Matt Wentz had intended to spend the afternoon of Nov. 13, 2014, in a ladder stand, but he stopped 15 yards short and cleared a spot to hunt from the ground - a tactic he'd never tried.
While walking into the property with a buddy, the hunter from Lehighton, Pennsylvania, marveled over the number of scrapes. They were so fresh, he could smell them before he saw them.
Matt's hunt was interrupted at 4 p.m., when his daughter, who'd just arrived at the property, called to ask if he would come help cock her crossbow. After obliging, he returned to his vantage point.
A quarter 'til 5:00, he saw a buck moving through a sea of scrubby pines. When it emerged, Matt was awestruck.
"I coached myself not to make eye contact, because I feel they sense that," he told Lisa Price, who's writing the story for Rack magazine. "It took forever for the deer to get into range."
When the buck was within 30 yards, it jerked its head up and gawked at the Matt-blob in its living room, while the Matt-blob aimed his crossbow and squeezed the trigger.
Back into the thicket it ran, leaving Matt equally out of breath.
Matt and his friend followed the trail that night, but not for long. They didn't want to chance losing the animal.
By the time they returned the next morning, a light snow had fallen, which made the hours-old blood practically glow.
"Although it ran farther than that, it actually died only 50 yards from where it was shot," Matt said.
The Carbon County 17-pointer is a new state record among crossbow harvests. Its BTR composite score is 212 1/8 inches.