This and other trail-camera photos got Bruce Bosse's family excited by proving that the exceptional buck was back where he belonged.

No big deal, he thought. We're neighbors, and this way, he'll know we'll be concentrating on hunting the buck.

Wrong.

The neighbor, who shall remain nameless, as will other participants in this story, owns a quarter of land adjacent to where the video footage was taken. When he immediately mowed down some of his cornfield and put out a pile of corn for bait, Bruce knew he and his companions had competition for the buck. He had no clue just how much competition was in store.

To clarify the record, baiting is legal in North Dakota. And, though it was probably poor manners from a North Dakotan's perspective, the neighbor had every legal right to try baiting the deer onto his property.

What happened next is much less tolerable -- at least from this writer's point of view. Unbeknown to Bruce, the neighbor began shopping Droptine around the country. Either directly or indirectly, he contacted a number of outdoor television shows and so-called professional hunters. The word was out on Droptine.

Shortly before the archery season opener, one well-known outdoor television production company offered to videotape Bruce Bosse arrowing the big buck.

"I didn't want any part of television," Bosse explained. "I just wanted to hunt the buck we'd been keeping track of for three years."

Through some off-handed comments, Bosse got word that someone -- it's not clear who -- was willing to pay him $10,000 to hunt the buck.

Again, Bosse refused. By now it was painfully obvious that Droptine was drawing a lot of attention -- and was creating some serious competition. The Bosses owned opposing quarters of that particular section of land, so they couldn't effectively protect Droptine.

"We knew we had to increase our chances of taking Droptine before someone else did," Bosse recalled. "I asked my brother and Travis to hunt opening day with me so at least one of us might kill the buck. We'd heard that up to nine hunters would be hunting the surrounding area, so we had no choice but to hunt more aggressively than we'd planned."

It turns out two television shows, one archery manufacturer, and several other high-profile hunters had "secured" the right to hunt adjoining property.

THAT BRINGS US TO OPENING DAY, August 31, 2007. It was a typical summer day in North Dakota -- 85 degrees and windy. Based on the buck's movement patterns, the south wind was totally wrong, but waiting for the right wind wasn't an option.

The three dedicated whitetail hunters climbed into their treestands at 3:45 p.m., a full five hours before the end of legal shooting hours. The sun was hot and relentless, the breeze barely enough to evaporate beads of sweat. The mosquitoes weren't bad -- yet.

At 6:30 p.m., the competition showed up. Paeper watched an ATV drive right up to the ground blind in the cornfield on the other side of the shelterbelt he was in and drop off a couple hunters. At least one other hunter occupied another blind in that quarter. In the opposite quarter of that section, which was also planted in corn, another hunter hiked in from the road. They were surrounded!

At about 8 p.m., the wind slowed and mosquitoes welled up out of the grass like a toxic cloud, driving the cornfield hunter toward the road. Bruce Bosse watched in amusement as a 150-class buck sneaked around the fleeing hunter.

Then, sudden movement to the north caught his eye. It was Droptine! Trying to keep the mosquitoes at bay, the buck was constantly shaking his head and massive rack.