Mystery shrouds Minnesota deer
MINNEAPOLIS — It is one of the most impressive deer ever to walk the planet — a Minnesota whitetail with stunning world-class antlers that still provoke amazement nearly 20 years after they were found.
But mystery, controversy and some confusion also surround the so-called "Minnesota Monarch."
The 39-point "nontypical" buck roamed northeastern Minnesota in the late 1980s and early 1990s — apparently unknown to most hunters. Even now, long after its death, the story is not often told.
But it wasn't just another big buck. It was something very special.
The story goes like this:
A man who fed deer during the winter photographed the Minnesota Monarch and recovered its sheds in the winter of 1989-1990. The antlers were nontypical (or not symmetrical) and included a funky drop tine on its left side The massive rack scored a remarkable 310 under the Boone and Crockett scoring system, putting it into a class by itself.
"It's the world record nontypical," said Mark Miller, president of the North American Shed Hunters Club, based in Lyndon Station, Wis.
It's also the greatest set of whitetail sheds ever recovered.
Add its estimated 23C\,-inch inside spread — had the deer been killed or found intact — and it would have scored 334. That would have made it the largest nontypical deer on record.
"It's one of the greatest deer heads in the world," said Klaus Lebrecht of New Richmond, Wis., a taxidermist and maker of antler reproductions. He is one of the few people to have held the massive sheds in his hands.
Lebrecht bought the rights to reproduce the antlers from Stewart Valentine.
"The Minnesota Monarch is a true freak of nature," he said. "It's just one of those deer that happened to have everything going for him."
The tale began up north, with the man who first spotted the deer and fed and photographed it. He didn't want his name revealed back in the 1990s when word of the world-class buck became public, because he didn't want deer hunters flocking to his area.
But that happened anyway, he said.
"I'm sorry I didn't hide them. They brought too many people out and put too much pressure on the herd. The big bucks I've had here, they've killed all of them," said the man, now in his late 70s. "I'm not anti-hunter; they should just stay away from where people are feeding deer. That's not hunting."
(Deer feeding was legal then and is now, though the Department of Natural Resources has discouraged it in recent years.)
The man still doesn't want to be identified, but it's clear he's bitter about how things transpired with the Minnesota Monarch. He eventually sold the antlers but said he was never fully compensated in various agreements he made.
Still, he keeps a photo of the big buck on his wall. And he said he's never seen another deer like it.
"You're not going to see many like that again," he said.
