BowhuntingFool, how much time do you think it takes to make a couple of calls, talk to some people and make a few postings. About 25 minutes....tops. You could read every posting on Zaft in about 10 minutes. And what' s not to know about Zaft. The facts are well known. a farmer finds a mostly eaten carcass in a field, Zaft hears about it (second hand I might add, the farmer never informed Zaft directly) Zaft pops by and claims it' s the one he arrowed the day before even though no mention of the deer was made to anyone previous to the deer being found, he heralds himself as the new World record holder by bow, P&Y reject his claim in March, downgrading the score dramatically. Sounds pretty straight forward to me. The only thing that isn' t straight forward is Zaft' s story as I believe there are several variations of it with major discrepacies between them. Here are some interesting observations comparing two stories by Zaft reagrding this as told in North American Whitetail and Buckmasters magazines......................................... .......(originally posted by Brad Lantz of Arkansas):
" Here are the two stories as they are printed. I will paraphrase them and show the differences. North American Whitetail (NAW) issue came in Jan 2002, Big Buck Magazine (BBM) came out with their issue in May I believe (Spring issue)

NAW - " Was this really happening ?(Zaft)An incredibly massive whitetail buck with a high tined rack was trotting my way. He was about 150 yards out and coming along the brush line I was in"

BBM " Then out of the corner of his eye he (Zaft)picked up movement. Peering up he glimpsed a massive buck lazily meandering towards him ..."

NAW " As the buck went behind some thick, leafy cover, I bounded about 15 yards forward and stopped, still standing, near a large broken-off poplar. I took several deep breaths, trying desperately to calm myself in the face of this shocking developement."

BBM " Instinctively, Wayne nocked an arrow and hunkered down in hopes of getting an up close and personal opportunity of a lifetime "

NAW " The buck was closing the distance and hardly breaking stride. In front of me I had a good opening for a shooting lane, one about 8 yards wide where I though the buck would enter. I estimated the distance to this point at 34 yards, well within my comfortable shooting range as an experienced 3-D tournament shooter and bowhunter."

BBM " Patiently watching the buck wander in his general direction, Wayne was granted a privilaged glimpse as the whitetail worked his rub line. The giant buck eventually leapt a barbed-wire fence and began to saunter away but still paralleling Waynes position. At one point the buck was 20 yards but didn' t present any sort of ethical shot opportunity. ............ Continuing his vigil, Wayne waited patiently. Then it happened. Recognizing his small window of opportunity, Wayne drew his 67 pound compound bow and took aim. At just that moment the buck jumped the fence a second time. Then, just as the hooves hit the ground, Wayne zeroed his 30 yard pin on the massive ches, focused and released all in a matter of two seconds"

NAW " As the deer entered my shooting lane, I drew in one fluid motion and then grunted with my voice to stop him. He gave no reaction so I grunted again- this time somewhat louder. The buck slowed to a walk and he looked my way however he wasn' t stopping and my shooting window was closing quickly. I had to take a shot NOW to have a good chance at a clean kill" " I saw my Carbon Express arrow strike the deer a bit high and far back. The Gametracker First Cut 125-grain broadhead passed completely through him."

BBM " Hitting the deer slightly back from the lungs, the buck lunged forward and raced away, with his head and belly to the ground.

NAW " The giant buck bounded away, I noticed no sign of a fatal hit. As I stood there, I was overwhelmed with anxiety as that sinking feeling of " a bad hit" flooded through me."

" I chastised myself for misjudgint he distance (just under 30 yards instead of 34 yards) and hurrying the shot."

BBM (no mention of what Zaft thought of the hit)

NAW " I waited for probably the longest 40 minutes of my life all the while reliving the shot scenario and trying to convince myself that maybe the shot had been better than I envisioned"

BBM - " Then after 30 minutes, Wayne proceeded."

NAW " I could easily see where the deers cloven hooves had torn up ground, but I could find no blood. Finally, I found a couple of small droplets on some leaves but no more"

BBM " Confirming his suspicions, the blood (from the arrow) was darker than he' d hoped for, suggesting he' d hit the buck in the back half of the body.

" he made the wise decision to wait and allow the buck to bed down and expire."

NAW " After losing the trail, I started making short loops through the trees. Soon night fell over the land and to me it felt like defeat"

The rest of the story is pretty much the same. NAW makes it sound like Zaft heard the farmer had found a deer, BBM says Zaft asked the farmer. NAW was first person (Zaft) and BBM was retold. I can see huge differences in the story. I called Big Buck Magazine and told them my concern. I taled to Gary Donald and he said the story was written as Zaft told it. Why the discrepencies ? He didn' t know.

Ya' ll tell me now, was the first story true or the second ? Did Zaft stay put or move ? Was the buck trotting or working a scrape line leisurley ? Was there a barb wire fence or not ? Did Zaft grunt at the deer or not ? Did it run off appearing hit (head down and belly low) or did he run off appearing unwounded ? Did Zaft find first blood or not ? Did he lose the trail first or decide to stop looking ??"