Nate Olsen with the potential new Wisconsin state record non-typical whitetail. (Nate Olsen/)
“I think that’s the biggest f—king deer I’ve ever seen in my life,” is the first thing Nate Olsen’s buddy blurted out. Crass, maybe, but he had to say something because Olsen, a 33-year-old Wisconsin deer hunter, had lost the ability to speak. He could only point to a pair of massive deer deadheads (antlers still attached to the skulls), one of which was indeed the biggest he had ever laid eyes on. In fact, one of the bucks may very well be the biggest non-typical in Wisconsin history. During the rut, the bucks’ racks had become entangled in a fight and they died. Olsen and his friend found the two deer in Rock County while shed hunting.
“The Wisconsin (Department of Natural Resources) did a health test and both bucks were CWD- and EHD-free,” Olsen said. “The DNR estimated the death around Nov. 15, 2019, and I found the buck Feb. 1, 2020. The big deer was either 4 or 5 years old.”
Wisconsin’s firearm record for a non-typical whitetail was set in 1973 by retired game warden Elmer Gotz. He shot the 30-point, 253 0/8-inch (scored by the state’s Buck and Bear Club) buck in Buffalo County on a deer drive with a Browning 12-gauge. Interestingly, Gotz’s buck was initially scored 245 0/8 inches by the Boone and Crockett Club, because Gotz actually shot off one of the deer’s browtines during the hunt. B&C later acknowledged the original score because someone went back and found the broken tine.
Olsen measured the deer at 253 ¾ inches. (Nate Olsen/)
Olsen did his own measurement on the rack he found, and it came to 253¾ inches, which would just beat out Gotz’s deer. The official scoring will take place April 3-5 in Madison, Wisconsin, at the Outdoor Life/Field & Stream EXPO. So if you want to see this rack for yourself, this is your chance.
The second buck that was entangled with the potential state-record buck scored in the 160s. Olsen is taking both deer to Mersberger’s Rut, Strut, and Stream Taxidermy with plans for full shoulder mounts. He wants the bucks to be mounted as he found them. In order to officially score the bigger deer, the 160 will need to be removed. No one has been able to untangle the racks, so the smaller rack will be sawed off and then pieced back together before it goes on the wall.