Amazingly, just as Helgie pulled the trigger, the huge buck turned and put his head down to sniff the ground. The bullet passed completely through a drop tine on the right antler (without breaking it) before entering the buck's vitals.

"'I quickly walked back some 400 yards and started cutting across the open field. It was wide open, and I knew they could see me if they looked in my direction. About ten inches of snow covered the ground. Fortunately, I was wearing snow camo, and that helped. Also, I was wearing rubber-soled boots that were very quiet in the squeaky snow.

"'I could see the buck was preoccupied with one of the does. She was definitely in [estrous]. When I'd closed the distance to about 500 yards, one of the does looked in my direction and saw something she didn't like. After that, they all started getting edgy and began walking rapidly toward the timber. I told myself, 'The jig is up.' They were headed due north, and I was headed east in my attempt to arch around them. Fortunately for me, the buck was oblivious to what was going on.

"'I knew I had to close the distance as quickly as possible, so I started walking faster. When I got within about 200 yards of the group, the lead doe seemed to wind me. She started to run up the treeline toward the thicker timber, and the others followed. I had to cut them off, so I ran toward the fencerow they were following. A few trees separated us, and the deer were just on the other side. As I got twenty to thirty yards from the treeline, the hot doe veered away from the others, and the buck followed. I could hear him grunting.

"'I literally vaulted a barbed-wire fence and crashed through the trees to the opposite side of the treeline. I could see the hot doe across the field some 300 yards away. Then I saw the buck. He was out in the field hyperventilating and grunting--only 150 yards from the treeline. You've got to kill him now! I thought.

"'I quickly propped my rifle against a poplar tree and got him in the scope. He was still grunting and stopped just as I got the cross hairs on his shoulder. Just as I squeezed the trigger, he swung around and put his head down to sniff the ground where the doe had been. He was almost quartering toward me as the rifle roared. He dropped in his tracks. The way he'd been grunting, and the way everything happened at the end, I'm positive he thought I was another buck coming through those trees."'

As Helgie approached the fallen giant, the rising sun cast an unbelievable pink-and- orange glow over the frost-and-snow-covered hayfield.

"'Seeing that huge rack sticking up in that light was an incredible sight,"' he said. "'I was in shock as I picked up the huge rack. I put my hand on him and said a little prayer of thanks. Then I saw the bullet hole in his horn. While he'd been spinning around, that back kicker had gotten in the way, and my bullet went right through it before going into his chest."'

The rack was later green-scored by official measurer Ryk Visscher. Here are the stats: main-frame 4x4, 38 points, 36-inch outside spread, 21-inch inside spread, 158-inch typical frame with only 6 inches in deductions. Add to that a whopping 130 inches in nontypical growth and you have one of Alberta's all-time-best racks that grosses 288 inches and nets about 282 inches. That doesn't include several broken tines. The buck was thought to be either 51⁄2 or 61⁄2 years old, and it carried a fairly small 250-pound frame.

Amazingly, Helgie shot his incredible buck with a 1933 U.S. Armory .30-06 bolt-action sniper rifle. His dad, Thorel, who is also an avid whitetail hunter, customized the classic rifle several years ago and made a stock for it. A friend hand-loaded the bullet that made a perfect hole through the antler without shattering it.

"'After shooting my deer, I called my dad, and he immediately drove out to the field,"' Helgie said. "'He was pretty excited, to say the least. Shooting that buck will always be special, but sharing it with my dad was one of the proudest moments of my life!"'