first of all let me say that i have the priveledge of knowing a great friend–steve. he has shared the progression of this giant with me. we work together and are both nuts about hunting period. he has sent me hundreds of images of this deer this year via silent image cams( there awesome). i rec’d a phone call last night from a guy who sounded sick– i have had these calls before because he had encounters with him that posed marginal shots and elected not to take them—-he’s a smart dude 
he told me he hit him high at 17 yds with minimal penetration and no blood—-i told him i would be there in the am and help him look gladly 
i arrived at 7 am at the location and it was exactly what he stated—–NO BLOOD 
a few tense hours and over a half mile later we found him—–again without a blood trail- congrats buddy on a hell of a buck—–here is the story in his own words——it is a day i will never forget
Quote:
Well it started back in August when I began using the Silent-Image trail cameras. He showed up on August 20th and I have seen this Booner many times on the cameras. Narrowing down his bedding area and travel routes was a chore but well worth it. I had a close encounter with him on the second day of the season in September and I also had him at 26 yards on Halloween and could not get a shot. Our archery season opened back up on Monday following our 9 day gun deer season. I knew he had survived and I was out after him in full force. Last night he made his way from the bedding area to within 5 YARDS of my stand. He approached from behind me and I was forced to let him walk by until I was able to get a 17 yard quartering away shot. My shot was a bit high with NO EXIT due to hitting the opposite shoulder. There was ZERO BLOOD TRAIL and we spent many hours last night searching with no blood and no deer. It was a sleepless night thinking and rethinking the shot. We headed back out this morning covering the section of woods where he was last seen. LUCKILY he exited the thickest part of the woods and died along the edge in full view. Yes luck was on my side but every hunt we all go on has a LOT to do with luck.
We “rough” scored the buck today at 205 1/2″. The main beams are 26.5″ and 28″…the G2 on the right is 14″ LOTS of character
