Living Dream

As an avid bowhunter, it took three years for Al Kraus to draw a coveted Iowa bow tag in 2007. Al lives in Rapid City, South Dakota, where he owns a professional archery shop. He'd been invited by his good friend Ron Skoronsky to hunt a prime piece of property in southern Iowa. Al would be hunting in late October.

Al hunted hard for five days and passed up a number of good bucks. The fifth morning found Al sitting in a tree near a river bank with a cameraman. Despite not having brought a lunch, Al and Matthew decided to stay in the stand for the entire day. That decision proved to be one of the best in Al's entire hunting career.

After a non-eventful day, Al did some aggressive rattling around 5 p.m. A short time later he spotted a monster buck across the river. The buck crossed the river. At the last moment, however, it veered away and headed toward a couple of does downstream.

After some very tense moments in which Al did some aggressive calling, the huge buck came back and offered Al the shot of a lifetime. The 14-point monster, a main-frame 5x6 typical with a 23 5/8-inch inside spread, grossed nearly 200 inches. It was truly a dream-come-true hunt for this South Dakota archer.