Steve Ponte's amazing archery buck ranks as one of only seven Boone and Crockett qualifiers in the state -- and the only such buck taken by a bowhunter. Photo courtesy of Steve Ponte.

The Ocean State is smaller than some counties in New York. The total deer harvest for all seasons is less than most Northeastern states register on opening day of their gun seasons alone. But Rhode Island produces many big bucks each season, regularly leading New England in muzzleloader bucks that make the NBBC records. In fact, muzzleloader hunter James Manni accounted for the state's first Boone and Crockett qualifier back in 2002 -- a great-looking 172 1/8-inch gross-scoring 11-pointer that netted 163 1/8 B&C and made the awards book.

So it stands to reason that if this state were going to produce a hunter-harvested B&C buck, it would fall to a blackpowder hunter. Right?

And given that the Constitution state produces so many trophy-caliber bucks each year, it also stands to reason that such a buck would come from somewhere along the trophy-rich Connecticut state border. Right?

Wrong on both counts!

Rhode Island's most recent B&C buck fell in one of the last places you'd expect a trophy buck of this caliber to be found.

THE HUNT BEGINS
When archer Steve Ponte entered the woods on Nov. 24,2006, he had no idea he was about to make history. The odds were certainly against him. He was hunting in Newport County, a coastal region that has produced only 20 New England Big Bucks Club book entries, just 5 percent of the state's total. Most people in this part of Rhode Island hunt big striped bass from boats, not big-racked bucks from a tree stand.

In August, Ponte had passed on chances to go striper fishing in favor of scouting and glassing for archery deer. The first night out, with little more than 30 minutes of daylight left, he spotted a few deer meandering out of the woods into a hay field. The first was a small buck -- likely a 6-pointer. The next four deer were all nice bucks and they filed out by age and rack size -- all 8-pointers.

The last buck was a monster! Even with his unaided eye, Ponte could tell it was a big 10-pointer that would weigh close to 200 pounds and score at least 150 or better.

Another, older buck entered the field. While his rack was smaller, it was obvious he was the king!

Ponte's kept sighting the same five deer through the end of August. They were always coming into the field in the same order. In September, while hanging stands for the Oct. 1 opener, Ponte saw the bucks again, running with yet another 8-pointer. Ponte was excited -- six bucks in his hunting area, and only a few weeks to go until the season opened!

Although Ponte hunted a little in the October season, most of his time went into coaching high-school football -- something he has been doing for about 20 years. In November, he saw a few does, a spike and a 6-pointer. He could have shot any of them, but his mind was set on something bigger.

In the meantime, his football team qualified for the state playoffs -- which was great for the team but not so good for hunting.

The day after Thanksgiving, Ponte went out to hunt early in the afternoon, taking advantage of a rare opportunity, given his practice schedule. All the streams in the area were swollen from the previous day's rain, making it tough to hear sounds.

Ponte walked a semi-circle around his stand with

strous scent, hoping to catch one of the big bucks' interest.

He finally settled into his stand and, around 3:45 p.m., noticed movement to his left -- a buck was walking up the stream, nose in the air, in the stream right up to his chest!

There was a tree 3 feet wide between and Ponte, so he figured that when the buck got behind that tree, he would stand, take his bow off the hanger and draw.

The deer was still in the stream at 30 yards, which gave Ponte two windows to shoot through -- one within three yards of his next steps. The other was maybe six yards, if the buck continued in the same direction.

Just before the buck reached the first opening, he stopped, climbed the stream bank and started coming right at the hunter. But as big bucks often do, he figured something was not right. The deer stopped and backed off into the stream.

As the buck backed into his first window, Ponte was at full draw. He hesitated for a split second, and then let the arrow fly. The buck was perfectly positioned, quartering away, but Ponte heard a loud pop that sounded like a gut shot!

The buck sprinted down the stream without a hint of being hit. Ponte mentally marked the last place he saw the deer and settled down to rethink the shot. He waited half an hour till 4:15 p.m., and then got down and found his arrow -- with nothing on it.