According to Marlin Laidlaw, a regional director with Whitetails Unlimited who lives in Marshfield, Wisconsin, and had much to do with collecting and documenting Joe Haske's story in the late 1980s, young Roger's mind was twice tricked into thinking the buck's huge rack was something altogether different because he didn't believe that any whitetail could grow such an enormous set of antlers.

"A lot of logging had taken place in the area during that time, and the roots of some of the large pine trees were the same color as a buck's velvet rack," Marlin explains. "Roger was out plinking one day when he saw the buck in the distance. At first, he thought the deer had a clump of pine roots stuck in his antlers. But when the buck turned his head, Roger realized that it was indeed the deer's rack! He couldn't wait for his father to come home from work so he could tell him about what he had seen!

"Roger next saw the buck as it was going through some woods," Marlin continues. "The buck was on the move, and at first Roger thought the now velvet-free rack was a flock of birds flying through the trees. It wasn't until he saw the deer's body that he realized the birds were instead a massive set of antlers!"

John Haske also saw the buck that summer and fall, as did Joe, while driving to work one day. According to John, one of their other brothers also saw the giant deer. Though they kept the buck a secret to the outside world, the deer was no secret to anyone in the Haske hunting party. The next sighting occurred on the night of Nov. 23, 1945.

"On the Friday night before the five-day season opened, everyone would gather at one of the brothers' homes and decide on where they'd go the next morning," explains Joy Bigelow, Joe's granddaughter. "It was just like holy week. Their minds were on nothing but deer hunting. It didn't do any good to ask them about anything else."

"We never did much shining, but I suppose we decided to go out that night because we knew the big buck was out there somewhere," John adds. "So we all piled into an old Model A Coup. We didn't have one of those fancy spotlights like some guys have today. Instead we had a 5-cell flashlight. He was easy to see, though. We found him standing on the edge of a field, not very far from the road. We figured he'd still be in the area the next day, so we planned to work that whole section."

A SPECIAL NOVEMBER HUNT
Joe's wife, Goldie, put the following entry in her diary about the next morning's history-making activities:

"Sat. Nov. 24 -- Got up 4:30. Men cleaned barn, left for deer hunting little before 6. I milked; they hunted around home. Joe got his (a big one -- 16 pt.). 7:25 a.m. Roger, Will & Frank got there's (sic). Will dragged his from across the road & hung it in the shed…."

The first drive of the day was to be conducted on a neighbor's woodlot. John, Herman, William, Joe and Joe's son Roger already had a game plan as to how they would proceed with the push. Joe was to make a long trip around the woods in order to get into his position as one of the three standers. Amazingly savvy for their time, the group realized that if Joe took the shorter route the wind would alert any deer that might be in the woods.

During the walk to his stand Joe ran into his neighbor, Joe Becker. The neighbor was out hunting himself, so Joe did the neighborly thing and stopped to talk for a few minutes. Before long, he excused himself and resumed his trek.

Just shy of reaching his position on top of Speed Hill, a hill named for the speed in which the deer blew across it when pushed, the combination of a big breakfast and long walk became too much. Joe had no choice but to stop again and heed nature's call.

By this time Joe's younger brother, John, unaware of Joe's unavoidable delays, was well into his part of what was supposed to be a synchronized drive.

"I wasn't far away from coming out near the spot where Joe was supposed to be when I saw a deer slip under a branch in front of me," John reveals. "It wasn't more than a couple seconds later when I heard a bang."

A BUCK FOR THE AGES
Having finished tending to business, Joe was just cresting a hill when he saw the huge buck. Momentarily frozen in place, both hunter and hunted stood motionless in a stare down.

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