By Carlton Isaacs

-- Although I was 57 years old at the time and had been hunting for quite a few seasons, it looked like I would never get a buck. Then on Nov. 23, 2007 at 10 a.m., it happened, and I was in a state of shock.

It was the day after Thanksgiving, rainy with a cold wind -- not a good day to hunt. I was going to stay at home, but around 9 a.m. I decided to get my hunting gear together and go into the woods.

When I climbed into my deer stand about 9:45 that morning, it was so cold, I knew it wouldn’t last. Then at 10 a.m., I saw THE BUCK coming off a ridge at 120 yards I made the best shot of my life as well as the first buck of my life, though at that point, I didn’t know how big he really was.

I got out of my stand, made that 120-yard walk, and soon was in shock. With my H&R single-shot rifle, I’d dropped a 15-point whitetail that weighed about 220 pounds, the biggest deer taken in my family.

It doesn’t get any better than that!

--Carlton Isaacs