.

When they learn her name they say, “You’re the lady,” said Sharon Weidmayer. She then pulls out a batch of photographs she carries with her to show people what the monster buck she found looks like.

“You look at it and I’m amazed every time I see it,” she said.

If the preliminary score of the 26-point antler rack holds up, Weidmayer will hold the Michigan record for biggest buck in the Boone & Crockett books. Scorers from that organization and Commemorative Bucks of Michigan are to drive down within a week or so to take official measurements.

After Weidmayer came across the deer carcass Feb. 8 on her 10-acre property on Matthews Highway, friends called in a certified scorer who calculated a green net point total of 247 4/8. After a minimum 60-day drying period, the antlers can be measured again for an official score.

The Michigan record is now 238 2/8 Boone & Crockett points.

The head mount will be measured at what Weidmayer calls “an undisclosed location” where a friend is keeping it for security reasons, she said. What will become of it after that has not been decided, she said.

Weidmayer said she actually gave the deer to Ron Waldron, a friend from the Manchester area who is a deer hunter.

She thought of Waldron after coming across the dead buck on her property while walking her dog. Weidmayer said she recalled Waldron being disappointed at missing a 10-point buck last fall. The antlers on the dead deer she found in the snow were probably an even better trophy, she thought.

“I realized it was big. I knew it was at least a 10-point,” she said.

When she went back with Waldron for a closer look, she said, they discovered how big it really was. Waldron joked it was an elk.

Waldron’s son-in-law, Mike Guenther, called authorities to start the process of certifying it for the state record books. The find has been written about by Field & Stream magazine and other hunting publications.

“No, it’s not something I ever expected,” Weidmayer said of her sudden fame in the deer hunting world.

Weidmayer said she will not start carrying a gun or bow while hiking on her property. And she has never given permission to anyone else to hunt the land during the 12 years she has lived there.

Only one hunter has asked permission to visit her land since news got out of the record buck, she said.

“Right now, my answer is no,” she said.

But there may be more trophies in the neighborhood. A neighbor’s daughter took pictures of deer last year, she said, that include a buck with an enormous rack like the one on she found.

“If it’s not him,” she said, “then there’s another one out there.”

[perchking]

Wait there are bucks in Michigan? Oh that is in the Lower part of the state, makes sense now.