Davis Smith's swamp monster was just that. The rack sports a 12x11 frame with 29-inch-plus main beams that helped push the B&C score to 209 0/8! Photo by Bryan Hendricks.

Davis Smith was only looking for a place to hunt when he ventured into "The Swamp," but he came out with the buck of a lifetime.

Not only that, but he also got the biggest buck killed in Arkansas during the 2008-09 deer season. The giant non-typical sported a typical 12x11 frame, but was scored as a non-typical because of an abundance of small kicker points. It netted 209 0/8 Boone and Crockett, but grossed 216 2/8 B&C before the mandatory, 60-day drying period.

And its live weight was a whopping 320 pounds!

Smith, a White Hall resident who works as parts manager at the Ag-Pro dealership in Grady, had no place to hunt for two years after some big-money folks bought the lease out from under his former hunting club. He finally joined a new club in Phillips County last season, but he hadn't been around long enough to learn the land.

He spent Friday, Nov. 14, exploring, looking for a place to put a stand. He finally arrived at a remote, heavily wooded and lightly used area near the lease boundary known as "The Swamp." It's a near-impenetrable citadel of deep mud and cypress trees, with comparatively little firm ground in the form of high ridges running like fingers through the bog. By ridges, we're talking about little spokes of high ground rising maybe a foot above the mean elevation. Enveloping the "ridges" is a vast expanse of mud and water that's probably better suited for duck hunting than for deer hunting.

"Years ago, the landowner was going to do some selective (timber) cutting, but the logger had to pull out because he couldn't keep his equipment on the ground," Smith said.

Another hunter rode up on an ATV and told Smith he had a stand, but said there was plenty of room for both of them. Smith thanked him but declined the offer.

"I don't want to get too close to somebody else's hunting. I know how aggravating that is," Smith said. "As many acres as we've got, there's no need to set up on top of somebody else."

The other member insisted that Smith was welcome, so Smith entered the tangled underbrush more or less scouting for a place to erect a stand.

The next day, while easing through the woods, Smith noticed movement in the brush. A stiff breeze blew, and he thought it was a limb moving in the wind until he took a second look. It was a buck, and a substantial one at that!

"He turned his head, and I saw his nose and eye," Smith said. "He was bedded up, and I thought, Oh, Lord, that's not a limb!"