Roger Maes knows he’ll recognize his grandfather’s nearly century-old trophy buck whether it’s in online photo galleries, hanging in a Northwoods tavern, or fully restored and displayed at a giant hunting/fishing store.
But the Madison resident hasn’t seen the buck for over 30 years, not since his grandfather sold it shortly before dying in 1993. Maes is just going off childhood memories and an old photograph whose top-left corner is peppered with thumb-tack holes. The photo shows the buck’s decrepit shoulder mount and 18-point, coffee-colored rack flanked by two old snowshoes on his grandfather’s basement wall in Niagara, Wisconsin.
Maes hopes to find someone who’s seen the antlers so he can get them replicated for his family’s posterity. He also hopes a $500 reward might produce the needed video or photographs showing the rack’s unique traits…