Big Buck 411 Blog

Detour for Deer

Detour for Deer

By Mike Handley

Ryan Boyer can thank his wife and the road department for the incredible whitetail he arrowed in 2019.

The first two weeks of Ohio’s bow season were scorchers, so hot that Ryan went afield only twice. Hunting when the thermometer reads in the 90s might be fine for Floridians, but Buckeye State deer self-quarantine until after dark.

On Oct. 16, Ryan’s eight-hour shift began at 3 a.m. While at work, he heard a long-awaited cold front was supposed to arrive later that day.

There was no way he was going to let the opportunity slide.

“When I got home, I grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed right back out the door to pick up my oldest daughter at the high school,” he told Ed Waite, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “After I dropped her off and was on my way to hunt, my wife called to let me know a road was closed.”

That news called for a change in destination. Ryan wound up parking where he usually stopped to glass fields. He then hiked 80 yards, wind in his face, to a small rise where he could scan a stretch of CRP.

During his second sweep of the tall grass, he noticed an antler beam about 150 yards distant.

“I knew it was a shooter the minute I saw it,” he said. “It was browsing along slowly, taking one step or half-step at a time, neither coming closer nor moving farther away.”

Staying put wasn’t an option for Ryan, if he wanted a crack at the deer.

“I am 6-3 and weigh 270 pounds, so stealth is not one of my stronger suits,” he laughed. “I knew the odds were against me, and I also knew the buck was slowly moving toward a stand of hardwoods. Once there, it would be gone!”

Ryan followed a deer trail into the damp CRP, almost 6 feet tall in places. When he’d moved to within 40 yards of the clueless animal, he reassessed before continuing to within 25 yards.

“Two things I will remember forever: how straight the arrow flew, and the sound of the broadhead striking the deer right where I had aimed,” he said.

Rather than depend on a blood trail, which he couldn’t see anyway, Ryan plowed ahead to see if he could see the fleeing whitetail. When he reached a high point and realized the deer was gone, he stopped.

The buck, however, wasn’t gone. It was 15 yards away and staring at its pursuer. When Ryan saw it, he reached for another arrow. Before he could remove one from the quiver, the deer wobbled and fell.

Ryan’s own legs grew wobbly after that.

He had no idea such a buck might’ve been in the cards. He’d never seen it, although a 16-year-old neighbor had collected several trail cam photographs of the deer.

The Greene County buck has a BTR score of 227 5/8 inches.

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