"Then I return to focusing on the deer above me and barreling down the ridge to me is this big buck. I am guessing that either the doe was in heat or he was turned on by my aggressive grunting. That buck crosses a draw, pops up, and the next thing I know he is four yards from me in a matter of seconds. I had just enough time to shoot. He ran, then staggered, then disappeared."

Some 90 yards away, however, the buck expired. The 11-pointer features a 17 1/4-inch inside spread and scored 125 Boone and Crockett.

GARY SUBLETTE AND HIS BEDFORD BRUISER
Gary Sublette is a 44-year-old self-employed pump installer from Goodview. The Bedford County resident has been hunting for some 30 years and has tagged eight mountable whitetails. Sublette's story begins three years ago when he first witnessed a massive Bedford buck.

At the beginning of the bow season last year, Sublette once again viewed the broadbeam, which appeared right at dark and some 60 to 70 yards distant. The location was a field that is 30 yards across and lies between a pine thicket and an oak grove.

"I was relieved that the buck was still alive and decided to go after him every day I could," Sublette told me. "But for the rest of early bow season, I never saw him. On opening day of muzzleloader season, I was on stand in the pine thicket. About 8:30, the big buck crossed from the pines to the oaks at a distance of about 250 yards. At 10:30, he went back the same way he came. And at 12:30, he again crossed in the same spot. I never saw him again that day.

"On Sunday, I decide to move the stand to within 100 yards of his trail and on the oak side of the field. I am using a drill to start my tree stand steps, and I look up on the ridge and the buck is standing there looking down toward me, trying to figure out where the noise is coming from. Then he just lies down, and I have to wait an hour before he decides to get up and leave.

"I was just sick. I couldn't sleep that night. I figured I had blown my chance at him. He had me all torn up."

On Nov. 15, Sublette returned to his original stand site because he could not arrive at the general location until late in the afternoon.

"About 4 p.m., six does come out into the field. And about 4:30, my buck appears in the pines behind me. I could just see his beams through the pines. Finally, he sticks his neck out about 20 yards from me, and I shoot."

The 10-point typical features an inside spread of 18 7/8 inches and scores 152 B&C.

For information on the Western Virginia Sport Show, call (540) 337-7018, e-mail hangerent@yahoo.com, or www.westernvasportshow.com.

Find more about Virginia fishing and hunting at: VirginiaGameandFish.com