That's when Lacey also decided to enlist the aid of a higher power. "I asked if they would mind before we went out if I said a word of prayer," he said. "They said 'Please do,' and right there on that old gas line, we bowed our heads and prayed."

The prayer was apparently answered: The whitetail, not yet dead, was quickly discovered and dispatched with a second arrow.

When the Mississippi archer knelt by the fallen monarch, he was tagging the fourth-best TBGA non-typical bow buck of the year. The 13-pointer stretched the measuring tape out to a gross score of 171 7/8 inches and a net score of 164 5/8.

"That was the biggest whitetail I've ever seen," Lacey said as he reflected on his answered prayer. "I was thinking how blessed I was and how good God was."

Amen to that.

BARRY ROBERTS
158 2/8, Starr County

Barry Roberts, a 45-year-old deer hunter from San Antonio, had never harvested a deer with his bow before last year. But by the time the 2004-05 season was over, Roberts had tagged not one, not two, but three Texas whitetails, including a doe and a management buck.

While Roberts has hunted deer avidly since the age of 9, he admits that his bowhunting career is in its infancy. But after harvesting a 6 1/2-year-old 14-point Starr County buck that boasted a gross non-typical score of 168 0/8 inches and a net score of 158 2/8, the guess here is that Roberts will be an enthusiastic bowhunter for many years to come.

"I had hunted the blind four times before getting a shot at the huge buck at about 25 yards a little after 7 a.m. on the morning of Nov. 7," Roberts said. "I was shaking pretty badly because he was so big, and this was the first deer I had ever taken a shot at with a bow.

"He is definitely a deer of a lifetime. I can't wait to go bowhunting next season!"

TOMME ACTKINSON
136 1/8, Bell County

As the president of the Lone Star Bowhunters Association, Tomme Actkinson is certainly no stranger to seeing good whitetails taken by bow.

But last year, the 60-year old Temple resident and psychology professor at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor got in on the big-buck act himself while bowhunting federal land at the U.S. Army Garrison at Fort Hood. In addition to being the biggest buck taken at Fort Hood last fall, Actkinson's 10-point typical from Bell County easily qualified for the Pope & Young Club and ranks as one of the top public-land bucks taken in Texas last fall.

"Have you ever had an adrenaline rush that was so bad that when you got out of your stand you didn't think you could walk in a straight line?" Actkinson asked with a laugh.

Rubbery legs or not, the LSBA president was able to make a short and successful 30-yard walk to the fallen deer last Nov. 16, tagging what proved to be the best whitetail buck of his 28-year bowhunting career.

It was a year when many other Texas archers did the same thing. Welcome to the big-buck club, Tomme!