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The end result of Dave Beckman's world record nontypical deer find is in. Dave ZERO MDC 1 Million plus.
Why would anyone play by the rules now?
North County man who found record deer goes unrewarded
By TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
3/15/2003
When St. Louisan Dave Beckman spotted a large deer with strange antlers lying dead against a fence in north St. Louis County the morning of Nov. 13, 1981, he might have been looking at fame and fortune.
Today, the head mount of that deer, with its antlers listed by the Boone and Crocket Club as the official world nontypical record, hangs in the Jefferson City headquarters of the Missouri Department of Conservation. The department has reaped a bonanza of publicity from showing reproductions it had made and selling images.
Now it plans to make 50 reproductions of what has come to be called The Missouri Monarch. The copies will sell for $5,000 apiece.
Meanwhile, because the law of 22 years ago had no provision that would have allowed him to keep the deer, there is no fame or fortune on the horizon for Beckman, 50.
Antlers worth a $1 million
The plaque under the mount in the lobby of the department's headquarters reads:
WORLD RECORD - Non-Typical White-tailed Deer Antlers - Score 333 7/8 - found in St. Louis County, Missouri - November 15, 1981 - By Dave Beckman and Michael Helland
Helland, a longtime conservation agent in the county, says he never claimed he found the deer. After Beckman found it, he asked Helland to help him retrieve it.
The value of that mount has been estimated as high as $1 million. It may have been worth that to Beckman over time, given the number of deer shows held around the country and today's ridiculously inflated market for deer trophies. Here's what Eric Sharp, outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press, writes about antler value:
"The world-record rack can earn its owner $1,000 a day plus expenses for displays at sports shows. Additional money can come from selling T-shirts, hats and posters bearing images of the animal. Experts have estimated the world-record deer would be worth $150,000-$200,000 a year."
Where the deer was found has been a fairly well-kept secret. Conservation Department officials feared hunters would flock to the area to hunt the offspring of the record buck.
Beckman found the deer just inside Pipefitters Union property in northeastern St. Louis County, along Strodtman Road across from what is now the entrance to the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area. Beckman lives nearby and farms under contract bottomland that was owned by the city of St. Louis in 1981.
It was about midmorning the second day of the firearms deer-hunting season, and Beckman was driving out of the bottom with a deer he had just bagged when he spotted through a chain-link fence something sticking out of the grass.
"It sort of looked like antlers," he said, "so I went over for a better look."
He saw a big deer with immense, strange-looking antlers, lying dead against the fence. He left it and took his deer home, rinsed it out, then went back to get Helland, who was checking hunters in the bottom.
A crowd gathered as they got the deer out onto the road. Helland said he didn't know enough about antlers then to realize that he was looking at the world record. He had heard previously from bow hunters that a big buck with huge antlers was living in the area.
After Helland hauled the deer away in his pickup, 1 1/2 years passed before Beckman saw the antlers again. The head had been mounted and the Department of Conservation was showing them proudly at deer shows and elsewhere.
Biologists say that the antlers are a one-in-a-billion fluke, probably caused by an early-age injury. The deer was aged at 4 1/2 years, in the prime of life. But it had missing teeth and bore scars on its jaw that might have been caused by an injury inflicted by a dog or coyote. It had been dead, probably, for less than 48 hours.
It apparently died while trying to jump over an 8-foot fence. All that hardware on its head might have contributed to the mishap.
For a time after the find Beckman was flooded with calls from at least eight states. The barrage, which caused him to get an unlisted phone number, came when people thought he had the deer. But under Missouri law in 1981 he had no right to it.
Helland, too, got many calls. Some were wild offers, he said, and some were threatening.
The calls to Beckman stopped as word got out that the Department of Conservation owned the deer.
In the mid-1990s the department got $21,588 for selling prints of an artist's rendering of the record deer when alive. That money was given to the Conservation Federation of Missouri to help pay rewards to people who report wildlife violations. The department gave a print to Beckman.
Recently, through its nonprofit Heritage Foundation, the department announced it was having 50 reproductions of the antlers made and was offering the reproductions to collectors for $5,000 apiece. The $200,000 or so profit that could be realized from the reproductions are to go to special conservation programs, too, the department said.
When word got out about the reproductions deal, a few people who knew that Beckman had found the deer started crying foul. Among them was Jack Russell, a north St. Louis County taxidermist. He called the Post-Dispatch.
But even if Beckman had found the deer under the present rules that allow people to claim, with a permit, road-killed deer for venison, he couldn't legally have taken it. The record deer was on Pipefitters property, and Helland had to get permission from a guard to open the fence.
And, Helland said, not even the Pipefitters could claim the deer because under the law the ownership of wildlife is vested with the state.
Recently, Beckman got word that he might, at last, have something grand to display on his wall. Department of Conservation leaders were planning to recognize him for his find with one of the 50 reproductions. That news, incidentally, came in the same week in which Beckman learned that a tumor in his brain was diagnosed as benign after surgery March 7.
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239
Why would anyone play by the rules now?
