Rick McGlothen arrowed this awesome whitetail during a December hunt in Jessamine County. The rack includes five tines measuring 11 0/8 and 14 7/8 inches! Taxidermy by Shane Adams. Photo by Bill Cooper.

There was a time when most of the bowhunting in Kentucky took place during the few weeks leading up to the November gun season. For many years -- until 1997, in fact -- Oct. 1 was the opening date established for archery deer hunting.

Today, Bluegrass bowhunters use a variety of different methods and techniques to take wallhanger whitetails successfully throughout the season.

For example, on last year's opening weekend -- when most bucks were still in their predictable late-summer pattern of moving between bedding and feeding areas -- archers accounted for several giant whitetails in velvet.

Particularly noteworthy were Hurley Combs Jr.'s monster 18-point non-typical from Casey County, scoring 205 6/8; Michael Skipworth's Todd County typical 10-pointer, scoring 160 1/8; and Robert Dunaway's awesome Knox County non-typical, scoring 172 2/8.

Later, in mid- to late September, archers Dennis Sharp and Larry Marcum concentrated their hunting efforts near specific feeding locations to take outstanding non-typical bucks.

Sharp's Bracken County 23-pointer scores 201 1/8, while Marcum's Wayne County 14-pointer scores 180 7/8.

During the pre- to early-rut period of late October and very early November, two additional giant bucks -- both typicals -- were recorded by bowhunters Danny Preston Jr. and Larry Carter.

Preston's heavy antlered 10-pointer, taken in Jessamine County, scores 170 5/8.

Carter's near-perfect 12-pointer scores 167 1/8, ranking as Rockcastle County's top all-time bow kill.

This impressive list of big Pope and Young (P&Y) whitetails, all taken prior to gun season, would easily top the 2007 archery results from many other states. But as the season progressed, Kentucky bowhunters kept adding to the 2007 totals, taking their state's top two typical bucks during the last two days of December.

RICK McGLOTHEN'S HUGE JESSAMINE COUNTY 10-POINTER
Shortly before noon on Dec. 31, Rick McGlothen, of Georgetown, climbed into his deer stand on Jessamine County farmland composed of several small woodlots, bordered by open fields of various acreages, some planted in clover or alfalfa.

Rick had been unable to hunt that morning, and so planned to spend the rest of New Year's Eve day at the site. His stand was positioned in a wooded hollow approximately 150 to 200 yards below the clover and alfalfa fields. Well-used deer trails meandered through the scattered trees and patches of high grass and weeds in the narrow bottom.

Rick had hunted this particular location several times earlier during the season. He'd sighted a number of bucks, including a couple that were definitely shooters. Unfortunately, the big deer always seemed to pass just beyond bow range.

Around 2 p.m., two does walked into view, moving slowly along one of trails that passed through the bottom.

A short while later, another doe appeared, accompanied by a young 8-point buck. Both deer eventually followed the same path as the earlier does.

"Minutes later," Rick said, "I spotted a much larger buck -- about 75 yards away, but moving in my general direction. As the big 10-pointer got closer, I recognized the buck as one of several deer videoed while feeding in an old garden site on the farm in late August. That buck hadn't been seen since."

The big whitetail continued to approach. Slowly Rick maneuvered into shooting position. There seemed to be no problem with the direction of a slight afternoon breeze. But at 35 yards, the buck stopped abruptly and turned, looking directly at the hunter.

"The deer really didn't appear to be alarmed, but I wasn't about to take any chances. Already at full draw, I released my arrow."