A GOOD DAY FOR DUCKS
Well before dawn on opening morning, Bart and James climbed into a two-man ladder stand positioned along the woods line bordering the two-acre food plot. During the night, a steady rain had begun falling, triggered by a strong cold front moving through the state that also drastically dropped temperatures. Sitting in the early morning darkness, the hunters felt the rain droplets intermittently change to sleet.

"The weather was absolutely miserable to be in, but on the other hand, it was great for hunting," Bart said. "Just before daybreak, we heard a deer on the opposite hillside apparently heading in our direction. Eventually the deer walked close enough for us to hear its breathing. Then it trotted on up the ridge. The deer was obviously big-bodied, judging from its dark outline in the opening, and I hated that James didn't have a chance to see it in the daylight."

After continuing to sit in the cold, wet weather until 10 o'clock, the hunters decided to return to camp to warm up and get something to eat. Around noon, Bart walked to a stand he had located earlier along a high hardwood ridge. James had opted to do some still-hunting with one of the Pickens brothers.

Positioned in a large cedar 30 yards out from the crest of the ridge, Bart had an excellent view of the hillside, plus two saddles along the ridge top. In the hollow directly below his location some 300 yards away lay the wildlife opening where he and James had hunted that morning. Although the earlier steady rain had now tapered off to a drizzle, strong north to northwesterly winds made the cold temperatures seem a great deal colder.

A DROP-TINED WONDER
About an hour after Bart got settled in the stand, a sudden flash of movement down the ridgeline attracted his attention. Within seconds, he spotted a very large buck. The deer was approximately 100 yards away. He was walking rapidly through the timber directly toward Bart's stand.

"One glance, even at that distance, and it was obvious that the deer's rack was huge," Bart said. "From that point on, my only focus was being able to get a decent shot opportunity."

Having hunted whitetails a number of years, Bart could tell from the deer's deliberate stride and quick pace that there was little chance of stopping it. Another important consideration was the property boundary. It happened to be less than 100 yards behind Bart's stand in the same direction the buck was heading.

"I knew I'd be in trouble if the buck somehow managed to get past me," Bart said. "However, in spite of the brisk wind, I was locked into a pretty steady shooting position. As the deer passed through a clear area on the hillside 60 yards away, I fired."

Because the hunter was located near the top of the ridge and 20 feet above the ground, his shooting angle was sharply downward. As a result, the bullet struck high on the buck's back, near the spine, dropping the big deer instantly.

"As the buck fell, its head flipped backward, and that was when I noticed the big drop tine for the first time," Bart noted. "I was excited to the point that I'm still not sure how I got out of the tree, but I know I was on the ground within seconds."

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