Tim Davis was 50 yards into a sad story on Dec. 6, 2015, when his nostrils suddenly filled with rutting buck. Downwind of a happy ending, he resumed walking.
At that point, the 50-year-old deer hunter was scanning the woods in front of him instead of focusing on the ground at his feet. Fortunately for him, the dead buck's antlers were in stark contrast to the surrounding undergrowth.
When Tim struck out for the Tennessee woods earlier that day, he was gunning for his 2015 season's second buck. He was mainly hoping to cross paths with a 9-pointer he'd jumped during another excursion.
He was convinced the deer's rack was at least 10 inches bigger than his first buck's antlers. That one had been no slouch, which meant the one he was after had to be a 150-incher, a rarity where he hunts in Maury County.
According to John Phillips, who interviewed Tim for Rack magazine, Tim saw a group of deer 200 yards distant during the day's last 15 minutes. Right after he sprayed some Tink's #69 into the breeze, which was already carrying his scent toward the does to his left, he glanced right and saw a huge buck, head down and feeding.
When Tim glassed the buck's long pickets, he estimated the deer would easily top 160. He immediately traded his binoculars for the Nikon atop his .308.
The beefy whitetail vanished after the boom.
Tim called his buddy, Jim Highsmith, immediately afterward, and Jim advised him to walk over and check for blood. There wasn't a drop, however.
"I went into panic mode when I couldn't find a blood trail," Tim said. "I thought surely I hadn't missed."
Although he'd originally planned to give the deer more time, Tim shelved that plan and plowed ahead in the direction the animal ran. He wouldn't accept he'd missed.
Tim had gone maybe 50 yards when he began smelling rutting buck. He knew he was either close to his prize, or there had to be a fresh scrape nearby. The stench of urine-soaked tarsal gland was almost overwhelming.
Turns out, the 16-pointer was lying a mere 10 yards from where he stopped.
"The sight of that buck almost brought me to tears," he confessed. "I've been hunting a deer like that all my life, and I've let so many young bucks walk. Finally, the buck of my dreams was on the ground in front of me!"
Tim's was one of the finest whitetails felled in Tennessee in 2015. Six uprights measuring at least 9 inches boost its BTR composite score to 185 7/8 - 25 inches better than he'd estimated.
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