“Once In A Lifetime Find” In North Dakota

Rough Day

A day that started out with breakdowns and rain delays, for one man, like so many in the farm and ranch world can understand. We will call it a “rough start” ended with a buck story to tell for years to come.

Random Strike Of Luck

After a slower-than-desired start to a day of harvesting soybeans on Wednesday, October 13th, Bryan Ressler from Cooperstown, North Dakota (Ressler Land & Cattle) soon forgot his earlier struggles of the day. While making his first pass (or round) on the field with the combine, Ressler’s luck changed… or as he put it, “a random strike out”. There laying dead center in his path were the remnants of two beautiful whitetail bucks with entwined racks. The bucks racks must have become entangled while fighting, which led to a sad death most certainly. All that remained of the carcasses were the skulls with antlers attached as coyotes had dragged off many of the bones.

Once In A Lifetime

For hunters and outdoors enthusiasts in general, it is rare to actually see two live bucks physically battling. To find actual bucks locked is a “Once In A Lifetime” event. According to Bryan Ressler, his brother, Mark Ressler and a neighbor knew of the two bucks so much as to have named them “Whitey” and “High 5″ as the men had multiple years of trail cam footage. They had watched the buck “Whitey” grow from a 5 x 6 over the years to a 6 x 7 and had been wondering why they had not seen “Whitey” or “High 5″ in quite a while.

Crazy Luck

For many hunters and outdoors enthusiasts “shed hunting” is an activity enjoyed leisurely. Part of the fun is yes, finding these deer antlers left by the “Big One” that got away, but then also being able to pattern the bucks as they grow by comparing trail cam footage or actually crossing paths. The fact that the Resslers knew of these 160 class bucks, had past footage and then to find them in an unlikely place, a soybean field is Crazy Luck as these bucks easily could have been in the trees or near the lake. ND Game & Fish is working with Ressler to get the proper tags and he plans to have the find mounted.

Congrats, Bryan Ressler on this “Once In A Lifetime” find! Definitely a heck of a story!

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