Had it not been for the local Wheelin' Sportsmen chapter and the Bernheim Forest's combined sponsorship of a hunt for the disabled in Bullitt County, Ky., Danny Moore would've spent Oct. 12 indoors.
His brother, Ronnie, also played a big role in setting him up in the blind from which he connected with a whitetail that'll be remembered for decades.
Danny's deer hunting days have been numbered since his health began declining and he started dialysis about 10 years ago. For one thing, the veteran hunter from Clermont cannot tolerate cold weather anymore.
"We were pretty excited when Danny was selected for the 2013 Wheelin' Sportsmen hunt and that I was to be his hunting partner," Ronnie told Dale Weddle, who measured the buck and is writing the story for RACK magazine.
To test a spot he thought held promise, Ronnie set out a trail camera that photographed a gigantic buck several times before the animal went AWOL. That's where he ultimately put up a pop-up blind, even though he feared the deer was long gone.
About 8:05 on the two-day hunt's first morning, the big buck came around the bend, so to speak, and Danny shot it. Ronnie was right there with him.
The 26-pointer has a massive rack with beam circumferences of well over 6 inches at the bases. The 6x7 mainframe is impressive, too, but it's the 13 irregular points that really boost the tally into magazine territory. The composite score is 224 1/8 inches!