"That morning I didn't see anything," Crawford said. "That evening, the big buck came through the woods with a doe and two 6-pointers and they began sparring. The big buck stepped clear of some limbs at 28 steps. I held the 20-yard cross hairs high behind his shoulder and pulled the trigger . . . and that's right where the arrow hit."

Several minutes later, the two 6-pointers and the doe walked back out to feed on the plentiful red oak acorns. "When I saw the deer come back, I thought that maybe he's down." When Crawford climbed down to inspect the location of the shot, he found the bolt had passed through the buck. "There was blood all down the arrow and one of the fletchings was torn off." He followed the blood trail for 100 yards before he lost it later that night.

"The next morning I was back on the trail at daylight," Crawford recalled. "I found 20 more yards of blood sign before it ran out." On Monday, the forlorn hunter started widening his search, and by the next day, he had a friend bring his Labrador retriever in to try one more time. After that, Crawford would begin his days with the same ritual: drive to McDonald's and order breakfast with a friend. Then, they would drive to a high vantage point near Crawford's home to slowly munch on their fast food and watch for circling buzzards.

Crawford's search continued for two weeks for the big buck to no avail. "I walked out on the back porch one evening and there he was standing in the back yard again," the dedicated hunter revealed.

His hopes renewed, Crawford hunted every morning and evening in various stand locations surrounding his home.

"I saw all kinds of things while I was hunting," Crawford recalled, "from coyotes to watching a squirrel spend two weeks building his nest. I watched bucks sparring. I made mock scrapes and watched both bucks and does come in and work them on a regular basis. When I killed a big 10-pointer Nov. 15, it was a big letdown. I thought I had killed the big one.

"During the juvenile hunt weekend, when hunting was closed, I saw the buck standing in the back yard with a 6-pointer," Crawford said. "The Monday after the juvenile hunt I had just climbed into my stand and was hanging up my bow when I looked and saw the big buck staring at me. He walked off and disappeared like a ghost."

By Nov. 30, Crawford had logged 187 hours on stand in pursuit of the big buck. That afternoon at 2 p.m., he climbed the hill behind his house to a white oak that was worn slick from so many trips up and down with a climbing stand. "I sat there reading my Bible till 3:30 and put it down to get ready," Crawford said. "About 4 o'clock, I saw him to the right of my stand." The buck was following a doe, but was in thick cover. "I stood up in the stand and had to squat back down to see under a limb to put the scope on him," he said. "I didn't like the setup and I thought I had waited too long to blow it again, so I passed the shot."