The Story Behind The Shed

It was early spring after the 1999 deer season when our dad set out on one of his favorite hunting traditions- walking in the woods searching for sheds. This particular year, he found a shed worth saving. An 87 inch shed that he could tell belonged to a special buck. 

When the 2000 season rolled around, he was very hopeful he would get a chance at that buck. His moment then came, but not how he’d hoped. The deer stood in-front of him about 40 yards away, but there was no clean shot.

Later that season, the buck stepped out of the woods for the last time, but on the neighbor’s property. The buck was harvested and officially scored 240 ⅜ inches, earning the title of Iowa’s new state-record non-typical.

Years later, we found the shed tucked away in our garage, not realizing the story it carried. After doing some digging, we learned that the neighbor’s 240-inch record buck is connected to the shed our dad found years before.

We found an old photo of the buck and compared it to the shed, it was clear the shed was from the same record breaking buck that was shot in 2000. The year before it was shot, the 87 inch scoring shed likely broke 200 inches when configuring the other shed and inside spread. 

The shed, once forgotten, turned out to be a link to one of Iowa’s greatest non-typical whitetails. This goes to show that every find has a story waiting to be told.