Marcum figured he had better take the first shot opportunity he could at that point before something else happened. The doe had moved off when the buck approached her, and the buck was sure to soon follow the doe. When the once-in-a-lifetime buck took a step away from the sapling where it rubbed its forehead, Marcum saw a small opening he thought he could get an arrow through, so he prepared for the shot.

The distance of the shot was about 30 yards. Marcum's 55-pound pull compound bow was fitted with a sight set for 20 yards. The deer was angling toward him. Because of the distance of the shot, he aimed a little high. The aluminum arrow tipped with a 125-grain broadhead entered the neck in front of the shoulder and angled downward. As soon as the shaft connected, the buck dropped but then got back up and stumbled 10 yards before falling for good.

"The arrow broke off in the buck's heart," Marcum said. "This is the first deer I've ever shot that the arrow never went all the way through."

Marcum said he has been bowhunting since 1982, and he has shot a lot of deer with bow and arrow, including some bucks. But this deer was, by far, his biggest. The monster buck had a dressed weight of 225 pounds and was aged at 5 1/2 years old.

"I prefer to shoot does, to be honest with you," Marcum said. "I like the meat."

Most of the deer he has taken have been does. He shot three deer during the fall of 2003, for instance, and they were all antlerless. He has been hunting the spot where he got the book buck for seven years. Marcum used to have to walk through a lot of muck and mud to reach his hot stand in the swamp. He finally got tired of doing that and spent a week putting wooden pallets on top of the mud so he can walk on those. The pallets make the walk to and from the stand easier.

Two years ago, Marcum was hunting in the same area during firearms season using a shotgun he inherited from his father, and he got a shot at a big buck but he missed. He's not sure if the deer he got during 2004 is the same one he missed with the shotgun.

Referring to his 2004 success, Marcum said, "I had to stand up and shoot behind me when I got that buck. I don't think anything would have bothered this deer. He was only concerned with that doe."

However, he added that if the buck had followed the same course the doe did -- going to the right instead of to the left -- he wouldn't have been able to get a shot at the deer.

Marcum washes all of his hunting clothes in baking soda to reduce the chances of being smelled by deer. He also puts baking soda under his arms and in his hair.

The impressive buck's antlers have a typical 13-point frame, with an unmatched typical point on the left beam. Four of the 5 non-typical tines are on the left antler. The only non-typical point on the right antler is a short drop tine measuring 3 4/8 inches. Total length of the non-typical tines is 10 7/8 inches.

Five of the typical tines are 9 or more inches in length, with three of those exceeding 10 inches. The right beam is 25 5/8 inches long and the left is 26 4/8. The inside spread between the beams is 19 5/8 inches. The antler bases are also heavy. The base of the left antler is 6 inches in circumference and the right is 5 7/8.

There were a lot of deductions for symmetry, totaling 12 5/8 inches. Lack of symmetry between 3 points amounted to almost half of those deductions. There was a 3 6/8 inch difference in the length of the fifth tine on each antler (4 2/8 versus 8 inches), for instance, and since there was no sixth point on the right antler to match the one on the left, it resulted in another 2 3/8 inches of deductions.

(Editor's note: For more reading about Michigan's biggest bucks including other high-ranking bowkills, refer to books 1, 2 and 3 of Great Michigan Deer Tales. Autographed copies can be ordered from Smith Publications, 814 Clark St., Marquette, MI 49855. The three-book set costs $40 postpaid. Book 4 will be available by September. Until Sept. 1, orders for Book 4 can be placed for $10 each).