Stephen Galyean's patience and scouting eventually put him in position to arrow this big 14-point buck. The deer was the top entry in the Dixie Deer Classic for typical bow kills and scored 160 4/8. Photo by Craig Holt.

Patience, scouting, food plots, choosing to sit in a high stand and the ability to hit what they aimed at were common factors for a couple of bowhunters who bagged two of the biggest Tar Heel bucks of 2008.

Stephen Galyean of Winston-Salem arrowed a 14-pointer that totaled 160 4/8 inches and captured the Dixie Deer Classic's top 2008 typical-rack prize. Charles Grantham of Raleigh nailed a wide-racked 9-point (5x4 rack) that gross-scored 140 3/8 non-typical inches (it officially was rated as a 135 4/8-inch typical at the Classic).

The Wake County Wildlife Club, which sponsors the Classic, categorizes bucks as either typical or non-typical by how close rack scores are to Boone-and-Crockett "book" minimums. Galyean's deer was 9 1/2 inches shy of being a "book" typical (170-inch minimum), while Grantham's deer lacked 25 inches of antler to reach the 170-inch typical mark but needed 46 1/2 inches to be classified as a book non-typical.

About the only differences in the hunting practices of the two men were the locations and months when they put their trophies on the ground: Grantham arrowed his deer during early September at Vance County, while Galyean waited until mid-October to drop his Stokes County prize.

Grantham, 44, a builder who sells residential and commercial real estate and is a part-time farmer, has several properties scattered from Vance to Northampton counties. He hunts at each one of them.

"The bigger farm is in Northampton County on the Roanoke River (1,650 acres)," he said.

He killed a 10-point buck the club named "G-2" that sported 150 4/8 inches of antlers there during November 2008 after taking his big bow buck.

"The archery buck I killed at property in Vance County early September last year," he said.

Grantham had watched the big 9-pointer grow from a spindly 6-point buck in 2006 to a decent 8-pointer during 2007. He estimated the buck was probably 2 1/2 years old during 2006.

"I had trail camera photos of him, mostly taken at night," he said. "I never had a chance to shoot him, but I wouldn't have done that anyway, because he was too small, too young, body-weight wise. We manage strictly for 3 1/2-year-old bucks and up.

"But in 2008, he absolutely exploded and became so much more massive. His G-2s were close to 14 inches or better on both sides."

The Vance County acreage that was home to Grantham's big 9-pointer contained only 68 acres.

"I acquired the property mainly for timber, but I always had in mind I wanted to hunt there," said Grantham, who gained the land eight years ago. "I have food plots at all my properties."

He plants clover, chicory, cowpeas, sunflower, grain sorghum and soybeans at the plots.

"It's food for deer, turkeys and whatnot," he said. "I don't manage the land just for deer."

His stand, he said, was a Tree Lounge Lok-On style he placed 35 feet high.

"I like my stands to be a good distance so deer can't smell me as easily regardless of the wind direction or the amount of scent elimination practices being used -- and you can see more, too," Grantham said. "I've got some rifle stands 45 or 50 feet off the ground."