Kevin Miller celebrated with his wife Kate and son Levi with Blades. (Photo courtesy of Kevin Miller)
Most of us like to think of ourselves as serious deer hunters. After all, we are thinking about hunting deer all year round, practicing bows and arrows, investing in new equipment and clothes, and studying tracking camera photos in our spare time.
But for Kevin Miller, a 31-year-old Air Force veteran living in Ohio, chasing the deer is much more serious than the aforementioned weekend warriors.
After all, how else can you explain the serious effort and money required to place more than six mines and 38 gaming cameras on a friend's small farm and a newly acquired 400 acre plot nearby? A few months before the deer season?
Yes, you read that right-there are 38 tracking cameras on 440 acres of land! In the end, these mobile phone camera units proved to be well worth the time and effort, because they produced thousands of photos in the past few years and helped Miller finally mark the huge multicolor atypical stag of his dreams.
Miller’s deer hunting story actually started in 2020, and the rest of the world is dominated by headlines about the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world every day. But it didn't take long for the Buckeye State Hunter to find himself focusing on other things than the news headlines, because he realized that there was a huge stag with unique G-1 eyebrows.
"I got permission from a friend's farm," Miller explained. "I started putting mines and some tracking cameras on the land where he planted soybeans last year. Soon after, I started to get a huge typical 10 point early velvet photo. The appearance of his large and sharp eyebrows made me take it for him. The name "Blade"."
This led Miller to conduct a serious hunting mission in the fall of 2020.
"As the summer continued (last year), I still picked him up on 40 acres of land every day, but I started to realize that he is not a fan of cameras," Miller said. "Once he took off the velvet, he no longer appeared on the original camera, so I moved a few (to another) area and picked him up. (At that time) I realized that once he knew the camera was Where or see it, he will not pass through the area again.
"In fact, the original location I got (his photo), he will never show up there again, but will hit 50-60 yards," Miller continued.
This led to a strategic shift in Miller, who suspended a mobile phone camera that has swept the game camera market in recent years. However, the tremendous pressure was soon attracted by what happened in the woods around him.
"A few days before the start of the season, I hung a cell phone camera on the edge of (the field)," said the Ohio hunter. "(But) he saw the camera and would never touch that scratch again, so I decided to take a screw with me, stand on it, and hang a camera on the tree as high as possible, past the new one I found. Scratches. The edge of the backcourt."
After that, it's time for Miller to sit down and wait and see what happens. But initially, it was not much.
"(That) season started, but it wasn't until October 7-9 that he appeared high up where I hung the camera on the tree. When he appeared on the scratches at night, there were no sightings. There are no photos," he said.
Miller hunted down the bruise without luck, and again a few days later. But after October 15th, he has no more photos of the Bucks for the remainder of the 2020 season.
This led to the offseason of Hunter Soul looking for Miller as he tried to figure out what to do next in the pursuit of "Blade" and how to finally get the arrow to fly out of his TenPoint Vapor 470 crossbow.
The first step is to enter some new hunting grounds in the area.
"There is a very large farm covering 400 acres nearby, and I have a good feeling that it is where he has been or is killing time," Miller said. "I finally got permission (to hunt that farm) in December."
The next step involves trying to determine how the stags move between the two farms.
"I moved some cellphone cameras to the new house, and on the third day (they went out), I took a picture of him on the edge of the field at 10:40 in the morning," Miller said. "By then I was already marked, so I took the time to move (move) and learn from him in the 2021 season (as much as I can)."
Miller pursued the Blades so seriously that he redoubled his efforts and began to record the money in detail.
"I started writing on the calendar all day and I would get a picture of him, where and what the wind direction was, because I think this is the only way I can find a certain pattern on him," Miller said. "I will never find his shed since 2020, and I will not find him after February 2021."
Nevertheless, since there is no report about Blades and no viral social media posts, it is reasonable to believe that the old naughty boy is still wandering around in the Deer Forest in Ohio.
This prompted Miller to continue his pursuit and promised to continue his own whitetail education during the offseason.
"In winter and spring, I watched every video and listened to every podcast to get information that I can use," he said. "One of the main messages I believe is a video with Don Higgins about a mature stag appearing in the same area on the same date in the past few years (in the past)."
By the middle of the year, Miller also increased his level of commitment to buck, installing many game cameras that hunters dream of. But considering the size of the stag, the fact that other hunters might chase him, and the layout of the two farms he is hunting, this is a crucial step in the final archery process.
"So, starting in March, between the original 40-acre farm and the new 400-acre farm, I have set up seven different mines and 38 mobile phone cameras, and started working on the original 40-acre land in early June of this year. Pick him up," Miller said. "This year, that farm is corn, and the next big farm is corn in rotation (in place), so his summer activities are mainly on the 200 acres of the 400 acre farm, mainly on the 40 acre primitive farm."
As autumn approached, Dalu began to react to Miller's Intel acquisition technology.
"As the velvet season approaches and enters his time for depilation, he starts to show less and is doing the same things he did the year before, and the days he did in the previous year were about the same," He said. Said. "So, I came up with an idea to put the camera he knew last year in the same place. Then I moved all the new ones to the (other) area, but in a tree, he was very comfortable and knew there was no Any camera.
