Landon Wittwer: Mule Deer Sheds

World Record Mule Deer Sheds

A trip to Grandma’s house brings good luck!
by Landon Wittwer

It all started March 31st, a week after my twentieth birthday. One of my best hunting partners, Trevor Davenport, and I set up a trip to go visit my terribly sick grandma. While we were there, Trevor wanted to go see one of his new girlfriends – that part I can’t figure out. So, we headed out that night. We hung out with the girls, I watched Trevor get dumped, and then we headed off for bed in the back of the truck. Now, in case you’re wondering why I’m telling you about Trevor’s girlfriend, it’s because it was just a hint of how his luck was going to go the entire trip. So, as the sun crept over the top of my tailgate the next morning, April 1st, we headed into town to visit my grandma. My grandma was probably the worst I had seen her in a while, but we stuck around for a good hour or so to try to help comfort her pains.

After my grandma grew tired, Trevor and I headed out to find some horn. Shed hunting is our obsession. We really didn’t have much of an idea of where to go, but we got thinking back to earlier that year when we were calling coyotes and thought of a spot that looked alright – not great but alright. As we were driving up the road trying to find a spot to park the truck, we came across two old boys in a white Ford pickup. We asked if they were hunting horns. They told us, “No way. There are no deer out here, you two are crazy.” Nothing puts a damper on your hopes more than hearing the local boys tell you that they would rather look for uranium than sheds. However, lacking for better options, we headed out anyway.

Trevor and I filled our packs full of water and lifesavers and headed off on our jaunt through the hills. Right off the bat I started finding horns. Within the first hour or so I found four. Poor Trevor, on the other hand, couldn’t find a horn if it were to fall off the buck’s head as it ran ten feet in front of him. Trevor’s streak of bad luck continued; there was one shed that was no more than five feet away from him when I spotted it as he walked past.

About an hour or two later, Trevor and I came into an area that we both had decided really didn’t look too hot for sheds. We were trying to decide if we should turn around or make one more little loop through the buckbrush-covered hill. I wanted to give it a shot, Trevor didn’t. It took me a bit of persuading because Trevor really doesn’t like looking for sheds in spots that aren’t very thick. With the increase in shed hunting and the people with their paraplanes flying for sheds, we really have no choice but to look in the thick stuff. However, after our little chat, Trevor and I decided to keep going just a little bit more. As we wove our way through the brush and up over the hill, Trevor and I split directions around a small cedar tree. That, my friends, is where my luck came into play. Just as I lost sight of Trevor, I spotted them, the largest set of horns I’ve ever seen. I took off in a dead sprint, jumping sagebrush and dodging cactus with Trevor not far behind. As I looked at the sheds, I turned around without even picking them up and began whooping and hollering. I picked Trevor up like a schoolgirl and spun him around in a circle as I jumped up and down as excited as I could be. After that little scuffle, I turned back to the horns and picked them up in disbelief. I was speechless as Trevor hollered, “They’re 250 dude, this is freaking awesome!”

Instead of sticking around and pounding that area like we should have to find this year’s brownies, we decided that the St. George Sneekee expo was more important. The expo had a shed contest and we knew we would win it. So, we took off on a mad hike back to the truck. Once we got back, we started calling everyone we knew. First on the list was my ole man. When he answered I got out, “We found a monster dad, he’s way over 40 and he’s got points going everywhere.” Then my cell phone lost service. As soon as I closed it, my dad called me back. When I answered he said, “Ha ha, April Fools, nice try bud.” That’s when I realized that nobody we called was going to believe us. So, we decided that we would just have to show them.

As we headed back to town at about 85 mph, Trevor started adding up inches using his hand as a tape measure. We started coming up with 280 to 290 scores even when we were low-balling it way bad. We figured we had better stop guessing or we might be disappointed. So, we kept driving. I was still speechless at this point and I was having a really hard time keeping my eyes on the road due to the fact that Trevor was waving those horns to everyone we drove past like a rodeo queen. When we finally made it to the Dixie Center, the expo was still running. Trevor and I ran inside to enter the contest just to find that they had already closed it. People began rushing us like crazy. So, there we sat, two punk kids still in awe of what we had just brought in. We knew the sheds were big, but we didn’t know how big until we started pulling tape. When I started hearing people say, “He’s gonna be the new world record set,” my eyes got big and my jaw dropped. It was then that I thought to myself, “I’m the luckiest kid alive.”

BEHIND THE RE-CREATION
Shed Hunter: Landon Wittwer
Date: 2007
Location: Arizona
Points: 15×10 non-typical
Gross Score: 307 1/8 B&C
Net Score: 301 4/8 B&C
2008 King’s Mule Deer Calendar

Tale of the Tape

Number of points 15×10
Inside spread 24 0/8
Total deductions 5 5/8
Total mass 41 7/8
Total gross score 307 1/8
Total net score 301 4/8

Right Antler

Main beam length 27 6/8
Length G1 0 0/8
Length G2 18 4/8
Length G3 12 5/8
Length G4 11 0/8
Circumference H1 4 7/8
Circumference H2 5 0/8
Circumference H3 5 3/8
Circumference H4 5 5/8
Total 90 6/8

Left Antler

Main beam length 27 4/8
Length G1 0 0/8
Length G2 19 0/8
Length G3 12 1/8
Length G4 14 2/8
Circumference H1 5 1/8
Circumference H2 5 0/8
Circumference H3 4 7/8
Circumference H4 6 0/8
Total 93 7/8