"Wade Atchley remembers it as if it happened yesterday."

“November 12, 2000 at 4:42 p.m.,” he quickly responds when asked when he arrowed the biggest buck of his 20 years as a hunter. But had he not heeded the advice of a newfound friend the 35-year-old Atchley, advertising director for the Whitetail Institute of North America might not have had the opportunity to score on the 297-pound, 14-point southern Illinois behemoth now gracing his office wall. This huge buck lived its life eating high-protein products from the Whitetail Institute.

It was well before first light when Darrell Hafford, of Rocky Branch Outfitters in Harrisburg, Ill., dropped off Atchley and Floridian Roger Sloan some 200 yards from their chosen tree stands on a bow-only lease. Sloan had already decided to spend the entire day in his stand, located in a 40-acre wooded funnel where he knew deer would be traveling. Hafford has more than 120 acres of Imperial Whitetail Clover and Alfa Rack planted on his 7,000 acre hunting paradise and the deer love to frequent these often-traveled food plots.

Lunch, snacks and water were in Sloan’s daypack. Atchley, however, had left instructions with Hafford to pick him up in late morning to return to the lodge for lunch.

“I tried to talk him into staying but he had his mind set on taking a break at lunchtime, especially if he wasn’t seeing many deer,” said Sloan. “That’s where we left it when we parted company.”

The hourglass-shaped funnel in which the two hunters were set up some 150-yards from one another in 25-foot high lock on tree stands quickly proved to be an ideal location overlooking a whitetail convention center.

“I started seeing deer every 30 minutes or so as the sun came up,” said Atchley. “First came a spike with four does, then a 7-pointer about 8:30 a.m. and after that a good 115 to 120 class buck ventured by at 45 yards at 9:15 a.m. and then another small 7-pointer wandered through passing directly under my perch at 10 a.m.”

About then he started reconsidering whether or not he’d take Sloan’s advice and make the hunt an all-day affair. Hafford had agreed to drive by on the dirt road where the hunters were dropped off every couple hours to check on them. If no one were there, he’d go on without stopping.

“At about 11:15 a.m. when my stomach had gained control over my mind, I was about to climb down to go for lunch when four does showed up and bedded down only 15 yards away,” Atchley recalls. “Two of them actually put their heads on the ground and fell asleep while the other two stayed alert and chewed their cuds. It was the first time I’d seen deer lay down and sleep like a dog.”

That wasn’t all that Atchley and Sloan would see for the first time that memorable day at Rocky Branch. The does stayed for nearly two hours, testing Atchley’s patience and the Scent Lok suit covered in Realtree Hardwoods camouflage. When they finally left, he descended from the stand and stretched for about 20 minutes at the base of the tree before giving in to my hunting partner’s advice and climbing back up to my seat with a view.

In the meantime, both hunters were being puzzled by the actions of a lone doe which, on regular occasion, would “blow” 15 to 20 times, as if she had detected something and was annoyed. Atchley thought perhaps it had scented Sloan. But Sloan had seen the doe in the thicket below him and noted that she was attempting to make contact with several bucks that regularly passed through, one a handsome 9-pointer that Sloan first glimpsed at 60 yards.

From roughly 1:45p.m. to 3:45 p.m. Atchley’s stomach constantly reminded him he had nothing to drink or eat since 3:30 a.m. Now, couple this with the fact deer movement had totally ceased, Atchley like his wife had done a thousand times began to question his own mental state on deer hunting.

Then at about 4 p.m., the activity again renewed and bucks beginning to chase one another and the “hot” does once again. Atchley noted movement in the 5-to-6 foot tall under story some 60 yards down a gentle slope. A mature doe, a yearling and then suddenly a big buck stepped out. The thicket hid much of the buck but every so often the rack could be seen, verifying Atchley’s belief that it had exceptional mass.

“I knew it was a good Pope & Young deer although I couldn’t count points,” says Atchley. “He slowly worked in to about 40 yards and tore up a little oak, then he started snorting and wheezing like nothing I’ve ever heard before. I still didn’t count the points ... the obvious mass was enough of a verification that he was a shooter.”

The Buck’s challenge was soon met by a dozen wheezing blows from the mature doe now bedded 10 yards from the buck.

Said Atchley: “That’s when I realized what had been going on all day ... the doe wasn’t smelling Roger but she was trying to keep the buck interested and keep him close.” 

