DECATUR COUNTY, Ind. — More than 300,000 Hoosiers are sitting in their deer stands, looking for their dream buck this hunting season.
Dustin Huff found one, hitting a record-setting buck with his crossbow. It even inspired him to write a song.
Huff is just fine with the slow pace of life in the country. He said his happy place is working on his craft in his Decatur County home.
"Once I learned how to play a few chords that I knew, I started writing songs about 'Old Brown' or what was going on as a kid - fishing, hunting and girls," he laughed.
The South Decatur High School graduate makes a living writing and selling his songs to country artists in Nashville, Tennessee. He just put out a new album called "Redneck of the Woods."
Huff said he's always looking for something new to write about.
"Deer hunting is where I... sitting in a tree is where I get my thoughts," he said. "I will write a song in a tree stand. I will get something in my head and write it down and then the next week go to Nashville and write it."
Just a few weeks ago, Huff was in a tree when the song of a lifetime came strolling by. He shot the 290-pound, 12-point whitetail buck with his crossbow. It's the largest buck ever shot with a crossbow in the world.
He instantly became big news.
"We had a line of cars up and down the road, about 30-40 people at one time came to see this deer," Huff said. "I was like, 'I'm gonna have to start charging admission.' I was like, 'Yeah, it's been crazy.'"
Last week, Huff turned his dream day of hunting into a song titled "Lucky Me."
Right time, right place,
by design or call it fate.
It's like hitting a home run straight out of the park,
first time up at the plate.
Like shooting that one buck,
biggest in the USA.
That's how I feel finding you,
falling fresh out of the blue.
And it's still hard to believe,
but oh, lucky me.
"Something like that," Huff said after singing part of the new song.
Huff may have the next big country hit on his hands, to go along with his record buck and why not? Right now, he feels like he's the luckiest guy there is.
"Like a five-leaf clover. It's crazy. I mean, I never guessed this would happen to a guy like me," he said. "I am just a redneck who goes to the woods and goes deer hunting, play some guitar. It's been nuts."