Tom Hillman of Mayfield Township shot two massive 10-point bucks in the first two days of the Michigan firearm deer hunting season. Photo by PHIL FOLEY

He was sitting in his $30 blind at 8:50 a.m. Saturday when a 10-pointer walking with the wind came up from behind him. Hillman's harvested spikes and does off his 10-acre parcel and his neighbors' adjoining 10-acre parcels for the past 15 years. But said the 49-year-old, "I've never gotten a big buck."

So, his pulse started to quicken as he noticed the 10-pointer standing 20 yards out from his blind. He reached for his Winchester Super X2 12-gauge and squeezed off a light field slug. The buck bolted, but dropped in less than 65 yards.

"I was pretty excited," said Hillman Monday, still wearing his buck pole badge from Ray C's Extreme Store.

By 9 a.m. opening day, Hillman had his prize swinging at Ray C's and he thought he just might have a chance of winning a trophy.

While some people would have called it a season at that point, Hillman was back out in the blind in the same spot at 8 a.m. Sunday. "I was thinking I just got the big buck of the woods, all that's left are the little ones," he said.

Then he looked up to see another big buck 80 yards out walking straight for him. "I looked again and he had tall, wide tines. I realized he was a bigger buck then the one I got."

The buck, said Hillman, made a quarter-turn and he squeezed off his second round of the season. He said it laced through the trees, striking his quarry just behind the shoulder. He waited a nervous 15 minutes before following the blood trail, which went only 40 yards before he found the buck, with the slug sitting just below the fur on the opposite side of the entry.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. His second and final buck of the season, also a 10-pointer, was even bigger than the one that he had taken first place the day before at Ray C's opening day buck pole contest.

"There are guys who've been hunting 30 years who don't have one like this," said Scott Stoffel, the inventory operations manager at Ray C's Extreme. He called bagging two 10-pointers in the same location in 24-hours "remarkable."

Jeff Clemens, who along with his brother, Ray, owns Ray C's Extreme, called it "awesome."

However, he noted, Hillman's first buck was something of a problem.

This year for the first time since Ray C's Extreme began it's opening day buck pole contest four years ago, the company has joined with Q1 Broadcasting's Big Buck Pole. Q1 Broadcasting, a Coldwater-based video production company, began a buck pole contest in 1999 that's grown from a local event with 40 entrants to a statewide event that drew 850 entries last year.

This year Ray C's used Q1's scoring method to determine the winner. Each hunter received a score for his buck based on five measurements including the number of points on the left and right beam; the circumference of the left and right beam measured one inch above the skull; and the inside spread measured from the widest point of the main beams.

When the judges tallied up the scores, Hillman's buck scored 34.5 points.

The problem was, so did Lapeer resident Tim Stuart's 8-pointer.

Stoffel said they then turned to the tie breaker rule and measured the longest tine on each deer.

Hillman's buck measured 7 3/4 inches. But, then so did Stuart's

"It was almost like double overtime. It kind of added to the excitement," Stoffel said. But it also left the judges scratching their heads because the rules didn't say what to do next.

So they called Tim Hart, the founder of the contest, at Q1 in Coldwater.

"In nine years, we've never had this happen," Hart said. "Ties have always been broken by the tie breaker." Hart said he decided the only logical thing to do was to measure the second longest tine.

This time Hillman's buck came up a quarter-inch proud of Stuart's.

It was enough to send him home with a trophy; $100 cash; a Thompson Center black powder rifle from CL Sports in Fostoria; a shoulder mount from TC Taxidermy in Metamora; and processing from the Country Smoke House in Almont.

Stuart and the third place winner at Ray C's -- Matt Dalton from Waterford -- both got shoulder mounts and processing. Stuart got his mount from Wildlife Expressions and his processing from McNees, while Dalton got his processing from Country Market and his mount from Timber Wolf Taxidermy.

Hillman brought his second buck into Ray C's for processing because Ray C's is one of 65 locations across the state participating in Q1 Broadcasting's Big Buck Pole, which runs through Jan. 2. The event culminates in six regional parties and a grand finale in Lansing. For more information, visit www.q1buckpole.com or stop by Ray C's.

Stoffel said his first thought when Hillman came in with his second 10-pointer in as many days was, "I'm going hunting where he's hunting."

"It's obvious he's done his scouting," he added.

Hillman said that while he's hunted from two tree stands on his property for years, "I'll always hunt from a darn ground blind from now on."

He added, "It was my year, I guess."

Phil Foley may be reached at (810) 664-0811, Ext. 8148 or pfoley@lapeergroup.com