Keith Beasley's 157 2/8 B&C buck is the new No. 2 non-typical muzzleloading rack ever taken in Alabama. Photo by Anthony Campbell.

The whitetail rut in North Alabama can be a magical affair for hunters who happen to be in the right place at the right time. January’s the month that sees big bucks become more visible as they go on the prowl for does.

If you’re hunting a carefully managed property or one next door to a sanctuary that’s off limits to deer hunting, you just might bag your best buck ever this time of year. Just ask Keith Beasley of Stevenson or Sid Pugh of Huntsville. Both men did that trick last January.

Beasley’s big non-typical 14-pointer, taken on private land near the Crow Creek Waterfowl Refuge in Jackson County, scored an incredible 157 2/8 Boone and Crockett Club points and is Alabama’s new No. 2 all-time non-typical muzzleloader buck. Pugh was hunting a carefully managed piece of private ground in Madison County when he pulled the trigger on a 150 1/8 B&C 10-pointer, capping an incredible streak of luck for him and his brother Jack that saw them both take their best deer ever.

Both Beasley and Pugh were hunting close to home when they got their bucks -- proof that you don’t have to travel to some remote destination to take a bruiser whitetail. Here are their stories.

KEITH BEASLEY’S 14-POINTER
A lifelong hunter, Beasley had taken several bucks by modern rifle prior to turning exclusively to muzzleloader hunting about 14 years ago.

“I just like hunting with a muzzleloader,” the Jackson County hunter offered. “I think it makes you a better shot when you know you only have one. And the trigger on most muzzleloaders I’ve used is so much better and crisper than what you typically get on a rifle.”

He shoots a .50 caliber in-line rifle topped with a scope. In a normal year, Keith shoots more does than bucks, because he likes to eat deer meat, and usually isn’t particular about what he shoots.

But the 2006-07 season was no ordinary year for him.

The season opened with a bang for Beasley when, during the state’s early muzzleloader hunt, he bagged a nice 6-pointer that sported a 16-inch spread. At the time he was more or less scouting, just slipping around the woods, when he spotted the buck at about 80 yards on a powerline. He put a stone-cold shot on it, dropping it in its tracks.

It was his usual style of hunting. A fall from a tree stand a couple of seasons back having left him leery about climbing into a stand, he did most of his hunting from the ground in 2006-07.

That outing got the hunter to thinking that maybe he ought to target bucks only for the rest of the season. He’d killed 10 does and a single 9-point buck the previous year.

The big 6-pointer fell on Nov. 17 -- and within three days, Keith would strike again.

He was again hunting by slipping through the woods, this time toward a green plot on a powerline. This time he crossed paths with a 7-pointer on Nov. 20.

“I was just walking along when I saw the buck,” Keith recalled. “I knew that he could see me too and that if I stopped and raised the gun, he’d run.”

Keith kept his cool and just kept walking, but he raised his muzzleloader as he moved. When he got the scope on the buck, he stopped and quickly shot.

When the .50-caliber barked, his second buck of the season bit the dust.

After that hunt, Keith rested his private hunting ground and went on a campout hunt on nearby Martin-Skyline Wildlife Management Area with his brother Doug Beasley and friend Barry Johnson.

“Barry killed a 10-pointer that field-dressed 150 pounds,” Beasley noted. Brother Doug killed a doe.