Drew Miller always thought his odds of taking a giant whitetail were best on his 500-acre lease in Oklahoma, which is less than an hour's drive from his home in Paris, Texas.
But that doesn't mean the 33-year-old owner of an oil change business doesn't hunt his side of the Texas state line. He also holds the deed to property south of Paris, adjacent to a dairy farm where hunting isn't allowed.
While scouting and glassing fields near that tract in mid-August 2016, he saw a giant buck with drop tines exit a cedar thicket about a half-mile north of his holdings.
Drew had always assumed the cedars were part of the dairy farm. But after looking at a county map, he realized the bedding area was on a little 6-acre property between his place and the dairy farm. He was further elated to discover the parcel belongs to a family friend.
Gaining permission to hunt the ground was as easy as knocking on a door.
Almost immediately, Drew mowed a 35-yard strip next to a fencerow, baited it, and set out a trail camera - a $300-plus model that sends photos to his cell phone. He'd borrowed the cell cam from his buddy, Roy McGraw, who swore by them.
The next afternoon, while Drew and his family were attending a children's revival at his church, the drop-tined buck stepped in front of the lens. From that point onward, except for a couple of days, the deer was photographed at least once or twice daily.
Drew did not sleep the night before the Oct. 1 bow opener, even though he could've without consequence. He'd already vowed not to babysit the thicket in the mornings, so he could've slept as late as he wanted.
He was excited because a weather front had cooled things off significantly, dropping the afternoon temps from the 90s to the 50s, and the moon phase was optimal. Plus, the buck had passed in front of the camera's lens both the previous morning and afternoon.
He was stoked.
That Saturday afternoon, he asked his wife, Brooke, to drop him off - sort of a rolling drop, since he hopped out of the back of the truck - near a blind he'd brushed-in about 30 to 40 yards off the seldom traveled road.
"I was in the blind and ready by 3:15, and that was a good thing," he said. "That place was a zoo by 3:45. Lots of bucks. If I'd arrived any later, I'd have busted them out of there."
The deer of his dreams, minus a couple of its drop tines, was among them. Drew thinks the missing points could've easily added another 20-25 inches to its already impressive score.
"I never dreamed I'd shoot something like this in my own back yard," he grinned.
— Read Recent Blog!
Mount Replacement Takes Six Years: Randy Hayes / BTR Composite Score: 181 2/8