Rack Magazine

Self-proclaimed grumpy old man forgets how to frown, if only for a day.

Except for a half-hour during the morning of Nov. 10, the 2014 bow season wasn’t particularly memorable for Tom Ciak, the graying and bearded proprietor of Big Bird’s Bait and Bows in Maryville, Missouri.

His customers don’t call him Tom. To them, he’s Big Bird.

Up to that point, Tom hadn’t seen many deer beyond the one decent buck he’d allowed to keep on trucking because dealing with it might’ve cut into a busy weekend.

The two deer he did try to shoot, both does, kept on trucking because he “exercised poor judgment.”

Five days before the state’s rifle season opened, Tom returned to the woods with an empty freezer on his mind. He was aloft with his bow by 6 a.m.

An hour and a half later, he spied a buck on the far side of a nearby ditch. Before he could tell much about the animal, it vanished just as quickly as it had appeared.

“I lost sight of it when it went behind a brush pile,” Tom said. “I rattled, can-called and grunted. But neither that buck nor any other deer showed up to investigate. So I stopped trying to talk deer and watched the squirrels play.”

Twenty minutes later, Tom heard the crunching of leaves. He originally dismissed the noise as squirrels, since he’d been watching them all morning. But then he caught a glimpse of antlers only 20 yards away.

The rack — sporting at least eight points on one side — rose above the ditch’s rim like a pair of hands from a grave.

“This buck walked up out of the ditch and straight toward me,” he said. “It turned to the right at 13 yards, and I grabbed and drew my Mathews Creed XS.

“My focus was entirely on that animal,” he continued. “I can’t tell you if I was sitting or standing. I do remember that I saw only a tree through my peep, at first. But I had both eyes open, so I was able to follow the deer as it walked past the tree.”

When the deer was in the clear, Tom picked a spot and released. He saw the arrow bury into the animal’s side, no doubt through both lungs.

“The deer walked 6 yards and stopped, and it looked around like What just happened to me? ” he said. “Then it took a deep breath. And when it exhaled, I saw a mist of red escaping both nostrils.

“In my mind, I was yelling Fall! Fall! Don’t go in the ditch!”

Obligingly, the buck never took another step. It wobbled, and then fell squarely on its back just 19 yards from Tom’s tree. He says that, initially, all four legs were sticking straight up in the air like a dead roach’s. But the animal eventually rolled over on its side.

“That’s when I knew it was done for,” he said. “Man, I felt blessed.

“When I looked at it through the binoculars and saw how big it was, I started shaking so bad I didn’t dare try getting out of the stand,” Tom continued. “I couldn’t even text my wife. I punched in the wrong number.”

He wound up just calling her.

“I told her I shot a big one and that I was shaking badly. She told me to stay in the stand until it was safe. It took a full 15 minutes before I could get my gear, my bow and myself down from the treestand,” he added.

“As I walked over, I thanked the Lord for bringing this amazing buck within my arrow’s reach.

“I took lots of pictures with my phone. The buck is definitely worth showing off,” he said.

Editor’s Note: You can see Big Bird’s career-best buck at his archery shop in Maryville, Missouri.

This article was published in the June 2016 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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