Dave Hackett of Waterloo, Iowa, arrowed this great buck in Des Moines County at 3:05 p.m. on Nov. 1, 2002. Here's how it happened, in the bowhunter's own words:

"I had been changing tree stand locations for five days straight, morning and evening, I was seeing several bucks at shooting time, but not one of them was what I was looking for. I was becoming a little dismayed. I can't say the weather was really cooperating either; it wasn't as warm as (2001), but in my mind it wasn't cold enough to get the big bucks chasing does during the day.

"Sometimes you start thinking to yourself that you must be doing something wrong. The mind starts going back over the countless articles and stories you have taken in and revisiting past experiences over the years. Then I remembered reading an article and talking with my hunting buddies, Mark Graham and Dean Duhl, about how sometimes big bucks could already have moved by shooting time. I decided to be in my tree at 2 p.m.

"I remember getting into the tree and getting settled down and comfortable at exactly 2:15. I laid my head back against the tree and mumbled, "Well, Lord what do you think? Have we done it right this time?" I sat there for the next few minutes, praying, I had my eyes closed, and then I opened them -- just in time to see this buck already in mid-air, coming over a fence I was 40 yards from. When he landed on the other side, he did not make a sound. It was like an Olympic gymnastics event in which the gymnast "sticks" the landing. It was amazing! He shook and twitched and then just stood motionless, taking in the timber before him.

"I knew I was going to shoot this deer if given the chance. But he started to walk down the fenceline away from me. I went into a panic. All I could see was the whitetail of my life walking out of bow range. I had to stop him somehow!

"I quickly went for my grunt tube, but the stupid thing was stuck down inside my shirt and coat, and all I could do was to hit a small, almost inaudible grunt. I thought, This deer is never going to hear this. Then, all of a sudden, his ears perked and turned toward me and he took a sharp right turn in response to it and started coming down a hill straight in front of me.

"I went to full draw with my PSE Concorde as soon as he made his turn and looked down the hill. I still had no shot. He was just moving too fast to get a clean arrow off coming down the hill. I kept waiting for him to get into an opening and stop or slow down just for an instant, but no such luck. He passed by the left side of my tree before I could get an arrow off. So, still at full draw, I backed to the edge of my tree stand and lean backward away from the tree in order to shift my bow at full draw to the other side for a shot. (This would have been nearly impossible had I not been using a “Biscuit”-type arrow rest and wearing a safety belt.)

"I don't think I had taken breath yet. My heart was pounding so hard I knew the buck could hear it. Finally, he started walking along a trail I had calculated to be 25 yards from my tree and downhill -- but brush and saplings would not allow a clean shot except for two shooting lanes.

"Missing the opportunity for the first lane, I waited for him to walk into the next. Unbelievably, he stopped in his tracks just before walking into the second lane and made a 180-degree turn (for no reason I could see, other than to make me pass out and fall out of my tree) and headed out again.

"I knew I only had that one lane left to let an arrow go before he'd disappear into the timber. Quick, I thought, grunt again. I did, no louder than the first time, but this time he heard it and stopped dead center in the middle of my last shooting lane. I already had my bow aimed there, and when he stopped, I let the string go.

"The shot hit both lungs, and the deer didn't go more than 30 yards before he twitched and fell dead in a ravine. After I knew he was down and was staying down, I finally breathed. I had such an adrenaline rush going through my system that when everything started to slow down, I couldnÂ’t stand up any longer. My legs got weak and started to tremble; I had to sit down before I fell out of my tree stand.

"The rest of the story is in the pictures, the continued shaking and trembling that took place in my body afterwards and the joy my hunting buddies and I had reliving the hunt and hauling this beautiful animal out of the timber."

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