Benjamin Steele came from a long line of loggers. He’d graduated high school in the spring of 1972 and went straight into the family business. In the 6 years he’d worked for Big Sky Logging Co., he’d done everything from a desk job to driving a logging truck. Driving the big logging trucks ended up being his favorite thing to do and was eventually what he stuck with. Driving around the mountains of Montana gave him the opportunity to view the vast beauty and at times do a little scouting before deer season.
From the time he was old enough to walk, he was at his father’s side in the deer woods. Pursuing the elusive Whitetail was in his mind; as good as it gets. It was his chosen profession and unshakable love of hunting that led up to a series of events that would shake his small community of Big Bend, Montana in the Winter of 1998. The following is his tale…
From the diary of Benjamin Steele:
05/08/98: I had a little time while my truck would be loaded, so I walked up to the top of the ridge to do a little scouting. Although this area is to be cut before deer season, I couldn’t help but have a look around. When I first saw it, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. No way could a buck’s head support an antler that big. When I got closer however, I saw that it was for real. I pulled the shed antler from the vines that had grown around it. It was unbelievable! It must have weighed at least 15 pounds. I immediately walked back to the truck and hid it inside. Luckily, no one saw me. I radioed my buddy Mike. When I told him it had 17 points and a base the size of a softball, he thought I was pulling his leg. Mike will find out later that it is no joke.
05/09/98: Mike came by before work today to see the shed. The look on his face was priceless. We’re going to get together this weekend to score the antler and also try and figure out how we can hunt him.
05/13/98: Mike and I figured out what the buck would score in the B&C record books if the other antler matched the one we have. When we had finished, both of us were quite excited to find it would potentially score over 300. We had a problem, however. Both of us desperately wanted to hunt the buck, but Big Sky Co. was due to clear-cut the area in September. We have to somehow convince them to hold off until after deer season. Mike said he had an idea before he left. He said he was going to think about it awhile before divulging it to me. He’s a bit of a drama queen sometimes.
05/16/98: Frank Wright, Big Sky’s district supervisor, agreed to join Mike and I on a fishing trip this weekend. Frank is second in command at Big Sky and also happens to be Mike’s brother-in-law. Apparently Mike thinks we can convince him to halt cutting until after we’ve harvested the buck. We’ll see.
05/20/98: Frank’s eyes nearly popped out of his head when I opened up the shell on my pickup to reveal the massive shed. We explained to him our predicament, while doing some bass fishing in Mike’s Ranger boat. We offered to let him in on the location it was found if he could arrange to bypass cutting the area until after deer season. Being an avid deer hunter himself, and excited by the prospect, Frank agreed to do everything in his power to make it so. There are 3 of us now hunting this giant of a buck, and I hope it remains that way.
06/12/98: Frank called Mike this evening, who in turn called me, to share the great news. Well, at least most of it was great. Frank had gone straight to the headman, George Loutin Sr. to try and delay the cutting schedule until the September of 1999. Things didn’t go quite as planned. Unfortunately, George Sr. didn’t agree with Frank’s assessment that the area pines needed another year’s growth before being cut. It turns out that George Sr. had personally toured the area back in January and had given instructions to the state supervisor, Glenn Mackey, to cut. Frank was caught off guard by this revelation. He had assumed that Glenn had given the order. Caught in the middle of a lie, he had no choice but to level with George Sr.
Frank later told Mike that when George Sr. heard about the buck potentially scoring over 300 B&C, he was sold. There is bad news, though. George Sr. wants in on the action. It seems like my chances are getting less and less that I’ll harvest the monster buck that I discovered. There are now 4 of us after the buck Mike and I have nicknamed, The ‘Big Sky’ Buck.
07/04/98: I attended the ‘Big Sky Fourth of July’ celebration this evening, along with my wife and daughter. Everyone was there, including George Sr. He pulled me aside during the fireworks display to talk with me about the buck. It seems that things just keep going from bad to worse. Apparently, Frank hadn’t made it clear to him that the whole thing was hush, hush! George Sr. has connections with some pretty big name hunters. They are mostly outdoor writers and one of them hosts a TV hunting show. He invited a total of 8 others to hunt with us. The TV guy is bringing a whole camera crew to film the hunt! The total is now up to 12 hunters, plus the camera crew. I feel sick.
