I think it's finally starting to sink in just how big this buck is.

I was at the Little Mahoning Creek Watershed Association meeting last night when I felt my phone vibrate. I took a quick look at the display and it said “Zellman’s Taxidermy.” Well, unless Ron was calling to ask how my day was I knew this was the call I’ve been anticipating! As luck would have it, I had to drive right by his place on my way home so I arranged to pick the buck up.

He looked magnificent on the wall in the taxidermy studio. When you walk in and see that it’s your deer that stands out as the top dog, it’s a pretty precious moment. We chatted for a bit and looked at some of the other deer that were being mounted before I loaded up my mount and headed home. Thank God I have an understanding wife because I had poor Angela helping me rearrange my mounts for about a half-hour or so when I know she really just wanted to go to bed. What a good sport!

There is no question who the current "king of the wall" is.

It struck me how much bigger my Illinois buck is compared to my two Pope and Young bucks from PA. They’re all the same age, but they’re not anywhere near the same class. Angela and I discussed this for a while and we decided that you can’t really compare hunting at home to hunting in Illinois in terms of the quality of the deer. Taking down a mature buck in Pennsylvania is just as impressive as taking one down in Illinois in terms of the challenge, but it’s unfair to compare the physical characteristics of the animals.

A special thanks to Ron Zellman of Zellman’s Taxidermy for once again doing a great job, and in just two months. Ron has done five deer mounts and one bear mount for me, as well as four other deer mounts for my dad and brother over the last several years, and there is a reason we keep going back. I hope I’m making a trip to see him again next year!