Michael Montgomery was at wit's end by the time his bowstring hummed in 2014.
After nearly an hour of watching and waiting for the buck of his dreams to stroll within range, the hunter from Hoosick Falls, New York, could only gawk, aghast, as another man began stalking the regal animal.
It and two other bucks were vying for a hot doe in the middle of that soybean field in Sandusky County, Ohio. None saw Mike slide out of a passing truck's bed. They didn't see him go to his stand. And they paid little attention to the other guy, who arrived late to the show.
Mike saw the man park and climb out of his vehicle with a crossbow. The deer seemed unconcerned until he reached a ditch.
"One of the bucks crossed about 50 yards from me," Mike told Ed Waite, who wrote the story for Rack magazine. "Another crossed about 70 yards away and kept on trucking.
"Next, the doe jumped down into the ditch, while the big buck stayed on top, looking down at her. At that point, they were probably 100 yards from me," he continued.
The buck's attention was torn between the doe in the ditch and the approaching hunter. When the man crept to within 50 yards of the deer, the buck lost its nerve and bolted, only to circle back.
The second time, the buck took off toward the woods to Mike's left. Knowing the whitetail didn't want to abandon the doe, the other hunter continued forward until he eventually spotted Mike in his stand.
"He nodded in my direction, and then turned and headed back to his truck," Mike said.
While the man was walking away, the buck came out of the woods. It wanted to return to the doe, but the man was in its path. The next best route put it within 30 yards of Mike.
The first shot knocked Romeo to the ground. A second one stilled him.
"It was a strange day," Mike said.
Extremely long tines, the longest of which is 16 inches, push this 15-pointer's composite score to 203 6/8 inches.