09/28/98: George Sr., Frank, Mike, and I all went up on the ridge south of Big Bend today to do some scouting. We saw some of the biggest tree rubbings I’ve ever seen. There was one tree, nearly as big around as my leg, which had been nearly rubbed in two. I had a good talk with George Sr. about not letting anyone else in on our secret. He assured me his lips were sealed.
10/15/98: Somebody’s lips were apparently not sealed! While at the grocery store today with my wife, I had 4 different people come up to me and ask about the big buck south of town. I assured them that what they had heard was only rumor, but I don’t think any of them believed me. Rifle season starts on the 20th of next month. I’m starting to really doubt my chances of harvesting the ‘Big Sky’ buck.
11/18/98: Opening day is just two days away, but I’m not even sure I even want to go. George Sr. and all his friends are going to set up a deer camp at the base of the ridge tomorrow, and they invited Frank, Mike, and I to join them. I figure that if anyone gets a shot at the ‘Big Sky’ buck, it’ll be on opening morning. After that, I’m afraid he’ll leave the state of Montana and likely never return.
10/19/98: George Sr. is a big fat idiot! This whole thing is a disaster! I’m sitting around a campfire with at least 50 other hunters. Today at noon, his big shot friends rolled right through the middle of town. As if everyone weren’t suspicious enough! The guy who hosts a TV hunting show rolled through town in a big semi with ‘Dave’s Hunting World’ painted across the trailer. To top it off, they decided to stop into the local diner to grab a bite to eat before heading to camp. While there, Dave thought it would be nice sign autographs and hand out free T-shirts. After the circus in town was completed, they all loaded up and started heading south towards deer camp. Frank, Mike, and I had arrived early at camp and cleared off an area big enough for us all. We were sitting back admiring our work over a couple of cold ones when George Sr. and company came around the corner towards camp. I nearly fell over and cried! The whole thing looked like a parade! There were at least 20 pickup trucks full of locals that had followed them. I would go home, but my truck is blocked in by a huge semi!
10/20/98: I tried to sleep in this morning, but found it impossible with 50 coffee cups rattling all over camp! I went ahead and got up, but I didn’t have any desire to go hunting. The 50 or so other hunters started filing into the woods around 5:30 A.M. It looked like a small army going off to war. As expected, no shots were fired. There were however some notable events that took place. Upon returning to camp, one of the cameramen swore up and down that he’d captured a Bigfoot on tape. However, after reviewing the film, it was determined that he’d actually filmed one of the locals named, Buck Jacobs. He’s famous around Big Bend for his amazing ability to grow hair. It was an easy mistake to make.
A couple of hunters actually claimed to have seen the ‘Big Sky’ buck high-tailing it down the hill. Their claims were later collaborated by a local newspaper reporter who had driven out this morning in hopes of getting an interview with the lucky hunter who bagged the ‘Big Sky’ buck. He was on the highway, which runs at the base of the mountain we were hunting on, when it happened. He was looking up the mountain wondering what all the orange dots were. He commented later that it looked like a huge Christmas tree. Anyway, he stopped his car to take a picture of the strange site when old ‘Big Sky’ himself barreled off the hillside and across the road in front of him. Being an ace with a camera, he managed to get off about a half roll of film before the monarch disappeared into the heavy timber on the other side of the road. He drove on into to camp to let everyone know what he saw. From what I understand, they’re moving the deer camp to the other side of the road now. I’m going home!
10/21/98: I’m thankful to now be home and away from that group of morons south of town. I’m glad that the ‘Big Sky’ buck escaped that group of lunatics. If I even come across him again, you can bet I’ll keep my mouth shut! Mike and I are going to go hunt north of town tomorrow. There are a few hunters staking out my house. I guess they think I know something they don’t about the whereabouts of ‘Big Sky’. I’m going to sneak over to Mike’s tonight, and we’ll leave from his place in the morning. Otherwise, we’ll have folks following us around all season!
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Copyright Mark Banta 2009