On Oct. 28, 2002, after Don Dolan watched the 21-inch 10-pointer come down his scrape
line in Houston County, Minnesota, the archer lined up a seven-yard shot — only
to see his arrow hit a limb and miss the deer! Fortunately for Don, a nearby flock
of hen turkeys distracted the buck, and the hunter was able to nock another arrow.
This one flew true, killing the 190-pound public-land deer.

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Dorothy Day and her son, Wayne, shot their big Missouri bucks exactly one year apart,
during the general gun season. On Nov. 18, 2001, Dorothy used her .30-30 to down
her 12-pointer, and on the same date in 2002, Wayne fired the same gun to claim
his 10-pointer. Both bucks were with does when shot.

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If you never rattle before November, you might be missing out. Just ask Brian Watson,
who arrowed this big Michigan 10-pointer on the morning of Oct. 7, 2003. After a
short rattling sequence the Cass County buck came in to investigate, and Brian made
good on his 35-yard shot. The Cass County trophy has a gross score of 142 inches.

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How did Harry Gruber get this nice 170-pound 8-pointer on heavily hunted public
land in Minnesota? By trying his luck after the big wave of pressure had subsided.
On Friday, Nov. 21, 2003 — last weekend of gun season — there weren’t nearly as
many hunters afield as earlier, and the deer had settled back into a more normal
pattern. Harry caught this rutting buck out looking for does on that chilly morning.

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A weather change can make for great hunting. Here’s the evidence, in the form of
a high-racked 8-pointer Danny Kollenberg shot in Jasper County, Georgia, on Nov.
28, 2003. It had rained all the previous day and night, then ended just as Danny
and hunting partner Sue Giddens entered the woods in late morning. By the time the
hunters had their climbing stands set at noon the temperature was dropping quickly,
and at 12:30 the 170-pound buck walked into range of Danny’s 7mm Rem. Mag.

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Ethan Pope lives in Memphis, but he hunted Missouri to get his best whitetail to date. The 130-inch 8-pointer was taken on Nov. 15, 2003, during the Show Me State general firearms season. Ethan used his 7mm Rem. Mag. to drop this beautiful buck.

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Russell Feller was just 15 years old and in only his fourth year of deer hunting,
but he did everything right during the 2003 Iowa archery season. After using a rattling bag to call this 250-pound 10-pointer to within range of his stand on Nov. 9, the
young sportsman made good on the 35-yard shot.

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You don’t hear a lot about the trophy bowhunting potential in New England, but the region has really come on in recent years. Bill Haney provided more evidence of that on Oct. 30, 2003, when he got this 196-pound Massachusetts 9-pointer. Bill watched the deer for 15 minutes before getting the shot he needed.

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It would be hard to hit an antler tine on purpose at 266 yards, but Tim Elsenheimer found that easy to do by accident. At 6:15 a.m. on Nov. 17, 2003, as he was watching a field in Maine, a “hot” doe emerged at long range and began to feed. She kept looking back into the timber, and finally Tim was able to coax this big buck out with some grunts. Although the first shot was fatal, the buck kept walking, so Tim fired twice more. The second round hit the 6 1/2-year-old buck in the neck; the third blew off a back tine. After two hours of searching, Tim found the lost tine 40 feet from where the deer fell! With the tine in place, the rack scored 130 inches.

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Mike Myers was hunting on close friend Scott Kempley’s family farm in central Wisconsin when he downed this 203-pound 8-pointer. The 159-inch trophy chased a doe past Mike’s stand on the third afternoon of the 2003 rifle season, and the hunter’s .30-06 had no trouble handling the 80-yard opportunity. According to Mike, a number of other trophies also have come from this land in recent years. “We have proved quality deer management will work,” he says.

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Robbie Burrows used a 7mm Rem. Mag. to down this 132-inch 8-pointer on the Rock Pile Ranch near Del Rio, Texas. The 180-yard shot was made at 4 p.m. on Dec. 18, 2001. The symmetrical rack has an 18-inch spread.

