Darner page 12

D

D13er

Guest
Now there is a name I never expected to see in this story.......

JB




My Dealings With Darner

by Rich LaRocco, www.hunts.net

(continued from page 11)

"As an old newsman," he said. "This story really interests me. I'm going to do some investigating of my own, but next time I'm in Colorado, I'll look for those pictures and get back to you."

I soon realized that the buck was listed twice in the Boone and Crockett Club's book, Records of North American Big Game, once under Dean Naylor and once under Kirt Darner. Coincidentally, I knew Jack Reneau, who had recently started working full time for the club. Jack and his wife, Susan, had featured several of Darner's mounts in a book that he and his wife, Susan, had written, "Colorado's Biggest Bucks and Bulls." After the publication of that book, I had contacted Jack and negotiated to buy several boxes to sell out of my booth at sport shows. The Reneaus' book and Darner's book had been great sellers, and though they didn't pay for our show expenses, my associates and I made enough to pay for our out-of-town meals and a bit more.

As I suspected, Jack was personally interested in investigating the matter for the same reason I was -- he had helped publicize Darner and now he felt an obligation that the public knew the truth.

"I know where the negatives to those photos that were published in 1949 are," I told Reneau. "I'll give you all the information I have on Darner's buck under one condition. When you get the photos, I want 8x10 prints of those original photos."

I also mentioned a couple of other suspicions I had about two other trophies Darner had taken. One was a desert sheep that was also in the record book, and another was a so-called Coues deer that would have surpassed the No. 2 or No. 3 listing. I sent to Jack copies of the Housholder photo along with slides that showed the American Rifleman picture reversed.

Some time went by, and I heard that the Boone and Crockett Club had pulled Darner's listing of the Naylor buck out of the record book. I was disappointed that I was not supplied with the photos I had demanded, so I called Reneau. He confirmed that the club had decided to disquality the Naylor/Housholder/Darner buck and also mentioned that the club had decided to reject a whitetail that Darner had entered as a Coues deer and was also deleting his Arizona desert sheep from the record book. The club had called in several experts on Coues deer and had decided to consider the rack as coming from a regular whitetail unless Darner were to supply adequate proof that it was a Coues deer. The club ruled that the ram had not been plugged and, hence, was not considered a legal harvest.

I was disappointed to learn that the Boone and Crockett Club had no plans to remove the rest of Darner's record-class trophies from its record book. At the time the Pope and Young Club had a policy that any hunter who was shown to have signed a fair chase affidavit falsely would be banned permanently from entering any animal in its record book. My assumption that B&C had a similar policy was wrong.

"Well, if you change that policy," I said, "I have since come up with information that calls into question some of Darner's other trophies."

About this time I received a call from Doyle Moss, who was working at the time for Darner's Hunter Information Service out of Montrose, Colorado. A Utah native and now a nationally known trophy hunter and guide and a hunting video producer, Moss asked about Darner's legitimacy. "I've been hearing some rumors," he said, "and I wonder if they're true."

"Well, I think you could get all the proof you needed right there in Colorado," I replied. And then I went on to say that Charles Niehuis had the negatives he had made in 1948 and that Niehuis was in Colorado or was soon gonig there. "Why don't you call him and arrange a meeting," I said. "I'll give you his phone number under one condition -- that I get 8x10 copies of those prints."

Later Niehuis told me that Moss had contacted him. At first he was fearful that he might be ambushed by an person with loyalty to Darner. But he was impressed with Moss's tone of voice and apparent sincerity and decided to risk meeting him.

To be continued tomorrow with Niehuis's account of his meeting with Moss and copies of the pictures I had been waiting so long to see
 
Who Cares !! This guy is stringing you all along like little children waiting for your next fix of candy .
 
F--- you sheepshooter

JB

"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote."
--Benjamin Franklin 1759
 
Nice remark !! Class act .

The guy is alleged to do this and that bla , bla bla . You got something to say , say it . Don't play games .

But I guess even if he is a POACHER it will be probably be accepted " cuz he's a nice guy ". That's what folks around here seem to say .
 

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