If what I’ve seen in the last couple of weeks is any indication, this is going to be an outstanding year for big bucks.

Last season was the best on record, and it began early. The first photograph of a huge whitetail to arrive in my inbox in 2009 – toward the end of September – came from Clay Tiringer in Saskatchewan. With a BTR score of 227 3/8 inches, that deer wound up taking our Golden Laurel Citation.

It’s usually well into October before the e-mails start flying. Already this season, however, I’ve received several. Here are the best, so far. If you or a buddy happens to shoot a monster, please send photos to me at mhandley@buckmasters.com. Be sure to include your name, date and location of harvest, weapon used and a telephone number.

The first great buck I saw this year was taken in Montana by Jackie Bushman. Our fearless leader skewered the 175 2/8-inch buck with an Easton Axis tipped with a Muzzy Phantom as it passed within 15 yards of his treestand on Sept. 8 – the first deer to be taken with his new Mathews Z7. Best of all, the hunt was filmed and will appear on our TV show in 2011!

A couple of great bucks were arrowed in Orange County, N.C., on Sept. 13. Friends Dustin Rimmer and Tim Warren made their shots three miles and 45 minutes apart. Can you imagine how excited they were?

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Have you ever been so focused on a distant deer that you were oblivious to - or unprepared for - one in your lap?

I made that mistake once. I was hungry for venison, determined to put down the first legal deer I saw, and I did. And when I shot that doe, the earth moved, trees swayed, I was struck mute and reduced to a mouth-breather ... while the largest buck I’d ever seen whirled and ran. He’d been right behind me.

And then there was the time I forgot all about a young 6-pointer a mere 15 yards from my stand, and it saw me draw my bow when a record-book 10-pointer was a couple of steps away from a broadhead’s kiss.

I know I’m not alone. I hear the stories.

Greg Sims has a good one with a happier ending. His is proof of what can happen when you’re able to think and act on the fly. He probably doesn’t snore either, but I digress.

The Arkansas bowman was hunting in Iowa in 2005 when he saw what he swears was a world-record Typical 500 yards across a pasture. He was willing to barter with the devil to gain the giant whitetail’s attention.

Greg smashed his rattlin’ antlers together in a Hail-Mary attempt to stop the buck with the wall of tines, but it never flicked an ear. Seconds later, his cell phone vibrated. A buddy was calling from Kansas to tell him that he’d taken a big 8-pointer.

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Doomed since I froze midway along 30-foot-high scaffolding at age 17, I might never shoot a monster buck. My fear of heights isn’t as paralyzing as it was 22 years ago, but even being called a wimp cannot force me to step onto a climbing stand.

Ladders and some fixed-position models accessible by tree steps are okay, but that took some doing. Most still give me the heebie-jeebies.

Why then, you might wonder, given that dozens of jaw-dropping bucks are shot from the ground (and ladders, and lock-on-type stands) every year, do I say my chances at a huge whitetail are slim or slimmer?

Because unless I begin taking steel or aluminum rods in the woods with me, I’m fairly certain I cannot imitate the noise that has piqued more than one dominant buck’s curiosity. I’m talking about the metal-against-bark sound of a climber going up a tree. It makes most hunters wince, but the racket apparently drives some bucks crazy. Seems they can’t resist coming in for a peek at who or what is destroying the furniture in their houses.

I’ve been told this too many times not to believe it.

If you have doubts, just ask Bill Collins, a senior analyst for the U.S. Army, whose going-away present for his recent Kansas-to-Massachusetts move wore a bow with 21 points.

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I know I’m opening a can of worms – or, to be more specific, a bottle of urine. But I’ve long been a fan of using deer pee to tilt the scales in my favor.

Now, because of the threat of spreading chronic wasting disease, several states are considering banning real deer urine. It’s already prohibited in Saskatchewan.

State wildlife agencies aren’t terribly concerned about hunters eating tainted venison, since CWD hasn’t been proven to affect humans. But they are concerned about the introduction of a disease that could infect native whitetails.

The reason for concern is that CWD is more prevalent in captive herds, and urine bottlers don’t go out into the wild and tap deer as if they were maple trees laden with syrup; their sources are penned. Plus, the disease is believed to be transmitted through bodily fluids.

To be honest, I don’t know who or what to believe. Because it is so effective, I’ll continue to use bottled urine until it’s made illegal to do so. My gut tells me that my little drops cannot possibly taint the soil beyond the few seconds it takes for them to evaporate.

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