For Iowa bowhunter Tim Huff the morning of Nov.10, 2006, proved to be windy and wet. By noon the rain had turned to snow. On a hunch, Tim decided to take his climber and hunt the middle ridge on a steep hillside. A bedding area used by does was located about 100 yards around the bend from where he planned to hunt. Tim hoped to catch a buck cruising the ridge on his way to check the bedding area.

Tim was in his stand by 3 p.m. "The wind was in my favor and by this time, the snow was tapering off," Tim said. "There was just enough snow on the ground to make any movement in the timber stick out like a sore thumb. About 40 minutes passed by and I decided I would do a calling sequence.

Right as I was pulling out my grunt tube, movement caught my eye. Eighty yards to my north a buck was coming my way. The trail he was on led exactly 20 yards in front of my stand. Once I determined he was a shooter I waited for him to cross behind a downed tree so I could draw my bow undetected.

"As he approached my shooting lane, I realized that my tracks leading to my stand crossed right over his trail where I planned on shooting. Luckily, if he spotted and scented my tracks, he would be perfectly broadside. Sure enough, when he got close enough, the buck noticed my tracks. His trot slowed to a creep and his nosed lowered to the ground. I knew if I didn't shoot soon he'd catch my scent.

"I grunted. He froze. I shot and connected. It was a good shot. He went 30 yards and dropped. I could see that he was down for good. Still shaking from my adrenalin rush, I calmly but quickly climbed down the tree. In a state of shock, I walked up on what was to date my biggest buck harvest with a bow. As a mainframe 6x6, he has 14 points including split G-3s on both sides. He gross scored 154 6/8 inches!"

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