Ryan Miller

I had been hunting this deer and had some close encounters. I knew where the does he was tending were hanging out, so on the last night before rifle opened, I got aggressive and set up right on top of where I thought the does would be. There was zero good cover in this area, so I set up in a small pine tree 6′ off the ground. He came in after his does like I hoped, and he chased one of them off from the herd and ran directly to my tree. He was instantly at 7 yards and when he looked away I started drawing back on him… At that exact moment my rangefinder fell out of my hoodie pocket, and it slammed on the ground. I was DEVASTATED. Somehow, he didn’t run, and we had a 5 min stare-down with him stomping his feet and snorting at me trying to figure what happened. I prayed to god, and I kept looking him directly in the eyes trying not to blink or move. Thankfully one of the does that heard my rangefinder hit the ground had seen enough, and busted me, and started running away. He got mad about the doe running away, did a temper-tantrum circle, and that gave me the perfect chance to draw back. Hit him on the trot at 10yds quartering away. He went 40 and rolled over. Unreal!!

Huge thanks to my wife. I’d never have been able to have this amazing season tagging out if she wasn’t so supportive. We just had our first baby in September, and my daughter is clearly my good luck charm. My 2 biggest bucks within 30 days of each other. All finished up before rifle. Good luck to all the hunters out there!