Just when you thought Rompola-Gate was over D&DH resurrect the dead

I saw this on another forum and got a real kick out of it...........


I recently read an article by Dan Bertalan, who was one of the scorers that measured the Rompola rack. He is also the Marketing Director and PR man for the scent company that was associated with Rompola. Now take this for what it's worth but I found it very interesting. The article is in a magazine that is about 10 or 11 years old. It wasn't a main article but one of the shorter 1-2 page variety. Here's what was amazing. The article was about how Dan Bertalan and a friend fabricated a rack and attached it to a full body mount. Now the mount itself looked identical to what a deer would look like if it was freshly field dressed. They then proceeded to strap the deer to the top of the SUV and drove around the gather peoples impressions. Dan bertalan described the rack as being an eye catcher, very wide with long tines. There's a very small picture included with the article showing the deer from the back while it is strapped to the roof. It looks a lot like the deer Rompola claimed to have shot. I think the article was done as a joke and to see people's reactions to it. But what bothers me is this rack looks identical to the deer Rompola apparently took even though this article was written in the early 90's. Now doesn't something seem odd here? There is no doubt in most people's minds that this rack was faked. I can't believe there are still fools out there that are buying into this crap. Probably the reason dan Berataln is rehashing this B.S. in D&DH is it's getting close to archery season and its time to start promoting the products he is associated with. You may be interested to learn that it wasn't so much Mitch that was behind this hoax but rather the scent company that was promoting his "buck" as the next world record and taken using thier product. It's now widely believed that the Rompola buck was just an elaborate marketing scheme to launch "Buck Fever Synthetics"... Here's the story that has been circulating out there.

Once upon a time there was a deer hunter by the name of Mitch Rompola. Now Mitch was a very good hunter and was unemployed during most of the year so he had plenty of time to scurry through the woods looking for deer and deer sign. That was part of his success.

But being a good hunter wasn't enough for Mitch. Mitch had always had dreams about striking it rich someday and ripping off the local food bank wasn't going to cut the mustard so a plan was hatched. Mitch realized that people made a good living by displaying large racked whitetails, especially state and world records. Perhaps this was one way that Mitch to help his cash flow situation.

So Mitch set out to fulfill his dreams of being known as one of the greatest hunters of all time and spent countless hours in the field scouting and doing all the right things in order to find record bucks. Of course it didn't take long for Mitch to realize that not every tree has a record buck behind it and after several years of hunting had not managed to reach his goal.

Mitch just knew there had to be a way to make this work, but actually finding these huge bucks was getting to be too much like work, and Mitch was a professionally unemployed person and proud of it. So Mitch sat down one night and thought and though and thought. Finally it came to him. Why bother shooting a legitimate buck? Perhaps there is a way to fabricate a rack and make it appear real.

So Mitch began making long arduous journeys to the local library, where he diligently looked up information on how to make a rack that would look just like a real one. Of course Mitch also realized that he would have to establish his credentials so he fabricated several sets of record class racks and then pretended to "harvest" them over several years. Once his reputation was established as a consistent taker of big bucks Mitch's next phase of the plan kicked in. It was time to bring out the rack he had fabricated that would break the existing state record.

Of course when he did, because of his past accomplishments and reputation, no one questioned the authenticity of this buck nor was the buck ever verified as being legitimate. But Mitch's past "achievements" gave no reason for those entering it to doubt it's authenticity. Of course something was not right but Mitch was no mathematician. Mitch's limited intellect didn't realize that the odds of shooting all these deer made taking them as he said virtually impossible. But this fact would not come to light until the final master stroke of Mitch's plan was implemented.

After Mitch "took" the state record he was sorely disappointed to find that not only was fame elusive but the cash windfall he was expecting also did not materialize. He was no better off than before he began all of this scheming. Think Mitch, think. There must be a way. After all the guy who shot the world record is making a fortune. And then like a bolt of lightening it came to him. What if I were the one that had shot the world record. Then all of the fame and fortune that area associated with it will be all mine.

But Mitch ran into a stumbling block. He needed to bring someone else on board in order to not only promote this next record but someone that could offer him as lucrative side deal for endorsing their product with his buck. Enter Kevin Kreh and Dan Bertalan. Now Kevin was also just getting started with this scent company he owned and Dan was the company's marketing director. They believed their stuff worked but there were so many other scents out there, how could they get the word out to the hunting public that theirs was best?

As luck would have it Mitch and Kevin knew each other quite well and a plan was hatched. So prior to the buck being "taken" Mitch and Kevin along with Dan entered into a contract. Mitch trusted Kevin so he told him what had been going on and how they could cash in on it. So the plan was put into effect. Kevin and Dan realized that any buck his friend was going to take that year was not authentic but he also knew that by having his product associated with a world record would bring his company fame and fortune. Not only that Dan had many years ago written an article about how easuily people could be fooled by fabricating a rack and putting it on a full body mount. So what if a few hunters got duped in the process. What was important to both of them was the state of their bank account.

So the next year Mitch took what he claimed to be "the next world record typical" and Kevin and his scent company began to promote the buck along with their scent. It brought instant nation wide recognition to both mitch and Kevin's scent company. What neither realized was the scrutiny that the buck would be put under. After all none of Mitch's other bucks were ever challenged, why should this one? But in the back's of their minds they knew this might occur but they were prepared for it. After all it is only getting your name out there that counts. Isn't bad publicity better than none at all.

But as things began to heat up over the controversy both men began to realize serious flaws in their plan. First and foremost, it looked like the rack was about to be subpoenaed by the legitimate owner of the world record rack for examination. "Oh no, this can't happen. It will ruin everything we've "worked" so hard for the past few years" said Mitch. Kevin was in total agreement. An examination of the rack would not only prove it was fake but would also cause his scent company to fall into disrepute. What were they to do? The answer was obvious. Let the rack disappear into obscurity for ever (in other words make it vanish so nobody can examine it) and continue to promote it by word of mouth. After all they knew there would be millions of people there that would continue to buy the stuff. They got the national exposure to launch the scent and they knew people would continue to buy it regardless. So long as there wasn't any concrete way to disprove their claim they could continue on.

So the rack vanished, never to be seen again. But Mitch and Kevin didn't care. Their plan had worked. They had duped the hunting world into thinking Mitch had taken the world's record and were beginning to make money off of the product that was associated with it. There was no solid way to disprove their claim so anytime anyone questioned them, they would just say "jealousy" and a bunch of other things. To this day Mitch and Kevin are having a good laugh over how they pulled the wool over everyone's eyes. And they're laughing all the way to the bank"..........ANY RESEMBLACE TO ACTUAL PEOPLE IS PURELY INTENTIONAL

So if you want to believe Romopla and his croonies are the real deal, go ahead. It's your perogative. Myself, I prefer reality.