Patience pays off for Phil Ryan of Kansas, who was in his tree stand before daybreak on November 6th. He had found a shed from a whitetail buck the previous year, and knew it was a high scorer. That buck came in from the north, but stayed out of Ryan's range. Ryan figured he had all day and would just hope that buck would reappear later.

A bit later, he heard another deer approaching but couldn't quite see it well enough to decide if it was a buck worth harvesting or not. Then he saw the dropdown tine and the mass of the buck. The buck kept coming, and Ryan had his shot when the buck was only 15 yards away.

He pulled back and released his arrow, hitting both lungs and heart. The buck ran 25 yards before collapsing. This 5 1/2 year old beauty dressed out at well over 200 pounds, has double drop tines, 20 scoreable points, and unofficially scored at 188 2/8. From NorthAmericanWhitetail.com [2].