The 9 Year Mystery - SOLVED!!!

Of all the deer stories I've come up with, heard about, and especially cared about, this one could top the list! So I have to start back 13 months ago. On March 30th, 2012, mom and dad and I went out for a perfect shed hunt day. Traces of snow remaining in the cedars, but cool enough to walk for hours on end - even for dad. We were reaching the end of a fairly long hike, when I heard my dad yell, "Hey Mitchell, come and look at this."As I hurdle-walked through the crazy cedars in a B-line for my dad's voice, he said again as I got closer, "I figured you'd want to see this." There in a little cedar hole (made by the void of cedar roots) lay what was left of a very hefty antler.
Dad's Monster Dinosaur - 3-30-12 from Mitch Haaby on Vimeo.

My mind was stretched in many directions at the same time; I know I had walked this area several times over the last few years, what the heck deer could this be from, and way to go, dad! He left it as it lay so I could get some pictures and a video, which I am now even more grateful for. He picked it up and we did some ooo-ing and aaahhh-ing. The thing that was so unsettling was the length of this giant browtine! The thing had to be 8 inches.
So that was where the story began. I was staring at the antler and I was trying to figure out where this buck could have went to. How long had it been laying there? Could I remember any bucks with huge brows being shot? That's when it hit me. This G2 had a very even fork up at the top, which reminded me of a buck a neighbor had shot back in 2004. I rifled through the pictures on my phone and was able to locate one of the mount of the buck. I showed it to dad and he said, "Oh yeah. No doubt."

So then I had to show the neighbor as I know he'd be thrilled to see it. If this shed was in fact off the same buck, it would've been from a 2003 or earlier rack - most likely 2003. That means that if it fell in the spring of 2004, it had been laying somewhere in these woods for 8 years! After closer examination, we concluded that there was no doubt it was a shed from the same buck. The main beams curled in really tight and weren't exceptionally long. That was the first twist in the story. Fast forward to this May, 2013. I had arranged to go for a walk in the woods with an outdoor writer for the Grand Forks newspaper. He owned a cabin up west of Pinecreek, closer to the Refuge. I knew the place, but had never been inside. I met him out there on a Monday morning - May 6th to be exact. He welcomed me and said, "Come on in." As I entered the little mobile home, I noticed a pretty respectable antler mounted to the wall and buried under blaze orange hats and vests right next to the door. Without even asking a word about it, I found myself compulsively removing the debris from this buried treasure. It was large enough, I thought it might be a cut-off. I glanced down to see that it was in fact a cleanly shed antler.

Simultaneously, I noticed a large fork on the G2 and lastly revealed a giant browtine. I thought wow, that's a pretty nice shed!

Too bad they just put screws through the mainbeam to secure it to a board. Because of our location, I was kind of assuming that it was found locally, but in the refuge somewhere. As I circled the desecrated treasure, I was able to look at the antler from a straight on angle and as usual, thousands of trail camera and other photos were filing through my mind when BAM!

It clicked. "Where did you find this antler?", I asked. "That's a funny story.", he said. "A couple of friends of mine were up grouse hunting from the cities and they found that thing over by Minnesota Hill."
"Seriously?" I asked as I saw the pieces coming together and began locking in on the reality of this mind-blower. "You know where that old overturned bus is?", he asked me. "Yeah!" I was getting closer. Now it was my turn to fine tune the questions. "2004 about?" "You know that sounds really close.", he added. "My dad has the other side!", I nearly shouted. I was sure of it! "You gotta be kidding me.", said.
I pulled out my phone and rifled through pictures until I came to the video of dad picking up the weathered side just over a year prior. I paused it on the frame where you can really see the browtine. "Boy that looks like a match alright!" He said amazed. I oo-ed and ah-ed for a while and we got to talking about life and how my folks were. I tried not to fixate on the antler hanging right above my head. We went out walking for sheds in three spots - two of them were great spots, with no luck. The entire time we were looking for antlers, I was trying to talk myself through how in the world I could come to possess this antler that for the last 9 years has been preserved in safe keeping only 7 miles from where dad found his side.
As we approached his cabin at the end of our time together, I figured it was now or never. "Ok, Brad, I've gotta ask ya - Is there any way you'd be willing to part with that antler, whether by sale or by trade?" He said he wasn't sure since he didn't find it and that it made a nice coat rack by the door. I told him that I had lots of antlers that could make really nice coat racks. I told him to think about it and that he didn't have to answer me right then and there. We took some more pictures when we got back to his place and I mentioned it one more time before I left, just casually. The whole drive back to town I was contemplating which antlers I had that I'd be willing to part with. I took a picture of three that I could think of and sent it to him and said, "Here are some possible trades." By this time, he knew that I was going to be persistent and that the antler obviously meant way more to me than it did to him. HE WAS RIGHT! He said, "I'll tell you what, you give me two of those three and you've got yourself a deal." "Done." I texted back. "Which ones." He chose the Chicago shed (measuring 63") and the Skime shed (measuring 58"). Two nice antlers, but to have the biggest shed ever found at Minnesota Hill was worth it. Id've given him all three. I figured as it hung on his wall that it had to break 70", maybe upwards of 74" or so. After we finally were able to make the trade one week later, I taped it right as I hopped in my truck: 78 7/8"!! This was an 80" antler if it hadn't been chipped. This was 20" bigger than the ones I gave up. There was even some remnants of cedar boughs on the backside of the mainbeam to confirm why this thing was able to be picked up in September/October and not be faded. Thank You CEDARS!

The unfortunate part was that I knew I would have to break the news to the guy who shot the buck in 2004. Of course he wanted the set really badly, but I told him I didn't think I'd be able to give them up. Having the set reunited was a pretty exciting experience. We really set dad up to for the big surprise. We got to talking about his antler and how great it would've been to see what it looked like when it was fresh. We went on and on about how massive and chocolate it probably was. I quickly ran out of the room and ran back and without saying a word just handed him the dark one. The suspense was thick! It only took him between 5 and 10 seconds before he locked in. This is the other side to the one I found! I helped him hold them side by side because he was just staring at the dark one.

After keeping them in suspense to the remainder of the story, I told them all about it and how there was a much bigger reward to the GF paper article than the actual article - although that turned out really well, too. What a tremendous story that I don't know how we'll top it. Maybe if I had shot the buck and then all this unfolded. Maybe someday the neighbor will find sheds of a buck that I shoot and it will be a complete story, where everybody gets what everybody wants, but as for now, it will remain a little lopsided. I'm ok with that.