John Nawrot's bow buck had a final score of 172 6/8 typical inches. Photo courtesy of John Nawrot

John Nawrot never imagined simply moving into a new house five miles down the road in Adams County would put him in an area in which he would arrow the biggest deer he had ever seen, a 172 6/8-inch typical that turned out to have the highest-scoring typical rack ever taken by bow in the county.

Soon after Nawrot and his wife Crystal moved into their new house, John met his neighbor Jim Bennett, who kindly gave Nawrot permission to hunt the land adjacent to Nawrot's own 20-acre parcel. Nawrot is the kind of hunter who spends a ton of time scouting, and admits there isn't a day that goes by where he's not thinking about the upcoming season. As soon as summer rolled around, Nawrot began glassing with binoculars and videotaping deer in the nearby alfalfa fields. The hunter was fortunate enough to get great footage of numerous bucks and does, including two monster bucks. Bennett told Nawrot of a 16-point buck in the immediate area, which got him even more fired up for the approaching 2004 bow season.

Nawrot and his stepson Nate headed out to bowhunt the afternoon of Oct. 3. Nawrot set up just inside the standing corn near a huge set of tracks, while he put Nate in a ground blind where the deer would pass before heading toward him. Although setting up on the ground just inside the edge of the cornfield might sound a little unconventional, Nawrot points out, "Just a few days earlier, some deer were standing in the alfalfa, including a huge buck. The big buck was the only one to head to the corn. Plus with the big set of tracks right there, I figured that might be the spot the buck likes to enter the cornfield. Or, maybe I just watch too many hunting videos!"

All joking aside, Nawrot is quick to point to his confidence in hunting from the ground.

"It seems that when I get detected on the ground, the deer are not as nervous as when they detect me in a tree stand, especially in close situations around fields where the farmers are always outside," he said.

After kneeling in the corn for about 20 minutes, Nawrot shifted around to try and get comfortable when a doe and her two fawns that fed nearby picked him off. Not finding the bowhunter as a threat, she stomped three or four times and went back to feeding.

After another 45 minutes of hunting, Nawrot peeked over the cornstalks and saw two nice bucks trotting in his direction. Nawrot would later find out that Nate shot under one of the bucks, which pushed the bucks Nawrot's way. Looking through his binoculars, one looked like a 10-pointer about 18 inches wide without much mass, and the other looked like a bigger 10-pointer with a couple stickers off his G-2s. Not having much time to make a decision whether or not to shoot, Nawrot quickly debated how much of the season still remained versus how much time he would actually have to hunt because he was so busy at work. Nawrot drew his bow and then voice-grunted. Just before disappearing around the end of the cornfield, the buck stopped and looked directly at the archer. Now Nawrot quickly worried the big buck might jump the string. At the instant Nawrot released the arrow, the buck crouched and the arrow sailed harmlessly over the buck's back -- a clean miss.

About 15 minutes later, the smaller of the two bucks came back. Thinking the big 10-pointer might be behind him, Nawrot got ready. Catching a glimpse of movement off to his side, Nawrot turned his head and couldn't believe what he saw -- a huge set of antlers walking straight toward him only about six yards away! This buck was even bigger than the others. Instantly, Nawrot thought, "That must be the 16-pointer."

The buck was already closing in on the first row of corn as Nawrot drew his bow and swung toward the approaching monster. As he turned, his elbow hit a cornstalk. With his heart pounding out of his chest and the monster buck now only 4 yards away, the buck looked right at Nawrot and stopped. The buck quickly turned and bolted about 15 yards away and stopped. Looking through his peep sight, it seemed all Nawrot could see was corn leaves. Seeing enough of the buck to shoot, he sent the arrow on its way.