Tom and Justin Bernklau
Posted By
Chad Lathrop
at
10/6/2009 12:00:00 AM
Tom Bernklau
has had a passion for hunting since his pre-hunting age of 12. He recalls staying up late for his Dad and older brother to return from deer camp with their success stories. Now, 30 years later, Tom’s passion has grown and includes his sons Justin, Dylan and Dakota. He will be teamed up with his oldest son, Justin, splitting time behind the camera with him. He lives in Southeastern Wisconsin and his love for the outdoors is reflected in his occupation as the owner of a Land Surveying company.
Justin Bernklau is a student at the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point and has been hunting since age 12. Until taking his first deer with a bow, hunting was only something he did when time allowed. After that fateful November day, the passion for hunting whitetails grew. Justin enjoys the time spent outdoors and the challenges found in the areas where he hunts. They hunt on private land near their home and on acreage they own in the central part of the state. Take a look at Tom and Justin’s hit list, which includes footage and trail camera pictures of some nice bucks.
Tom and Justin's Hit List
"RACK OF RIBS": He is a mainframe 12-point with 3 additional stickers. The Bernklaus only have three pictures of this deer from 2008. Justin was hunting the day of the 1st picture on Nov. 11th. He didn’t see the deer, but heard it grunting and chasing a doe as he walked to his stand an hour before light.
The photo confirmed that it was the deer. Last year’s approx score was 155+inches. They have yet to see the deer in 2009, but have high hopes that they will soon.
http://cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c0171041/JunkTrunk.flv
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450
273
"JUNK ON THE TRUNK": A basic 10 point with junk on the bases. Tom has a good 5 minutes of footage of this buck in late July until a coyote scared him off the bean field he was watching. They figure the deer will rough score in the 130’s.
http://cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c0171041/WideLoad21.flv
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"WIDE LOAD": He is an 8 point with a very wide spread and also a large body. Justin took a small amount of footage of this buck in late July. They got into position a little late that day. The wind was perfect and they were in a dark tree line, but the deer heard their movements and ended up running off. Approx score is 130 inches.
"TRIPLE T": The Bernklaus have multiple photos of this buck in velvet and hard horn. They expect to get more this year, but have none yet. Last year’s approx score was 135-140 inches.
http://cdn.cloudfiles.mosso.com/c0171041/ThePincher.flv
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"THE PINCHER 9": Tom took a minute of video of the buck chasing a doe in late October, 2008. At the time, his right side G3 was completely broken off. They also have multiple photos of the deer in velvet. With a clean rack last year (no points broken) he would have scored in the mid 130’s.
"X&Y": This buck showed up recently on Tom’s trail camera. The deer is a unique seven-pointer. He has a large fork on his right side and a normal large four point left side. He appears to be an older deer. They chose the name X & Y for this deer after the song by Coldplay. The letter “X” consists of four end points (hence his four point side). The letter “Y” represents his forked right side.
"BUMPY": "Bumpy" is a good deer for the situation. A high pressured area makes this very symmetrical eight point buck a trophy. He is believed to be 3 1/2 years old. He seems to hang around in an area that they call The Bump. It is an unusual hardwoods bump bordering some lower cedars. Bumpy showed up this year on a video trail camera. They also received one good photo of the buck in a nearby interior food plot.
