The buck's sheds from two years previous scored in at 73 2/8 and 70 3/8 inches, respectively. With an 18-inch spread, "Young Booner" would score over 160 inches. Knowing this information, the trio believed the buck to be a 4 1/2-year old at the time Pete found the sheds. The sheds from Booner in 2004 would have made him a 6 1/2-year-old, leading them to question if he would grow anymore going into his seventh year.

As it is with some bucks, the summer produced no sightings. Even through the archery and first gun season no one had seen hide or hair of the illusive monster. Many nice bucks had been killed, but none the caliber of Booner. Then on Nov. 13 on the start of the second gun season, Jacob awoke at 4:30 a.m. to the sound of his brother's alarm. It had been a restless night, with anticipation of the opening morning stirring his thoughts. "My uncle joined our group this year, and we all met up at the local café for some breakfast," said Jacob. "I joked with them about having my deer by 7 a.m." As hunters we all make claims similar to this, but in Jacob's case, it was about to come true.

After a short drive to their hunting ground, Jacob grabbed his gear and headed for his stand. After applying some scent below his stand, he crawled in for the morning.

"It was 6:30 a.m. by the time I was all settled," said Jacob, "and the action started momentarily after that." Two does proceeded to work their way into a grove. Five minutes later, two more does joined in. This stirred some excitement in Jacob, as he knew the rut was in full swing. "At 6:45 I noticed another deer move into the grove with its head down," explained Jacob. "I was sure it was a buck."

Nearly 10 minutes passed, and to Jacob's dismay, nothing showed. Then Jacob spotted some more movement in the grove. "The deer was about 500 yards out," he said. "Digging into my pocket I pulled out my can call and tipped it over." The deer immediately threw its head in the air and began looking toward Jacob. After tipping the can over a few more times, the buck headed in Jacob's direction. "I couldn't believe the buck was responding with four other does in the field," recalled Jacob. The deer came to within 200 yards and stopped. "All it took was one more turn of the can and he proceeded to come closer." Jacob tried to concentrate on the buck's body instead of its antlers, knowing a shot would soon present itself.

"At 70 yards the buck stopped and looked right at me" said Jacob. He was pinned down without anything to do, so Jacob thought he would wait out the buck. As luck would have it, things started to swing back in Jacob's favor. Nathan, Jacob's older brother, had been watching the morning's events unfold from his stand just 200 yards away. After watching the buck stop as it neared Jacob, Nathan knew he had to act quickly. Raising his grunt call, he let out one loud grunt. The buck swung his head in Nathan's direction, giving Jacob a moment's chance to raise his gun.