Brian Lytton holds the mount of his buck, whose massive rack scored an even 198 under the Pope and Young scoring system, beating the old state record by nearly 4 inches. Photo courtesy of Brian Lytton.

It was 7:15 a.m. on Oct. 1, the opening day of Virginia's bowhunting season, and I had already sent two arrows at the largest whitetail buck of my 25-year hunting career. My morning started as most of the past opening days of bow season had, waking at 4:15 a.m., meeting my brother-in-law, Chris Carden, at my dad's house at 4:45 and driving to our hunting site in Pulaski County.

My dad, Cecil Lytton, did not join us that day because he is a retiree of the Radford Army Ammunition Plant, and has the privilege of getting to hunt inside the plant.

Chris planned on hunting the far west side of our hunting property and my cousin, Dale Wade, had planned on hunting near the eastern side.

At 5:45 a.m., Chris and I began our walk due north to the fence that separates the pastureland and open timber from the thick mountain land.

After we split up, I bowed my head and said, "Lord, I pray that you would give us a good day today and keep us safe. I also ask that you would lead me to the stand that I may see some deer. I don't have to kill one or see any big ones, but I would like to at least see some, Amen." I arrived at the first tree stand and decided that would be where I would start the opening day. I had taken a nice 8-pointer with my muzzleloader and seen many other deer from this stand in years past. However, as I prepared to climb to the stand, a small voice, said, "No, I want you to go to the next one." Without hesitation, I proceeded on toward the next stand that my dad and I had just hung two weeks before. By 6:15, I was in the new stand, safely belted in.

By 6:45 a.m., it began to break daylight and the sounds of the woods were coming to life. The stand I was in, like most of our stands, faces toward the mountain for evening hunting. The land we lease is mostly farmland with grass fields and large corn fields that butt up against the mountain. Like most deer, they travel to the fields in the evening to feed and return to the mountains in the morning to bed down. The hard part is trying to be in the "right place at the right time" to intercept them.

At 7:05 a.m., I was still seated facing the mountain, when I heard a twig snap to my far right and I slowly turned to see a small 6-pointer standing in an opening about 50 yards away. I looked at him through my binoculars and discovered a much larger deer in the bottom of my field of view. This deer was closer than the 6-pointer and was carrying some very good headgear. I slowly grabbed my bow and I stood up. Both deer were feeding straight toward me.

Even though I had on my new Scentlock clothing and boots, I slowly turned my head and checked my "wind-icator." My dad and I carry a small spool of white sewing thread in our backpack along with all of the other necessities for hunting. We tear off a 12- to 14-inch piece and tie it to a small branch or limb next to us in the tree stand. It is always visible and takes only a slight turn of your head to check the wind direction. The slight breeze that morning was in my favor, coming out of the southeast from the deer to me.