I didn't take the buck!!!! I was WAYNE MILLER from Aberdeen, SD. Kind of a cool story on how traditional friendships develop and a cheesehead from WI ends up hunting in S. Dakota. Twenty plus years ago I met a CO taxiderist Barry Smith up on a MT in Colorado. He's from Aberdeen. After that meeting, Barry and I hunted somewhere in the world for 21 years in a row. In that time I met Wayne and he and I have been to AK (2X), BC, Alberta and probably a couple of others.
Wayne and his brother Ron Miller now own Barry's childhood farm and a mile (+) of riverbottom on the James River. The first week in Nov Barry leaves CO and I leave WI and meet Wayne and Ron for a week of chasing whitetails. THere's way too many storys to tell, but Ron killed 3 P&Y's out of the same stand, I got a 150+ gross out of the same stand (called THE CORNER), Barry shot a huge nontypical on the run with a very big typical following it. Plus Wayne shooting two 150ish bucks in one year and Barry full mounting them on a 4X8 piece of plywood with a fence in the middle, one buck landing on his front feet and the second jumping off his back - you get the idea. Needs to be seen by everyone who enjoys taxy and WT's. IF I knew how to work Photobucket or TG had a LW format.
Back to the above pic. I brought out 2 ladder stands this year '08. Ron, Wayne and I put the second one up on 10/31. I secured it to the tree and Wayne trimmed. Two months later he told me, I told him to take off one more branch and if he had not - no shot. After the stand was up Wayne said let it sit for a day. So he sat it on 11/2. That night Wayne said he saw the buck coming towards him pretty early and 100ish yds. Very slowly. In fact, Wayne has a great sense of humor, sitting with a cold one in the kitchen he said if he (the buck) was walking up here (the kitchen) "it would take him four days to get here." Well, by the time it got into range it was pretty dark and Wayne wasn't sure where he hit at the 12 to 15 yd shot. That buck at 12 - 15 WOW heart attack city!!!! We didn't track it that night, hence the conversation in the kitchen. No sleep, for Wayne and not much for Ron and me. The next day we had about a 3 - 400 yd blood trail with a very happy ending. I wonder what Wayne remembers about the trail, but I will never forget walking in the cattails behind him and him turning around and saying, "We got 'im." All he saw was the bucks butt.
For you guys interested in inches. And I'm not exactly sure of them, but he grosses 189, with 2 pts from Compton he'll break 190. I don't know how you guys feel about the A&J Club (Allen and Jennings), but I have a number of issues with them (stick that 80% let off where the sun, the membership voted against it, try shooting a BOW, sorry I'm venting). THAT buck with deductions scores 162!!! The animal grew it - score it. The buck is symetrical on first look. It has deductions on circumferences. Between the G2 and G3 there's like a common base and on the other side it's between the G3 and G4. Ridiculous!!!! I don't want to vent too much. Or I'll start on the Unicorn buck that Ron shot out of the Corner and looks like a 180 incher, but scores 125ish. Damned I couldn't stop. Congradulations to Wayne Miller.
One last thing - shot with a Robertson 51 at 28, I think a carbon Gold Tip and a 125 gr 4 blade Zwickey.
Bowmania