Travis Bettencourt writes, "On the morning of October 2, 2004, I found myself standing outside of my truck waiting for daylight to come. As I started off in the morning light I found myself in the bottom of a canyon in the Wasatch Mountains and was wondering if I was going to make it out.

Throughout my hike, I had been hearing constant bugling and that alone was very exciting. As I stopped to look around me, as I do about every 20 steps, I saw a huge rear end of a deer. Not knowing what it was, I stood and watched the deer take a couple of steps and clearly this buck was a great one. I took my Frontier muzzleloader off of safety, I took aim and I fired.

The power belt sabot that I was using hit the buck in the front shoulder and exited out the mouth leaving about a 50 cent piece size hole through the deer. When I walked up to the deer I was very excited and surprised that the deer had as much character that it did. The deer is a 5x6, 27" wide and 26" tall. I have not gotten it scored yet, but the taxidermist said it should be in the 180" to 200" range."

(Top Photo) Travis with his big buck
(Bottom Photo) Uncle Ed and Grandpa Robert