"When I first raised the rifle and looked through the scope, I couldn't locate the buck. Then George pushed on the barrel so it pointed to the spot where the buck now stood. At the same time, I was having a hard time holding the gun still because of my heavy breathing. When I finally found the deer, I touched one off real quick. At that point, I wasn't sure if I missed or not because we lost sight of him.

"A few minutes later, George spotted the buck walking through heavy brush near the top of the ridge. Because the deer was walking, George surmised I had wounded him. As soon as he cleared the brush, I held on his body and touched off another shot. He disappeared immediately, and none of us knew if he went down or not. George and Albert thoroughly glassed the area and couldn't find the buck. They ranged the distance of my shot at 324 yards," said Remmert.

"Now we had a decision to make: Should we wait a bit before heading over there, or should we stay put a while to give the deer time to die. Albert suggested we head back to camp, eat breakfast and return later. I told him there was no way I was leaving that buck until I knew if he was dead or not, even if we had to wait a couple hours. So we decided to just sit and wait.

"We hadn't waited more than 10 minutes when we spotted two orange-clad hunters walking up the ridge, headed toward the exact spot where my buck had disappeared. Right then, George realized we had to take action. He started whistling and hollering at the other hunters to get their attention. Then he took off down the ridge at a run, hoping to head them off, and I followed at a slower pace. In the meantime, Albert remained back so he could watch, in case the deer showed itself.

"We got to the hunters in time. And while George explained what was going on, I anxiously paced back and forth. The waiting finally got to me, though. I left George and the hunters and walked along the ridge. My dead buck lay less than 50 yards away. If the two hunters had continued on, they would have nearly stepped on him. Once I let out a few whoops and hollers, the others came over to see my trophy.

"I was pretty proud that my off-hand, second shot had hit the deer right at the base of the neck, which is where I had aimed as he walked up the ridge," Remmert said.

The wide 4X4 typical antlers, with a spread of 28 inches, green-scored 173.