At the beginning of the 2007 season, 44-year-old Ron Ludwig of Lake City, Iowa, set his sights on getting another crack at a large buck that he'd had a close encounter with the season before. The buck in question sported a main-frame 6x6 rack that was bigger than any antlers Ron had ever seen before.

While glassing the huge 6x6 late one afternoon in the edge of a field planted in winter rye, Ron noticed that the buck walked by an old barn twice. Because of tough wind conditions, Ron later decided to hunt from the barn's loft. The idea paid off handsomely! (Inset) In November 2006, Ron's sister called to tell him about a big buck in her back yard. Ron rushed over and snapped one picture in the growing darkness before the buck disappeared.

A veteran bowhunter of 17 years, Ron had long dreamed about shooting a deer that would qualify for the B&C records. However, like most avid hunters around Calhoun County, Ron was painfully aware that bucks of this caliber were extremely rare.

Several years ago Ron sat down and evaluated his hunting situation, because a fair amount of the hunting ground around his hometown was being leased or bought up. As a result, it was getting harder to find and retain a place to hunt. Ron and several family members decided to get serious about trying to buy their own piece of "whitetail heaven." Ron had his eye on a 160-acre tract that he'd been hunting for a number of years. When it came up for sale, the family snatched it up.

From the very start, Ron and his family implemented an aggressive deer management program with a long-term goal of improving the habitat so that they could grow and retain bigger bucks on the property. It took several years, but all of the hard work paid off.

RENDEZVOUS WITH A GIANT
"The first time I ever laid eyes on the big 6x6 was back in October 2006," Ron said. "Deer of that size aren't that common in our area, so you can imagine how excited I was after spotting him in the field one night. I remember calling my brother-in-law, Perry Corey, who also hunts the property, to share the news. Needless to say, Perry got there in no time flat. Fortunately, the buck was still in sight, and we watched him from a distance until well after dark.

"I continued seeing the 6x6 buck off and on, but I never seemed to be in the right place at the right time. That is, until one morning in mid-November. My stand that morning overlooked the bottom of a deep draw. The first three hours after sunrise were slow. By midmorning only two small bucks and two does had passed through. However, around 10 a.m., I heard a deer walking down the draw behind me. When I turned to look, I was taken by surprise to see the big 12-pointer.

"I grabbed the grunt call and grunted twice, hoping to stop the buck and turn him around. It worked. Almost instantly he started up the draw toward me at a steady walk. When he got within 40 yards, though, he suddenly stopped. I'm not sure whether he smelled me or not, but apparently he sensed that something wasn't quite right. He never offered a shot, but instead turned and walked back the opposite way."

A few days later, Scott Benz, a neighbor, reported seeing the buck on his place. Scott had set up a tree stand for a friend who was hunting with him that week. The stand just happened to be in a travel corridor near the spot where Ron had sighted the big deer. As it turned out, Scott's buddy got cold and headed back to the house just minutes before the deer walked down the path.

page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5