#65 ROGER WENDEL
#65 ROGER WENDEL Top 100 Santa Rosa Island Mule Deer Bucks
2010 was further evidence that MUM had figured out how to manage mule deer on Santa Rosa Island. As mentioned in a post yesterday, that year, we witnessed very average rainfall, and yet so many huge bucks were taken in 2010. Therefore, population control with removing a large segment of does while also having an aggressive management buck program had a large impact on trophy production out there. Roger was definitely one of the lucky receipients of our hard work. Again, I wasn't out there on this hunt-- I was running our Dye Creek deer hunt at the time. The earlier day, I was called by Roger's guide, Travis Christensen, and he asked whether Roger would be able to shoot a second buck during his hunt. He almost begged me to let him continue hunting. They had seen this buck late in the evening, and wanted to go back after it. After some discussion, I told Travis that they could hunt, but could only shoot the particular buck they had seen. Well, they got up that morning (the last morning of the hunt), and through some luck and skill, they were able to get this buck. They barely had time to get Roger on the plane, a big reason why the backdrop of this photo is the ocean near the skinning shed. Roger also shot a very cool, gnarly buck that was a 190 class buck earlier in the hunt.-- G. Long
