Marc Kalbaugh writes, "My father in-law gave me this mount. As the story goes, his uncle killed this blacktail in Madera County, California out of Rock Creek above North Fork. The buck was taken sometime in the late 50's early 60's.
Apparently at the time, the Fish and Game or Fish and Wildlife service had been trapping deer and tagging them. Yep you guessed it....with the bell you see in the photo. It turns out that my father in-law’s uncle killed the deer with the bell on and when he validated his tags the Fish and Game were very interested in its markings.
I don't know about you, but I think the mount needs to be scored. It had been hanging in the family cabin for years before hanging it in his garage. He teased me for a couple of years that he intended to throw it away. I’m very much into taxidermy work, although I don’t do it myself, just dabbled a bit in college and begged him to give it to me to refurbish. Thankfully, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and he finally gave it to me.
I plan on getting it scored and creating a complete history on it. I don’t know about you, but that’s a buck from the old days! Having Hunted California for a number of years before moving to Idaho, I never saw a buck that big hunting in the same unit this huge blacktail was taken."