As soon as Joe Daubner heard the ka-thump of a deer landing on his side of the fence, he instantly regretted having lowered his bow to the ground.
The Iowa bowhunter had concluded he wasn't going to get an opportunity at the non-typical whitetail he'd watched chasing a doe the length of a nearby CRP field. Rather than wait those last few minutes, he decided to get down and walk to his car before more deer drifted into the stubble.
The idea might have been sound, in theory, but the time he was willing to shave was almost his own 15 minutes of fame.
When it became obvious the buck was going to stroll within range, Joe had only a rope in his hands. He tried to remedy that, but his bow sight hung on the barbed wire fence at the base of the cedar he'd climbed.
With no small degree of finesse, he finally managed to re-hoist it and to nock an arrow.
"Just as I was attaching my release to the D-loop, the buck stopped and turned broadside at 17 yards," Joe said.
After shooting the deer, Joe waited until almost dark before getting down and walking over to his arrow, easy to see because of its glowing nock. He used his cell phone's light to look at the blood.
He and a pal, Sean Pelletier, recovered it the next morning.
Twice now on Oct. 20, four days after his birthday, the Deer Gods have presented Joe with record book bucks. This one is destined for the cover of Buckmasters Whitetail Magazine in 2015. Its BTR composite score is 201 5/8 inches.