Taft let go the most important shot of his life. The Easton carbon arrow hit the buck, slicing through both lungs. The buck darted off, but went only about 25 yards downhill before crashing to the ground. The Muzzy broadhead had done its job, and the great buck expired quickly.

Taft could hardly contain himself. He couldn't believe the giant buck he had first seen 10 days earlier had actually given him a shot!

Taft called his brother, Jeff. On the phone, he was so elated that Jeff actually hung up on him twice because he couldn't understand his excited chatter. Finally, on the third call, Taft had calmed down enough to speak clearly. He convinced his brother to come help him get the big buck out.

When Jeff saw the buck, his surprise left him speechless! In fact, he became so excited that they put two huge gouges in the side of Jeff's truck as they tried to get the 175-pound (dressed weight) monster out of the woods.

The buck caused quite a stir locally. The 24 members of the hunt club were thrilled for Taft, and most of the local property owners were pleased as well.

As always, some hard feelings surfaced later from other hunters who knew of the buck and had hoped to get a shot at it themselves. But Taft didn't let that bother him. He did hear that some locals had trail-camera photos of the buck, but Taft hasn't yet been able to acquire copies of them.

Sometime later, after all the excitement about the buck calmed down a bit, Taft hooked up with David LeVasseur, a scorer and regional director for the Northeast Big Buck Club, the regional whitetail scoring and record-keeping organization.

After the 60-day mandatory drying period, the buck was officially panel-scored for both the NBBC and the NYSBBC.

The outcome was worth the wait!

HE TAFT BUCK'S SCORE
The Taft buck carries an impressive score, yet it is deceiving as well. The typical 11-point frame grosses only in the mid-160s, but it is complemented by more than 36 inches of abnormal growth, giving the buck a gross non-typical score of 203 7/8 and a net Pope and Young score of 198 4/8.

The inside spread is small at 16 0/8 inches, and the main beams extend to 23 2/8 and 23 4/8. None of the typical points exceed 8 6/8 inches. Therefore, the typical rack doesn't grab the observer's attention the way some racks do. It's the 10 scoreable abnormal points, in the form of long stickers and multiple drop tines, that really give this buck its character. No fewer than seven sticker points protrude outward off the typical tines on the rack. That, along with the matched drop tines, gives the rack an odd sort of symmetry with respect to its abnormal growth.

If you like non-typical racks, this one will really grab your attention!

With its net non-typical score, the buck should qualify for the Boone and Crockett All-Time Awards level of 195, and it stands atop the list of New York's archery non-typicals for 2005, according to the Northeast Big Buck Club records.

The rack would appear to rank No. 2 all-time for archery bucks in the state, behind the great 205 1/8 buck arrowed by Mark Surdi in Erie County in 1996.

Giving the all-time records a quick look, it appears as though the Taft buck will rank in the all-time top 25 by gross B&C score for bucks killed in New York. That is quite an accomplishment!