Neil Stewart started hunting 17 years ago. He’s no stranger to the sport. So on Sept. 16, 2021, he knew he had an opportunity of a lifetime.

A 12-point buck roamed North Huntingdon.

Stewart knew he couldn’t let the opportunity pass, so he hunted for the monster buck. Everyone in the community knew the buck was a trophy, but Stewart was determined to be the one to shoot it. Stewart quickly went on a pursuit to find the buck, and when it came into his view, Stewart cocked his crossbow and shot. It was a full pass-through.

“I’ve shot some nice bucks, especially in Pennsylvania, but it is incomparable how big he is compared to the other ones,” said Stewart. “He looks fake, he’s so big.”

Stewart, 29, grew up in North Huntingdon and currently works for his own lawn care company he and his brother started called Neil Patric Company. He has been hunting since he was 12 years old. He hunts with his brother and his father, and it’s always been a passion of theirs.

“Hunting is in my blood. My pap did it, my dad did it and my dad passed it down to us,” Stewart said. “Not only do I love deer hunting, but I have two German shorthaired pointers, and we bird hunted with them. And that’s another thing that my pap and dad passed down to me and my brother.”

One day, his neighbor finally saw the buck that the community had been clamoring about for years.

“My neighbor across the street, he left his garage door open, and when he turned back around to come home, he saw him in a front yard in my neighborhood,” Stewart said. “He doesn’t hunt, so he texted me, and he knows I hunt. He was like, ‘Man, I saw a trophy or a monster buck in our neighborhood, definitely a trophy. I couldn’t even count the points.’ ”

Not too long after that, one of Stewart’s friends posted a picture of the buck online, and this motivated Stewart to pursue the buck. Stewart knew he couldn’t let the opportunity slip.

Stewart didn’t use his preferred bow when he shot the buck he considers a “Loch Ness Monster.”

“I typically use a compound bow, but I actually hurt my shoulder and some of my ligaments stretched. I couldn’t pull back my bow,” Stewart said. “For my dad, my brother and I bought him a crossbow a few years ago, and since his father passed away, he’s not as big into the deer hunting as he used to be, so I shot the buck with that because I couldn’t even pull back my bow.”

Stewart had his crossbow, but he needed a place to hunt. He suited up in full camouflage, but he couldn’t hide in his typical spot, a tree, because of his shoulder injury.

“On this piece of property, they have an old like dilapidated area where it used to be a garden, and they don’t use it anymore and it’s all grown in,” Stewart said. “I nestled myself up into that, and it’s like full of vines. There’s an apple tree right in front of me, and I just thought it was a good spot since I couldn’t climb. I hid in there in full camo with the crossbow.”

Stewart also put his attire in a pine tree before he went out to hunt, which covered his scent. He wanted to be sure that the deer thought there was no human activity in the area.

“I just showed up. It was like playing chess. I knew where it was gonna be,” Stewart said. “I didn’t really give him any hints that there was human activity and that there’s someone hunting there.”

When Stewart got settled in, the buck made its way into his eyesight at 7 a.m. on a warm September day. Stewart couldn’t believe it. The buck went right to him, right in front of him. Stewart shot and hit his target. Nonetheless, he was unsure of how good of a shot it was.

“Those crossbows shoot so fast — and I knew I hit him —but I couldn’t tell how great of a hit it was because when you use a bow, there’s something called a Lumenok and basically it’s on the back end of the arrow that you shoot and it lights up when you shoot it,” Stewart said. “For some reason, this one didn’t light up, so it took me a while to find my arrow.”

Stewart found the arrow and diagnosed that it was a full pass-through. He gave the buck its time to die and went back to the buck two hours later. He followed a small trail of blood and found the buck about 15 yards down over the hill.

The buck had all 12 points, and he couldn’t believe it. Because Stewart grew up playing hockey for the Allegheny Badgers, Norwin High School and the Cal (Pa.), he compared the feeling of shooting the buck to an adrenaline rush he’d get on the ice.

Stewart didn’t realize how impressive his feat was until he put it on social media. As a result of his massive shot, he rose in the ranks as a Buck Master in Pennsylvania. Stewart became No. 1 all-time in the perfect division.

Buck Master rankings have numerous divisions, and Stewart is a top hunter in Pennsylvania. Stewart is proud of his accomplishment and plans to keep on hunting.

“I’ve put in a lot of time. I have some buddies that put in a lot of time. We all have put in a lot of time over the past five years almost every Saturday in the woods,” Stewart said.

“The thing is, I’ve had some nice elusive bucks get away from me in my time, but the cool thing is the biggest one I’ve ever seen, I got him. All those times of seeing your mistakes and learning from them, it paid off.”

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