Last December, the Boone & Crockett Club published a photo on their Trophy Watch web page of a breeder buck said to be worth $1 million. In a cyber-second, the photo spread through hunting sites and blogs, and all were amazed at the antlers scientific breeding and nutrition could produce—but a deer hunter is unlikely to see a buck like that in the wild.
In the natural world, gene pools of whitetail deer from far and wide have intermixed with indigenous populations resulting in tremendous genetic variation. Consequently, there is a wide variety of antlers from spike bucks and typicals, to the monstrous non-typical bucks of hunters’ dreams.
That is the dream Kevin and Tracy Calmes are making a reality at Antler Valley Whitetail Ranch outside Kaukauna, Wisconsin. The husband-and-wife team started raising deer in 1999. They are creating a herd of super deer, selecting whitetail bloodlines they are hoping will create bucks with trophy antlers.
Kevin explains, “What we can do here, that you can’t do in the wild, is breed a mother that is throwing a big typical [rack] to a buck who has a heavy, massive rack. When a doe comes into heat in the wild, she is usually surrounded by four or five bucks. She needs to choose the best buck. While the biggest buck is busy fighting off other bucks, another buck will come in and breed her. So it’s very rare that you get a good genetic line in the wild.”
The Antler Valley Whitetail Ranch is a trophy in itself. With the help of the Straight Line Fencing Company, they designed and built an amazing fencing system. There are 105 gates throughout, plus two miles of exterior fencing. The maze of alleyways, grassy paddocks, and pasture is phenomenally efficient and safe with double gates designed to turn alleyways into sorting and holding pens. Deer are calmly funneled through alleyways into the indoor handling facility. There are no 90-degree corners where deer could feel trapped. The walls are lined with smooth sheeting. At the end, the deer enter a squeeze chute where Kevin, veterinarians, and artificial-insemination technicians can treat each deer with minimal distress to the animal.
The deer are gently handled from the moment they are pulled from the doe to be bottle-fed. Kevin says that even though this is a business, it is also very much like raising pets. A lot of love and compassion go into raising these beautiful animals. Kevin and Tracy love their work. “They become a part of your family. Bottle-feeding is a lot of work, but it’s worth all of the effort because we enjoy the benefits that come from it. I don’t want to sell a doe that has an exceptional pedigree, and therefore is high in value, only to have it hit the fence because it is afraid of people. We love that we can open a gate and let them walk right out. They’re not bouncing off the fence, which is good, because they can easily break their neck. Their health and well-being is our main concern.”
