Wildlife artist Larry Zach is constantly on the look out for bucks worthy of being immortalized on canvas. Last fall, he put his own tag on one!
By Bill Winke
|
|
Larry's
buck has been scored as Iowa's potential No.1 Pope and Young
whitetail. Amazingly, the rack grew at least 7 inches from 1990
to 2000! |
"I never actually
believed I'd see this," Larry Zach says. "I'd dreamed about it ever
since I'd started bow hunting after getting my bachelor's degree in fish
and wildlife biology from Iowa State. Dreams are one thing, but who can
actually expect to get a shot at a world-class non-typical?"
When Larry turned in his stand, he was shocked by the sight that met his
eyes. All of his dreaming was about to come face to face with reality.
It was the moment of truth.
"The wind was blowing hard," Larry recalls. "It was the last week of
October, and most of the leaves were still on the trees. They rattled so
loudly that I never heard the deer approach. Besides, it had rained the
night before, and the leaves on the ground were silent. But for some
reason, I decided to look to the left. "I flinched in surprise. There,
only 25 yards away walked the buck that had been haunting me since I'd
first seen him in June. I'd never seen him any closer than several
hundred yards, and he'd disappeared two months ago. I'd forgotten how
big he was. Is seemed impossible for a deer to have a rack that big!
"I had only a second to stare before I had to act," the hunter recalls.
"He had already passed one shooting lane and was walking toward a scrape
I'd made 22 yards in front of the stand. While he worked the scrape,
there was no good shot, so I searched ahead. About five yards in front
of him, I spotted an opening to shoot through.
"When the buck flicked his tail, I knew that, one way or the other, the
next few moments were going to define my bow hunting career," Larry
says. "I'd likely never have another opportunity like this one."
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04/09/08 22:26:34 -0500
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