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Steve Hacker’s 2003 Ohio bow season took a happy turn when a “hot” doe lured this impressive 13-pointer to his stand in a wood lot. It happened in late afternoon, near a partially picked cornfield. The doe ultimately brought the buck right down the woods edge, presenting Steve with a 25-yard broadside shot. The deer’s basic 5×5 frame has an unofficial “green” score of 153 7/8.

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On Nov. 15, 2003 — last day of Pennsylvania’s early bow season — Frank Gibilante Jr. was walking home when he spotted this rutting buck hot on a doe. Frank quickly nocked an arrow, and in short order the great buck was down! The deer had an estimated live weight of 285 pounds, and the rack is just as impressive: an inside spread of 24 2/8 inches, 26-inch main beams, a gross score of 160 and a net of 150 4/8. Curiously, in addition to his big 5×5 rack, the deer has two abnormal points growing right out of his skull, rather than from the main antlers!

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Ohio’s Jodi Sheppard won’t have any trouble recalling her first whitetail. It was a piebald buck — and she actually got him with a borrowed crossbow! Jodi had hunted a couple of years with shotgun and muzzleloader but had never been given a shot opportunity until this special Knox County deer worked his way to within 20 yards of her platform stand during the 2003 archery season. “To say the least, this is something I will always remember every detail of,” the hunter notes. “I have received numerous comments and am being referred to as ‘the deer lady’ in our town.”

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As Shane West sat on stand on Nov. 16, second day of the 2003 shotgun season in Parke County, Indiana, he actually had a trail-camera shot of this big 10-pointer stuck under his cap. At 11 a.m. Shane’s wife, Amy, left her stand, and in doing so jumped the buck, which was bedded in a thicket with a doe. Shane’s hoped-for trophy then passed within 20 yards of his stand, and the happy hunter downed the 185-pounder!

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On Nov. 10, 2003, Kevin Wong was bowhunting in western Kansas when he heard two bucks start clashing antlers. As soon as Kevin pulled out his Primos Great Big Can estrus bleat call and made two calls, this huge buck came running. The archer made good on his 24-yard shot opportunity, and the result was a 9-pointer scoring 162 points.

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Many hunters believe it’s impossible to bag big whitetails on public land in the South. Adam Wilson thinks otherwise. On Nov. 8, 2003, he got this big 8-pointer near Bradley, Arkansas, while hunting on Lafayette County WMA. The impressive opening-day gun kill has a 17-inch inside spread, and the deer weighed 225 pounds on the hoof.

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Iowa’s Rachel Swanke is only 10 years old, but youth didn’t keep her from taking this great 9-pointer, which she calls “Meatloaf.” Rachel arrowed the impressive buck on Oct. 16, 2003, after her dad, Chris, rattled the deer to within just 5 yards of their tree stand. Although Rachel’s arrow kept slipping off the rest as she tried to aim, she finally was able to put the broadhead right where it needed to be.

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At 7:45 a.m. on a misty November day, Wisconsin’s Kurt Kwiatkowski decided to check his trail camera after a short bowhunt. Kurt had put the camera back in place and had taken perhaps five steps when he looked up and saw this big 12-pointer standing not far off, nibbling on some branches. After hastily stepping behind a nearby tree for cover, Kurt drew his bow and made a great 25-yard shot on the buck, taking out the top of the heart and bottom of one lung. The rack has a 20-inch outside spread, 7-inch brow tines and 6-inch bases.

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Mike McArthur hunted out of guide Billy Meekins’ Nova Scotia camp in 1986 and was glad he did. On the morning of Nov. 6, Mike was watching a scrape when this 185-pound 11-pointer walked to within 30 yards. The hunter’s 7mm Rem. Mag. dumped the big buck, which has a gross score of 161.

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At the suggestion of friend Dean Varner, Bruce Gray decided to forgo stand-hunting on a windy Dec. 27, 1999. Instead, Bruce would still-hunt his way across his family’s 250-acre farm near Orwood, Mississippi. And, it paid off — with a 140-inch 9-pointer that trailed a doe to within 25 yards of Bruce in a creek bottom. Actually, Bruce’s first two shots missed in the heavy cover, but the high wind apparently kept the buck from spooking long enough for a third shot to find its mark.