North County man who found record deer goes unrewarded
By TIM RENKEN, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
3/15/2003
When St. Louisan Dave Beckman spotted a large deer with strange antlers lying dead against a fence in north St. Louis County the morning of Nov. 13, 1981, he might have been looking at fame and fortune.
Today, the head mount of that deer, with its antlers listed by the Boone and Crocket Club as the official world nontypical record, hangs in the Jefferson City headquarters of the Missouri Department of Conservation. The department has reaped a bonanza of publicity from showing reproductions it had made and selling images.
Now it plans to make 50 reproductions of what has come to be called The Missouri Monarch. The copies will sell for $5,000 apiece.
Meanwhile, because the law of 22 years ago had no provision that would have allowed him to keep the deer, there is no fame or fortune on the horizon for Beckman, 50.
Antlers worth a $1 million
The plaque under the mount in the lobby of the department's headquarters reads:
WORLD RECORD - Non-Typical White-tailed Deer Antlers - Score 333 7/8 - found in St. Louis County, Missouri - November 15, 1981 - By Dave Beckman and Michael Helland
Helland, a longtime conservation agent in the county, says he never claimed he found the deer. After Beckman found it, he asked Helland to help him retrieve it.
The value of that mount has been estimated as high as $1 million. It may have been worth that to Beckman over time, given the number of deer shows held around the country and today's ridiculously inflated market for deer trophies. Here's what Eric Sharp, outdoor writer for the Detroit Free Press, writes about antler value:
"The world-record rack can earn its owner $1,000 a day plus expenses for displays at sports shows. Additional money can come from selling T-shirts, hats and posters bearing images of the animal. Experts have estimated the world-record deer would be worth $150,000-$200,000 a year."
Where the deer was found has been a fairly well-kept secret. Conservation Department officials feared hunters would flock to the area to hunt the offspring of the record buck.
Beckman found the deer just inside Pipefitters Union property in northeastern St. Louis County, along Strodtman Road across from what is now the entrance to the Columbia Bottom Conservation Area. Beckman lives nearby and farms under contract bottomland that was owned by the city of St. Louis in 1981.
It was about midmorning the second day of the firearms deer-hunting season, and Beckman was driving out of the bottom with a deer he had just bagged when he spotted through a chain-link fence something sticking out of the grass.
"It sort of looked like antlers," he said, "so I went over for a better look."
He saw a big deer with immense, strange-looking antlers, lying dead against the fence. He left it and took his deer home, rinsed it out, then went back to get Helland, who was checking hunters in the bottom.
A crowd gathered as they got the deer out onto the road. Helland said he didn't know enough about antlers then to realize that he was looking at the world record. He had heard previously from bow hunters that a big buck with huge antlers was living in the area.
After Helland hauled the deer away in his pickup, 1 1/2 years passed before Beckman saw the antlers again. The head had been mounted and the Department of Conservation was showing them proudly at deer shows and elsewhere.
Biologists say that the antlers are a one-in-a-billion fluke, probably caused by an early-age injury. The deer was aged at 4 1/2 years, in the prime of life. But it had missing teeth and bore scars on its jaw that might have been caused by an injury inflicted by a dog or coyote. It had been dead, probably, for less than 48 hours.
It apparently died while trying to jump over an 8-foot fence. All that hardware on its head might have contributed to the mishap.
For a time after the find Beckman was flooded with calls from at least eight states. The barrage, which caused him to get an unlisted phone number, came when people thought he had the deer. But under Missouri law in 1981 he had no right to it.
Helland, too, got many calls. Some were wild offers, he said, and some were threatening.
The calls to Beckman stopped as word got out that the Department of Conservation owned the deer.
In the mid-1990s the department got $21,588 for selling prints of an artist's rendering of the record deer when alive. That money was given to the Conservation Federation of Missouri to help pay rewards to people who report wildlife violations. The department gave a print to Beckman.
Recently, through its nonprofit Heritage Foundation, the department announced it was having 50 reproductions of the antlers made and was offering the reproductions to collectors for $5,000 apiece. The $200,000 or so profit that could be realized from the reproductions are to go to special conservation programs, too, the department said.
When word got out about the reproductions deal, a few people who knew that Beckman had found the deer started crying foul. Among them was Jack Russell, a north St. Louis County taxidermist. He called the Post-Dispatch.
But even if Beckman had found the deer under the present rules that allow people to claim, with a permit, road-killed deer for venison, he couldn't legally have taken it. The record deer was on Pipefitters property, and Helland had to get permission from a guard to open the fence.
And, Helland said, not even the Pipefitters could claim the deer because under the law the ownership of wildlife is vested with the state.
Recently, Beckman got word that he might, at last, have something grand to display on his wall. Department of Conservation leaders were planning to recognize him for his find with one of the 50 reproductions. That news, incidentally, came in the same week in which Beckman learned that a tumor in his brain was diagnosed as benign after surgery March 7.
Reporter Tim Renken
E-mail: trenken@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-849-4239
