HAYWARD Central Wisconsin realtor Brian Ruesch specializes in buying and selling hunting land, so he knows more than a little about deer. Thats why he didnt hesitate to purchase the mounted head hanging on the cabin wall of the property he was appraising before an estate sale a few years ago. Now, Ruesch would like to know if anyone knows the story behind the big, atypical buck that scored 215 inches and won the Best of Show at the Open Season Sportsman Expo held at Wisconsin Dells.
The owner of the property near Necedah who made me the offer said her father-in-law purchased it back in 1960 when he saw the horns at a garage sale, but she had no idea where that was at. He obviously knew he was looking at a unique deer at the time. This means that mount had been hanging on that cabin wall nearly 65 years before I came along, Ruesch said, so were trying to backtrack the history of it from that 1960 garage sale purchase.
Ruesch found a few clues after he took a closer look at the mount.
Id gotten started on removing the head from the wood backing when I saw the taxidermists name and address stamped on it, Ruesch said. I saw it was mounted by a Karl Kahmann, who owned Aardvark Taxidermy Studio in Hayward, so I did a little research hoping to find out more about the buck.
Rueschs research paid off. He found the taxidermists 82-year-old grandson still lives in Hayward. Better yet, hed worked in his grandfathers shop during his high school years.
I was born in 1944, said Howard Morgan, Kahmanns grandson, and I was really close to both my grandparents. They moved up to Hayward from Chicago in 1925, where hed been curator at the Chicago History Museum. I worked with him growing up; Ive got a lot of good memories of those years.
While Ruesch appreciated his latest purchase, he didnt realize what he had until a friend and certified scorer convinced him to bring the head to the Open Seasons Sportsman Expo held in Wisconsin Dells.
This is the biggest deer show in the Midwest, and I knew this was a special deer, said Marlin Laidlaw, who started scoring bucks in 1977 and became certified for the Wisconsin Buck and Bear Club in 1980.
I had to talk Brian into bringing it to the show; I know hes glad he did now. The taxidermist who mounted this buck knew what he was doing. You just dont see many bucks over 200 inches. There werent a lot of taxidermists in those years, but Wisconsins always had good ones; thats because were a deer state. We kill more deer each year than some states have.
Ruesch was glad he listened to Laidlaws suggestion to bring the buck the deer show; the buck won the coveted Best of Show Award.
Ruesch is hoping someone, possibly a family member, recognizes this buck with the distinctive nontypical rack.
People whove examined and measured many bucks think that although the mounts been in a central Wisconsin cabin since 1960, it likely came from northern Wisconsin, probably is from the late 1920s or early 1930s, Ruesch said. One reason we think it came from that era is the unique base the bucks mounted on, including the mirror, is indicative of deer mounts from those days. The other reason is thats where most of the deer in Wisconsin were during that time, but thats not the case anymore... Its more likely it came from the counties along the coast of Lake Superior.
Ruesch knows the history of this impressive buck and the unique base its mounted on from 1960 to the present. Now hes hoping someone will be able to fill in blanks on the history of this impressive deer, likely shot nearly 100 years ago in far northern Wisconsin.
