The morning of Wednesday, Dec. 6, found the temperature hovering at minus 6 degrees Fahrenheit. Jim had been in his stand for about three and a half hours, and had seen a number of deer, including four bucks. He was actually debating about whether to shoot one of them when, suddenly, all four deer went on high alert and looked to their left. Jim sat quietly to see what caused the stir -- and there at 50 yards was a magnificent non-typical buck: the largest whitetail he'd ever seen.

A TRUE BADLANDS BAD BOY
Suddenly it began: the worst case of buck fever that Jim had ever experienced. When he turned to survey the area, he discovered that the other deer had disappeared; the woods were quiet.

"It was so quiet, you could hear what the coyotes were thinking," he later remarked.

When he turned back toward the big non-typical, his heart sank; it too had vanished. What seemed like an eternity passed -- probably no more than 15 minutes. Then the Badlands bad boy suddenly appeared to Jim's right, standing at 15 yards, quartering away at a sharp angle.

As Jim began to draw, he realized that he was shaking uncontrollably. When he reached full draw, he remembered, he was talking to himself, and asking the Lord to help him with his shakes. He calmed down almost instantly, and the bow felt as if it were locked in a vise.

Jim settled the pin just in front of the deer's left rear flank and squeezed the trigger of his release. The arrow was off to a perfect impact. It sailed through the liver, into the right lung, and buried in the right shoulder. The buck of several lifetimes was his!

With darkness closing in fast, and knowing that he'd made a mortal shot, Jim took up the search immediately. As he followed the easy trail, he soon found his buck lying motionless near the backwaters of the Little Missouri River. Since the shot had missed the left lung, the deer had traveled about 350 yards before going down.

A BADLANDS SENSATION
Suddenly a strange, bittersweet feeling came over Jim. He felt greatly humbled at being blessed with such a magnificent animal. When Jerry arrived to pick up the hunter, Jim was just returning to his stand. Jerry knew he'd been successful, and asked him what he'd shot. Jim told him he had killed a main-framed 5x5 with some stickers.

With flashlights in hand, they followed Jim's tracks to the deer. When Jerry's light hit the antlers, he couldn't believe the sight that his eyes were feasting upon!

"Unbelievable!" he blurted. "Absolutely unbelievable!"

For the next few days, people came from all over Dunn and McKenzie counties to see the buck; our telephone rang continuously. It was a circus atmosphere.

After the story was published in the Bismarck Tribune, I received a call from another outfitter, Bill Jorgenson of Deep Creek Outfitters, an operation several miles from our property. Bill informed me that four of his hunters had been trying to kill Jim's buck for six weeks. On the evening of Dec. 2, 2006, just four days before Jim let his arrow fly, one of Bill's hunters became ill and left his stand at 3:50 p.m. At 4:15 p.m., a game camera mounted to the stand took a picture of Jim's buck; it took a second picture at 7:30 a.m. the following morning.

North Dakota's current state record for bow-killed non-typicals was set in Barnes County in 1961 by William Cruff, whose buck scored 188 1/8 P&Y. Jim's incredible Dunn County 34-pointer -- potentially a new record -- scored a whopping 216 1/8. That's almost 30 points higher!

POSTSCRIPT
What about Frank? Well, he spent three full days waiting in his stand for the monster 8x8 mule deer to come back, but unfortunately, that buck didn't cooperate. Happily, Frank's patience was rewarded on the last day of the hunt with a good shot on a very nice 4x4 mulie. The three bowhunters had taken three deer, with one being a Badlands bad boy. That buck will always be the buck of several lifetimes for Jim Casto Jr.!

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
For information about hunting with Jerry Defoe and North Dakota Adventures call (701) 842-3415, or email gadefoe@ruggedwest.com