Edward Barnett hunted in steady rain to take this outstanding 20-point buck from Rockcastle County. His deer ranks as the second-biggest non-typical of the 2008 season. Taxidermy by Gerry Wethington. Photo by Bill Cooper.

In 2003, Edward Barnett of Berea took advantage of a chance to buy 150 acres of land in Rockcastle County. However, for Barnett, this was more than merely a land purchase; it was a rare opportunity to acquire a specific tract of land that was once owned by his grandfather, and where he had briefly lived as a small boy. In a very real sense, the acquisition could accurately be referred to as a "homecoming."

"My family's connection to the land was definitely a big factor," Barnett said. "But I was also interested in having a place to hunt deer, and over 75 percent of the property was in timber. Our initial problem was simply a lack of deer."

During the first couple of years, Barnett planted supplemental food plots and eliminated the hunting pressure, realizing all the time that his efforts would be useless without help. Fortunately, his neighbors were not only cooperative, but also initiated similar planting and hunting guidelines on their properties.

"It really took a lot of 'hands-on' work in the beginning," Barnett noted. "But after two years we could see a noticeable upswing in the deer population. Since then, the improvement has continued, both in terms of deer numbers and the size of bucks seen."

In the fall of 2007, an impressive line of scrapes and rubbed trees were found along an old timber road on the farm. Although Barnett, his son Dustin, and a close friend, Adrian Issaacs, bowhunted the property a number of times, the deer was never sighted.

Last year, while scouting the farm in late October, Barnett discovered that the buck had returned. Only this time, there were several more scrapes along the old road, and trees big as fence posts had been rubbed. Nevertheless, through the opening weekend of the November gun season, the big deer remained unsighted.

"I wasn't totally surprised that we hadn't seen the buck," Barnett said. "I knew that big, mature bucks often develop nocturnal movement patterns. Additionally, after a neighboring landowner showed me trail camera photos of a huge drop-tine buck, I immediately assumed it was the same deer responsible for the scrapes and rubs on our place. In those types of situations, there is no way of knowing where the buck spends most of his time."

On Tuesday morning, after rain cancelled the construction job where Barnett was working, he hurried home, grabbed his hunting gear and headed for the farm. He also called Adrian to see if he might be interested in joining him.

Because of the cold, rainy weather, the two men climbed into a shooting house overlooking a 20-acre bean field. By early afternoon, Barnett announced that regardless of the rain he was going to try a different location for the remainder of the day.

"I just couldn't get that scrape line off my mind," Barnett said. "I grabbed an old bottle of Knight & Hale doe estrus that was sitting in the corner of the shooting house and headed up the hill."

During his walk, the rain began to fall much harder. In fact, the hunter began to question whether he could tolerate the weather conditions while sitting in an open tree stand.