The morning of Dec. 2, 2006, was a bitterly cold day in the woods for Tim Marta even though it was also his brother Steve's birthday. The wind was blowing from the west, which added to the chill. Tim was hunting from the same stand that Steve had been in the year before. After a muzzleloader mishap in which the percussion cap exploded but the powder had not, Steve had watched helplessly as a monster 10-pointer that had been directly under his stand had run off without a scratch.

Now, one year later, Tim was back for more action. By 530 a.m., he was quietly sitting in his tree stand. At about 7 a.m., Tim heard a deer jump the creek and break through the ice about 150 yards away. The deer took a few steps and stopped every few minutes. This continued for a half hour until Tim finally saw a deer's body.

As he got his binoculars on the big whitetail, he knew immediately that it was a shooter. The buck was about 80 yards away standing behind some brush. As soon as it cleared the brush, Tim pulled back the hammer and fired. Smoke blinded his vision. Tim heard the deer take several bounds and then he heard a crash. Not knowing where he had hit the deer or even if he had hit the deer at all, he quickly reloaded. After dropping 3 primers on the ground because he was shaking so badly, he finally got one on. He then decided to wait 30 minutes before following up on the shot. It was the longest half hour of his life. Finally he climbed down and slowly start toward the spot where he thought the buck had gone down. It didn't take long to spot the deer on the ground. Tim's muzzleloader trophy was a main-framed 6x5.

The rack was later green-scored at 151 inches. "This was my most rewarding hunt ever," Tim said. "I got pictures of this buck in velvet back in August, and there's nothing like following a mature buck all season long and being able to harvest him!"

Next year I know where I will be hunting on my brothers birthday!!

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