Ron Ludwig first encountered his dream buck in October 2006 -- more than a year before he’d take a shot at it. Photo courtesy of Randy Templeton.

At the beginning of Iowa’s 2007 deer season, Ron Ludwig was a man with a mission: He’d had a close encounter with a seriously large deer during the season before, and his sights were set on getting another crack at it. The buck in question sported a mainframe rack with 12 points -- certainly bigger than anything that the Lake City hunter had ever seen before.

The 17-year bowhunting veteran had dreamt of shooting a deer that would qualify for the Boone and Crockett Club record book. But like most avid hunters around Calhoun County, he was painfully aware that bucks of that caliber were few and far between.

Years ago, Ron began looking to the future; he didn’t like what he was seeing. A fair amount of the hunting ground around his hometown was either being leased or purchased. As a result, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find -- and retain -- a place to hunt deer. That’s when he and his family members got serious about buying a piece of land.

Ron had his eye on 160 acres of rough ground that he had been hunting for several years. When it came up for sale a few years ago, the family snatched it up.

From the start, Ludwig and his family implemented an aggressive Quality Deer Management program on the parcel, with a long-term goal of improving the habitat in such a way that they could grow and hold bigger deer on the property. It took three or fours years, but the improvements paid off with a noticeable difference in the quality of deer they were seeing.

“The first time I ever laid eyes on the big 6x6 was back in October of 2006,” the 44-year-old hunter began. “Deer of that size aren’t that common around here, so you can only imagine how excited I was after spotting him in the field that night.”

Ludwig spotted the same buck on a number of other occasions but never seemed to be in the right place at the right time -- that is, until one morning in mid-November.

“My stand that morning overlooked the bottom of a deep draw,” he recalled. “The first three hours after sunrise had been rather slow. By mid-morning only two small bucks and two does had passed through. However, around 10 a.m., I heard the scuffling sounds of a deer walking down the draw behind me. When I turned to look, I was taken by surprise to see the big 12-pointer.”

Ludwig grabbed his grunt call and called to the buck twice, hoping to stop the deer and prompt him to turn around. The strategy worked, and, almost instantly, the bruiser whitetail started up the draw at a steady walk.

“When the buck got within 40 yards (of me), he came to a sudden stop,” he said. “I’m not sure whether he smelled me or what, but apparently he sensed something wasn’t quite right. He never offered a shot but instead turned and walked back the opposite way.”

A few days later, a friend, Scott Benz, reported spotting the buck on his property. Benz had set up a tree stand for a friend who was hunting with him that week. As it turned out, Benz’s friend had gotten cold and headed to the house minutes before the 12-point walked down the path.

Ludwig saw the deer several more times, but it never came within shooting range. Gun season came and went -- without any reports of anyone taking the deer. Admittedly, Ludwig was banking on the odds that the big boy was still roaming the nearby woods.