"But he hardly knows, there (there is a camera), it's 9/10 feet in the air."
As the 2021 season approaches, this careful detection helped Miller adjust his hunting strategy for the Blades. Although the change of Ph.D. level depends on money-Dr. Blades, anyone? —The crossbow hunter finally gained the upper hand. Soon, it's time to "checkmate"! Move on the wooden board, but not now.
"When the season started, the approach I took was to only look for my review calendar (write down my notes) in the area where he was in the previous year and he (moving) in the wind in that (same) area," Miller said.
Even after chasing the blade in such a cautious manner this fall, Miller still has to wait patiently.
"As time goes by, I will take pictures of him everywhere, but I only found one thing that is a bit decent, (that is) the scratch he hit when I installed the camera last year. Place."
Miller discovered that Blades would perform the same scratch every 5 to 7 days, which was another part of the careful jigsaw he put together.
"So every time I want to hunt by this scraping, I will rotate a black widow bait between Dominator and Scrape Master (bait) to make it look like a different stag and it does hit the landscape. , (All) makes him more angry when he comes back."
In the early morning of October 13, 2021, the Blades hit the bruise, which laid the foundation for Miller's final victory.
Miller said: "Entering the weekend, our temperature has dropped, and the wind is very good." "I hunted on Friday night and Saturday night and only saw a few. On Sunday night, I went early to prepare. , About 2 pm, but before I entered the stands (using my climber to ascend), I used the Black Widow Scrape Master to clean up the scratches."
After months of thinking, Miller's mission was almost over.
"Immediately, I let in a bunch of turkeys and stayed for an hour and a half, and then a small dollar at 8 o'clock," he said. "At about 5 o'clock, they finally started working away from me, so I stood up because I couldn't move for a few hours.
"When I was standing there around 5:20 in the afternoon, I noticed that the branches were moving on the scratches, but because there was a big tree there, I couldn’t see what deer it was. But when he lowered his head, I Realizing that it was the blade, I was almost shocked and felt like I had a heart attack."
But there is no need to call 9-1-1 because Buck opens the scraper again, then lay down briefly in front of the scraper, then stands up and hits the scraper again.
"After staying in front of me for almost 15 minutes, I knew he was (ready) to act, so I was ready," Miller said. "But instead of walking into the wind as I thought, he turned around, fell apart, and started walking away, just like when he (when he) returned to the cornfield."
This made Miller desperately search for the opening through which the arrow could fly.
"There is a place where I can shoot, 45 yards in the front and 48 yards in the back. He is working backwards, so I am ready. Once he enters the clearing, I will start pulling the trigger of my TenPoint crossbow."
Thankfully, this shot is real, and then some.
"I know my father is watching me and helping me shoot because I was shaking so much, I don't know how this happened," Miller said. "I shot him in the heart and it was over soon."
Because the money went to the neighboring property, Miller asked his friend (the family farm where he was hunting) to contact the neighboring property owner and make sure that the restoration work went smoothly.
"He said of course, and then Taylor drove his truck to the neighbor's field, and we dragged him onto the truck."
It wasn't until then that Miller really started to appreciate what he did-winning one of the best crossbows in the Midwest this season-and how big the whitetail antlers and nearly 300 pounds actually weigh!
"This is an emotional roller coaster for me, even after he is down. I can (almost) speak (almost) clearly for nearly 20-30 minutes (afterwards), just because of the long time, scouting, and He grows food and other hard work between.
"So far, he is the biggest deer in my life, in (a very serious) hunting area, which makes it more challenging," Miller added. "I am waiting for his official age, but I believe he is 7.5 years old."
Buckmasters rated it as a semi-irregular stag with a BTR number of 203 3/8 inches. After the 60-day dry period is complete, the Miller Bucks may score more than the 195-inch mark required, which allows the deer to enter the Boone and Crockett Club record book.
Although the final B&C figure of the Miller Bucks may not replace the Buckeye State’s current 201 1/8-inch crossbow status record-a big deer taken by Brad German in 2004-it is still a lifetime win for Miller When the Bucks saw the large mass, good tooth length, excellent main beam and 23 4/8 inch internal extension, he quickly forgot.
After all, this great Ohio Bucks has no real ground shrinkage!
"I thought he was in his 180s, but his size is difficult to measure," Miller said.
Finally, as Thanksgiving Day approaches in 2021, Miller is a grateful hunter, enjoying the great blessings of the huge wealth obtained through long and meaningful exploration. Not to mention that he and his wife Kate and son Levi will have some fresh straps on the Turkish day table!
"I am grateful to my good friend Taylor and his parents for letting me hunt their property and the owner of 400 acres of land for giving me permission (hunting)," Miller said. "It is also a gift to be able to hunt such a deer, let alone a harvest. In addition, (thank you) my family for supporting me, allowing me to spend hundreds of hours on hunting and scouting, and the few dollars involved."
"I don't know if I can surpass Blades, but if I can't, it doesn't matter to me, because it's a great journey."
Although Miller may not be among the best in the Blades, he will definitely work hard in the next few years.
"I'm already looking for and observing the stags I will chase in 2022," he said. "This season will never really end. It is 365 days a year."
Especially when you have more than three dozen game cameras on site, be sure to count the money you will spend next!
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