"He was about 70 yards away when I saw him, and I shot when he was about 40 yards away," Ben said. "He bucked up at the shot and ran off to about 100 yards and just stood there. I had time to go through the whole process of cleaning my barrel with a wet patch and reloading my muzzleloader. I couldn't believe he was still standing there. I took careful aim and shot again. He flinched and moved off about another 70 yards and was out of sight for a few minutes. Then I saw him wobbling around out in the corn field. He looked as if he might fall but didn't. Again, I went through the reloading process. He was still standing there about 140 yards out. I took very careful aim with my open sights and held at the top of his shoulders. BOOM! A cloud of smoke rose around me and he disappeared. I was praying that he had dropped there and was just out of sight."

Shortly thereafter, Uncle Dick walked up and called out to Ben. He asked him if he got a deer.

"I don't know," Ben recalled telling his uncle.

"What do you mean, you don't know? Where was he when you shot?"

Ben pointed out the spot where he'd taken his last shot, and his uncle became really annoyed.

"Jesus Christ, Ben! Aren't you trying to shoot a little too far?"

Ben explained to his uncle that his first shot had been at 40 yards, and he was sure he had a good hit on the deer, with his first and second shots, but he couldn't understand why the buck was still standing. Since the deer was still in sight, he said, he decided to take that third shot.

Dick said he was going to look for blood and walked up toward the area Ben described as the spot where he'd last seen the buck out in the corn field. As Dick approached the area, he saw what looked like some corn stalks sticking up out of a clump of ground. As he drew closer, he saw it was antlers. When he got to the buck, he stood over it for a moment in shock, and then dropped to his knees.

"Ben! You've got a monster!" he recalled yelling. "You've got a monster here!"

When Ben walked up to the deer, he got his first real look at the antlers.

"We were in shock at the size of his rack," Ben said. "I don't know what we said. We were so excited. We were shouting and jumping around. My cousin heard the shooting, of course, but stayed in his stand until he heard all of the shouting, and then he had to come and see what all the excitement was about. The three of us were like a bunch of school kids on the school playground."

By that time, daylight was fading fast, Ben recalled. His Uncle Dick got his pickup and was able to drive pretty close to where the big buck fell. The three of them dragged the buck to the truck and loaded him in the bed. They took him to Dick's house to show him to the rest of the family. No one in the family has ever killed such a big deer, Ben said. There was much excited talk about the buck, and many old hunting stories were told and retold that evening.

"We hung the deer overnight in my uncle's garage," Ben said. "The next day, we loaded him in my pickup, and I took him to be registered at Hilltop in Paynesville. Klinders in Miltona butchered the deer and took the head and hide off so I could get a shoulder mount. My Uncle Todd took the head and hide to a taxidermist friend, Randy Teriek of T.K. Taxidermy in Lakeville, who did a beautiful shoulder mount."

Ben then took his mount to the Minnesota Deer Classic show in March, where it was officially scored as a typical, measuring 184 4/8 points, and Ben was awarded first place in the muzzleloader division at the Classic.

According to the sixth edition of the Minnesota Record Book, Ben Knisely's buck is the highest scoring typical killed in Meeker County by all methods of modern deer hunting. It also places at No. 47 on the list of the top 100 typical whitetails recorded in the Minnesota records.

The antlers of Ben's buck are very impressive. The rack first appears to be a 10-pointer, except there are 5 major points and 2 non-typical minor points on the right antler, and 4 major points and 2 non-typical minor points on the left antler. The tip-to-tip spread stretches 26 inches. The inside spread measures 25 3/8 inches. The gross score was 205 7/8 points. Lack of symmetry deducted 21 3/8 points. The final official score: 184 4/8 points. One nice buck!