Indeed, she was successful in her efforts not only to keep the rutting buck near but also to keep his adrenalin and testosterone stirred. As the buck moved into clearer view Atchley froze and began peering over his right shoulder as yet another buck snorted. That’s when he glimpsed the tip of an antler coming over a knoll about 60 yards below. It was the big 9-pointer that Sloan had watched earlier and estimated as a solid Pope & Young specimen.

Although it was well after “high noon,” Atchley knew he was about to witness a scene that video producers dream about. As the 9-pointer moved up the hill in a classic stiff-legged gait, snorting now and then to intimidate his foe, the two bucks finally closed to within six yards of one another. With heads lowered and back hairs standing erect the anticipation of the battle about to ensue was dream like.

“I expected a real big fight but it didn’t really last all that long,” Atchley recalls of the antler locking and shoving. “All of a sudden the 9-pointer’s head snapped to the left hit the ground and then was shoved about 30 yards down the slope.”

The 9-point then retreated, disappearing over the knoll but still offering the same cow-like bellows Sloan had heard earlier in the day. The “victor,” however, ignored his enemy and shifted his interest back to the doe, which had also joined in with her patented and incessant vocalizations. Undaunted by the 9-pointer now standing some 60 yards away, the massive buck again raked the shrubs, then extended his neck and uttered a series of grunts and wheezes, pausing occasionally to sniff in the direction of the still-bedded doe. It was a real-life lesson in deer behavior to which few are ever treated. That’s when the day’s efforts began to gel and Atchley’s already heightened blood pressure rose.

“The yearling had been watching what was happening all that time and had wandered up the ridge to my left and had walked right by my 30 yard tree I had ranged with my Nikon range finder earlier,” Atchley said. “That’s when I could not believe what was taking place. The big buck, to myself and to the disapproval of the very vocal doe, began to trail the yearling within about 30 yards with his nose to the ground. That was the exact moment I knew I’d get my chance.”

Atchley cautiously drew his Mathews Q-2 60-pound-draw bow as the buck passed through brush heading toward his 30-yard tree and eagerly awaiting its arrival “in a “kitchen table-size opening.”

“From that moment on it was like everything went in slow motion,” Atchley recalls.

“The buck got to the opening, I trigged my release and watched the arrow fly and I then remember seeing the feathers “kick right” a bit just before the arrow hit the buck.”

Problem was, the buck didn’t as much as flinch.

“It just stood there,” Atchley continues to replay in his memory bank. “But just as I was taking another arrow from the quiver it took a couple steps and hit the ground. In just a few seconds, the buck regained its composure and got back to its feet and began walking a slow semicircle up the slope to my left and just as before, dropped!”

The hunt was over, although Atchley avoided the temptation to get down and search for the buck, which had dropped among the dense under story. He kept a close eye on the area where the buck had gone down for movement. Glancing back, he saw the doe, still bedded where she was. Minutes later the 9-pointer reappeared, grunting and walked directly to the oak the big buck had all but demolished earlier.

Atchley sat still watching the 9- pointer and his new bride until near dark, when he descended and soon found blood, and his arrow. Then, 13 steps later, his lifetime trophy!

First he noted the buck’s massive size and its heavy-tined 11 points. Then he noted that the Gold Tip Hunter arrow had penetrated the base of the neck and top of the shoulder. He also found where the 100 grain Muzzy broadhead had clipped a briar, knocking its flight slightly askew.

“I was close enough to hear the bow when Wade shot,” said Sloan. “When I got there he was in shock. He had tears in his eyes and was darn near crying. It was an experience I’ll never forget.”

Nor will Atchley or Hafford. Back at hunt headquarters, Hafford weighed the monster 14-pointer at 297 pounds.

A cursory scoring session revealed a Pope & Young tally of about 172 points. Then upon completion of the mandatory drying period the official scoring put it in the P&Y book at 169-6/8 gross. Imperial Whitetail Clover and Alfa Rack once again helped to grow a truly monster whitetail at Rocky Branch.

Atchley, true to the hunting-sportsman’s creed, attributed much of his success to Sloan’s effort in convincing him to make a day of it rather than leave his perch high in an oak tree for lunch.

Said Sloan: “I believe that if Wade had gone back at 11 a.m. he’d have alerted the deer either when he left or when he returned and things would never have happened as they did.”