Dejected at his inability to close the deal with his recurve, Buccacio got down from his climber, packed it up and started hiking out of the woods.

He heard a grunt and the sound of running deer, and quickly uttered a mouth-grunt. Suddenly, a massive buck appeared, headed right for him.

With his tree stand on his back, Buccacio nocked an arrow, raised his recurve and shot as the buck turned broadside.

The rest, as they say, is history!

Imagine that --a new state-record typical falls to a traditional archer and is shot from the ground. And that big buck was taken just one year after the new state record non-typical was killed by another traditional archer -- a 178-inch 14-pointer, taken in Worcester County by Larry Berestka.

What are the odds of that?

In addition to Buccacio's great state record, several other notable bucks were arrowed in Massachusetts last season. The largest non-typical bow buck of the year, arrowed in late December, fell to Stephen Ingrassia in Plymouth County.

Ingrassia's buck had 16 scorable points and grossed 166 7/8 Pope and Young points. On the right side, the buck had a large set of abnormal points that grew like a second main beam. This impressive buck ranks No. 4 all-time for non-typical bow bucks in the state.

Rounding out the Bay State bucks that made the regional top 10 is Ken Pereira's Bristol County 10-point typical scoring 162 4/8 gross Pope and Young points.

RHODE ISLAND
If you're a frequent reader of this magazine, you already know that the Ocean State has a reputation for producing an incredible number of outstanding muzzleloader trophies.

It seems that every season for the last several years, at least two new archery state records have been set.

But archers in this state also do well. The 2006 season established a new state record for archery typicals.

Stephen Ponte arrowed a 172 7/8-inch gross B&C 10-pointer in Newport County in late November, besting the old record -- Stephen Burchett's 165 2/8 10-pointer taken in Providence County in 1996 -- by more than 7 inches.

Ponte's new record had main beams of 26 and 25 7/8 inches and an inside spread of just under 20 inches. His impressive buck netted 166 6/8 inches, qualifying it for the B&C annual awards program.

Ponte's buck is the all-time eighth-largest archery typical from the six New England states. We can say that puts Rhody on the map when it comes to archery trophy potential!

In fact, in 2005, Jerry Sherman arrowed a Rhode Island buck that made the regional top 10 as well -- a 157-inch 9-pointer.

Muzzleloader hunters need not worry about losing their claim to be the most prolific trophy harvesters in the state. But Ocean State archers are certainly catching up!

NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire hunters had an outstanding buck harvest in 2006, with many fine deer taken by archers, gun hunters and muzzleloaders.

But gun hunter John Klucky got most of the accolades with his 199-inch typical 15-pointer that established a new state record for typical bucks.

Archers didn't come close to shooting a buck of that caliber, nor did they challenge any state or category records. However, the Granite State did put one buck in the regional top 10 in 2006, just as it did in 2005.