Eichstaedt again drew back his bow and grunted with his mouth to stop the big 6-pointer. This time the Muzzy broadhead found its mark. The buck bolted through the open field and into the woods. After waiting 15 minutes, Eichstaedt got down, walked back to his truck and headed for home to get a flashlight and call some friends to help him with the tracking job. His good friend Paul Dickson met him back at the farm at 7:45 p.m. and the two headed out to the tree stand to look for blood.

“We found blood and the arrow right where the deer was standing,” Eichstaedt stated. “It turned out to be a 15-yard shot. There was a massive blood trail for 100 yards and then the blood tapered down to tiny specks.”

The pair followed the last few drops of blood into the woods and made a few sweeps through the area without any luck. The blood trail had taken them up to private property, so they decided to stop the search and wait until morning.

At 6:30 a.m. the next day, they talked to the neighbor and were granted permission to continue their search onto the adjacent property. They picked up where they left off the night before, but could not find any more blood. The two decided to split up and cover as much ground as they could. After three hours of searching, Eichstaedt was walking through some pines about 350 yards from his stand when he noticed a smell that he thought could be his deer. A few steps later, Eichstaedt was looking at his buck as it lay dead under a pine tree. He called Dickson over, and the pair stood and stared at the huge rack.

“Up until then, I thought I was searching for a big 8-pointer,” Eichstaedt said. “I couldn’t believe how huge it was for a 6-pointer. On one hand, it wasn’t one of my best shots. I hit him in the midsection, making it a stinky liver shot. On the other hand, it was the smell that helped me find him in those thick pines. It just goes to show that you shouldn’t give up when looking for your deer.”

Eichstaedt had the buck scored by Ron Strauss, who is a P&Y measurer from Dousman. The rack on this deer is amazing. First of all, the inside spread is 21 6/8 inches. The main beams are similar to those of the highest-scoring bucks ever killed, measuring 28 4/8 and 29 inches long! The tine length is incredible, too, with the brow tines measuring 9 7/8 and 11 3/8 inches, while both G-2s are identical in length at a whopping 13 2/8 inches. This incredible 6-pointer has a gross score of 158 2/8 inches, and after 2 6/8 inches of deductions for asymmetry, the final net typical score is an unbelievable 155 4/8 inches.

The sheer size of this buck’s rack begs the question, “Is this the biggest 6-pointer ever killed?”

Strauss and Eichstaedt researched the record books and made phone calls for an answer. They searched the record books of the Wisconsin Buck & Bear Club (WBBC), the Pope and Young Club, and the Boone and Crockett Club. The largest 3x3 listed in P&Y and WBBC records was an archery buck from Waushara County netting just over 143 inches. The only 6-pointer having a net score higher than Eichstaedt’s rack was a buck shot by Brian King during the 2002 Kansas gun season. That buck had a net score of 163 inches, but it was originally an 8-pointer that had both brow tines broken off. Therefore, it is a main-framed 8-pointer but listed as a 6-pointer. So it appears the Eichstaedt buck is not only the biggest 6-pointer ever taken with a bow, but it also appears to be the highest-scoring main-framed 6-pointer ever shot.

After one of Eichstaedt’s friends, Jim Zipfel, saw the monster buck, he realized it was the same one he found a shed antler from the previous spring. Strauss measured the shed as well, and found that except for a broken brow tine, it was almost identical in size. The main beam and G-2 were each about 1 1/2 inches shorter on the shed antler.

Eichstaedt is one very thankful hunter -- not only for shooting such a big buck, but also for finding it after a tough tracking job and for the help from everyone involved.

“Special thanks to Paul Dickson for helping me find my deer and to Ron Strauss for his time helping me with the research to learn just how unique of an animal this buck is,” Eichstaedt said. “And I really want to say thank you to my family and friends for their support of my bowhunting hobby.”

After shooting such an awesome buck, Eichstaedt may have helped create a new phrase not often heard in the whitetail world: “monster 6-pointer.”