Sy Gibbs and his young son pose at the Fisherville show with Sy's massive non-typical buck from Franklin County. The rack features 22 points, an inside spread of 19 7/8 inches and a Boone and Crockett score of 201 1/8. Photo by Bruce Ingram.

Every year in February, the Western Virginia Sports Show serves to give state whitetail enthusiasts a first look at some of the biggest bucks taken from the previous season. Held at the Augusta County Expoland in Fishersville, the event draws sportsmen from across the Old Dominion, as a variety of hunting and fishing outfitters, manufacturers and seminar speakers are present. A major draw, obviously, is the parade of trophy bucks on display.

Dale Wenger, who operates B&W Taxidermy in Elkton, has been the show's official scorer for six years. He offers this overview.

"We had some very nice bucks at the show, and I heard of some other very impressive deer," he told me. "But overall, I would rate the 2006 season in terms of big bucks as average or slightly below average. Two possible reasons were the warm weather for much of the season and an abundant acorn crop.

"On the other hand, those two reasons should lead to 2007 being a very good year for trophy bucks. The weather didn't really turn cold until February, so the deer could concentrate on putting on weight instead of just surviving. And that big acorn crop from 2006 should help antler development for 2007."

Here are four successful trophy hunters I met at the February 2007 show and the stories of how they prevailed.

SY GIBBS AND HIS BACKYARD BROADBEAM
Sy Gibbs is a 33-year-old engineer who lives in Wirtz. He has hunted some 18 to 20 years and has tagged four mountable deer, the biggest one a 140-class 10-pointer. The Franklin County resident dwells on a 5.1-acre plot that consists of some two acres of woods and the remainder in fields and honeysuckle. That fact is very relevant to Gibbs' story, which continues on Friday, Nov. 17, the last day of early muzzleloader season.

"I had gone to a nearby farm and was prepping a stand site for opening day of regular gun season," Gibbs told me. "But the time got the best of me, and I didn't really have time to hunt, because there were just 40 minutes of daylight left, so I headed for home. By the time I got there, I had maybe 30 minutes of shooting light. I wasn't optimistic because of the time and the fact that I had not seen any nice rubs or scrapes on my property all season.

"My property is so small that usually when I step into the woods, which is just 50 yards or so from my house, I send does running out of it in every direction. Sure enough, that's what happened that afternoon; does started running from my left to my right onto a neighbor's place.

"But to my surprise, this huge buck also pops up, and he is in full trot following the does. So, I swing my muzzleloader off my shoulder, put it on him and shoot. Through the smoke I can see the buck run away."

Gibbs walked through the tiny wood lot and was unable to locate any blood or hair along the escape trail that the deer typically use. He then turned around to recheck his trail and, lying just 30 or 40 yards from where the Franklin County resident had shot, was the buck. The whitetail had veered off the trail and expired.

A month before the Fishersville show, Rockbridge County taxidermist John Metzger of South River Taxidermy, who mounted the buck, had called me specifically to marvel about Gibbs' trophy -- and understandably. The backyard buck from Franklin County features 22 points, an inside spread of 19 7/8 inches, and a B&C net score of 201 1/8.

KEITH HYLER AND HIS MONTGOMERY MONSTER
Keith Hyler is a 37-year-old supervisor for Conwed. Hyler has deer hunted since he turned 15 but endured a long drought when he first began going afield and did not tag his first whitetail until he was 25. Since then, he has killed between 15 and 20 whitetails but never a trophy broadbeam. The Botetourt County resident lives in Eagle Rock, but his favorite place to hunt is a 30-acre family-owned tract in Montgomery County.

The southwest Virginian had determined that in 2006 he would become a trophy hunter. This led him to initiate a lengthy period of scouting; in fact, he began some three to four weeks before bow season commenced.

"I was looking for a stand site on our Montgomery County land and found some nice trees that had been horned," Hyler told me. "I also had glimpsed some bucks that had nice racks. The best stand site in the area is a place where two main paths come together on a point that lies on a mountain ridge. The paths were slick from deer travel, and there were acorns everywhere. So, I put up a stand about 15 yards to one side of the path's intersection.

"I'm obviously just a beginning trophy hunter, but on those television shows, the hosts are always telling everyone to pass up the small bucks and does. So, I promised myself to try that. I took off the first week of bow season from work and passed on does, a spike and a 6-pointer but never saw a big buck."

With his vacation over, Hyler headed back to working seven days a week and had to content himself with the occasional few hours afield. Adding to his lack of time outdoors is the fact that he labors on third shift. Right before the early muzzleloader season was to begin east of the Blue Ridge, Keith and his fellow third shifter, Travis Bandy of Salem, made a portentous proclamation.

"On the spur of the moment around 4 a.m., Travis and I decided to drive up to Montgomery and go hunting after work that morning," Hyler continued. "I went to my hotspot and Travis was about 75 to 80 yards away on the other side of a knoll. At daybreak for about 30 minutes, I kept hearing all this grunting and snorting.

"Finally, I saw the source for those sounds and it was two big bucks that were fighting on the same path that I had walked in on. Both bucks were really nice, but one was noticeably bigger. I have been trying to learn not to count points and become too excited; those television guys say that you stay a whole lot calmer that way.

"Anyway, the two bucks kept fighting their way toward me. Finally, the bucks stopped fighting and one of them ran toward me, like he had gotten a whiff of me, and the other one followed. The closer one was 25, 26 yards from me and broadside with the other one behind. I shot the closer one."