Realizing at the age of 6 that his calling in life was to hunt, Tim McKoy of Logan devoted all of his spare time to the outdoors. Eager to learn as much as he could, the youngster jumped at the chance to go trapping with his grandfather.

Early on, McKoy also learned this lesson from his father: “One shot, one kill.” That process began at age 7, when McKoy got his first shotgun, a 12-gauge single-shot. His dad was also gave him two shells to go squirrel hunting, along with some powerful words that have been influential to McKoy’s hunting career.

“When my father handed me those two shells he told me for each shell I didn’t bring back I had better have a squirrel in its place,” McKoy recalled. “That’s where the one-shot-one-kill method came into play. I have taken that challenge seriously ever since.”

Back then, McKoy chased squirrels and rabbits. But after his first encounter with a deer, his focus quickly turned to whitetail hunting. He’s been passionate about the sport ever since.

Self-employed now, McKoy has always scheduled time off so that he can be in the woods during the prime hunting periods. With numerous trophy racks scoring over 120 inches under his belt, McKoy has a bit of a statewide reputation as a successful hunter.

McKoy attained his most phenomenal achievement during the 2005-06 hunting season when he secured a place in Alabama whitetail history by being the first person ever in Alabama to put buck in all three categories of Alabama’s Whitetail Records. When you take into consideration that McKoy took all three bucks from Cullman County, which is not typically known for producing monster bucks, the feat appears all the more exceptional.

Eight years ago, after discovering that no one in the Cotton State has ever taken record-book-quality deer with modern firearms, archery tackle and muzzleloading gear, McKoy was determined to be the first. The wheels were set into motion quickly during the 1997-98 season, when the hunter knocked two of the three categories out in one season.

RECORD BUCK BY BOW
“I spotted this buck during the summer before the season opened coming into a big clearcut and using two or three different trails to travel from his bedding area to where he would go to feed,” McKoy recalled.

On opening day of bow season in 1997, McKoy got into his tree stand before daylight. After a slow morning and a break for lunch, he was back on stand by 1 p.m. About an hour later, a doe came through, followed by a 6-pointer and a nice 8-pointer that most hunters wouldn’t have let walk.

“Behind the 8-pointer, I could see another deer,” said McKoy. “I decided to hold my shot -- and the 8-point came within 15 yards of my stand.”

McKoy’s decision paid off in a big way: The other deer turned out to be an even bigger 9-pointer. The buck moved down the trail straight to McKoy, stopping to eat acorns along the way and ending up only yards from the stand. In the meantime, the 8-pointer had circled and gotten downwind of the hunter, picked up his scent, and run off snorting.