Each season, New England's hunters shoot whitetail bucks that challenge existing state records. Often these massive bucks come within inches of breaking the record, and sometimes they edge out the old state record by mere fractions of an inch.

Keith LeVick's amazing 22-point Niagara County non-typical posted a gross score (before deductions) of 231 2/8 inches. Photo courtesy of Keith LeVick.

Just to ensure that the measurements are exact, scoring organizations convene special panels of very experienced scorers to rescore these giant and complex racks.

This can be a gut-wrenching process for any hunter, who anxiously waits to see the final score.

Sometimes, of course, there just isn't any drama at all. For instance, if a hunter shoots a deer that will beat the current state record by about 40 inches, there aren't a whole lot of anxious moments at the scoring table!

That's exactly what happened this past season, when Keith LeVick shot a monster 22-point non-typical with his muzzleloader in Niagara County, N.Y.

THE TRAIL CAMERA
LeVick is a serious hunter who has taken many impressive whitetails. In fact, he's shot 14 bucks that gross- score between 120 and 160 Boone and Crockett points.

Many of those came from New York State where he and his wife Jackie hunt together. Primarily a bowhunter, LeVick prefers shooting big bucks with his bow. But in 2007, it would be his muzzleloader that put him in the record books!

The relationship between Keith and his great buck began on June 22, 2007, when he set up a trail camera in a bedding area off a bean field.

LeVick generally places his cameras around summer food sources where deer are concentrated at that time of year -- given that the area has apples, corn, soybeans, acorns and hardwoods. (Continued)

On June 27, he first checked the camera and discovered that he had over 200 hundred photos on file! He was roughly halfway through reviewing pictures of does and smaller bucks when he saw it for the first time -- a giant non-typical that had walked right in front of the camera.

LeVick, who lives where there is heavy hunting pressure, was in shock. He couldn't get to Wal-Mart fast enough to print up 20 or so photos of this monster!

From then on, Keith, Jackie and their hunting buddy, Mike Wasik, put all their time and effort into that deer. Carefully they set up stands around bedding areas and funnels where they thought the monster would venture.

At the end of July, they put out the camera again, under an apple tree this time. After three days, LeVick rushed home with the camera to view the pictures. On the card, there were over 300 photos!

He was very excited. However, the first 200 pictures were of does and a few nice bucks -- but not "the buck."

Scanning through the rest of the pictures, he began to worry that they would never get another picture of the buck in velvet.

He continued to scan through the rest of the pictures. Near the end of them, his fears were erased, and his heart began to race. He couldn't believe it when he saw seven more pictures of the giant, from all different angles. It looked as though the buck's rack had "exploded" into a 200-class non-typical.

THE 2007 SEASON
For LeVick, the summer couldn't go by fast enough. Finally fall arrived, and the trio was ready to hunt.

The first time they bowhunted the area was on Nov. 1, but the day was uneventful. The three hunters sat all day in different stands, trying to play the wind properly. Jackie and LeVick saw a few small bucks, but no sign of the big one.

This pattern would repeat itself all during the first week. It wasn't until the afternoon of Nov. 8 that LeVick finally saw the giant buck. It was on a doe, running at 45 yards away, and never stopped for him to get a shot.