The rack on Ben Knisley's 13-point non-typical buck spreads 26 inches tip to tip. The inside spread measures 25 3/8 inches. The buck's gross score was 205 7/8 points. Lack of symmetry deducted 21 3/8 points. The final official score: 184 4/8 points. Photo by Hugh Price.

Ben Knisley was in his favorite tree stand. He'd been sitting there for several hours when three nervous does hurried by while frequently looking back. He thought there might be a buck trailing them. He sat up and cocked his .54-caliber Hawken muzzleloader.

Then he saw the buck. It was about 70 yards away and on a track that would bring him right in front of Ben's tree stand for a 40-yard shot.

He rested the Hawken on the railing and sighted down the iron sights. He got the buck lined up and squeezed the trigger. There was a loud report and a cloud of smoke. The buck ran off, stopped at about 70 yards and looked back. Did he miss? He hurriedly ran a wet patch down the barrel and began reloading for a second shot.

Ben Knisley is 23 years old. He's been hunting since he was just a kid. He comes from a family of avid deer hunters. He grew up on his dad's farm, and his dad started him deer hunting. His Uncle Dick, one of the most avid deer hunters in the family, was a mentor and hunting buddy. About five years earlier, Ben read an article on muzzleloaders and became interested in the primitive firearms. He's been hunting with a muzzleloader the past five years and has taken three deer with his Hawken. He buys a multi-season license so he can hunt both Minnesota's firearms and muzzleloader seasons.

Ben recalled the day of his hunt.

"It was Saturday morning, opening day of the Minnesota deer season, I hunted alone on Dad's 20-acre hobby farm near Paynesville," he began. "I've never taken a deer on the property, but we occasionally see deer on the farm, and I thought it would be neat to take a deer on the home place.

"There is a three-acre alfalfa field on the property with the balance in woods," Ben continued. "Several years ago, I built a permanent stand between several trees that overlook a deer trail paralleling a creek running through the property. I hunted there without any luck until noon and went to the house for lunch. I decided to team up with Uncle Dick on his hunting property for the afternoon."

Ben's Uncle Dick has been an ardent deer hunter all of his life and took up bowhunting 20 years ago to give himself more time in the woods. He owns a 60-acre piece of land he manages for deer hunting. He put up three permanent stands on the property and has an additional four ladder stands he moves around as deer travel patterns change from year to year.

Ben has a favorite stand on his uncle's property. It is one of the permanent stands with a railing around it.

"I like that stand. It fits me and I can rest my rifle on the railing and make accurate shots," he explained. He asked his uncle if he could have that stand for the afternoon hunt.

Uncle Dick recalled the afternoon events.

"Ben's been coming out here to hunt with us for years. He and my son, Ryan, are close to the same age. Ben is 23, and my son, Ryan, is 21. They've both been hunting with me since they were kids. Ben asked me if he could hunt from that same stand he hunted from last year, and I told him to go ahead. I went on to another stand and my son went to a stand he liked farther north.

"About 5 p.m. that evening, I could hear a couple of deer thrashing around in the brush behind my stand," Dick continued. "Then I heard a deer run off through the woods, and all was quiet for about 15 minutes. Then, I began to hear a deer moving around behind me again. I gave a few calls on my grunt call, and he answered me, but it sounded like he was moving off toward Ben's stand. About 15 minutes later, I heard a shot. I thought, I hope he got that deer. A few minutes passed, and I heard another shot. I said to myself, He tracked it down and finished it off. Then, about 15 minutes later, I heard another shot from that direction and I thought, What the hell is going on? I decided to go and check it out and lend a hand if he needed help."

What had happened, Ben later explained, was that a group of does passed in front of his stand with a buck trailing them. The buck was about 100 yards behind them. As soon as they disappeared, the big buck came into view. That's when the action started.