When Jeremy Way found both sheds off the buck he'd been hunting for two years, he was thrilled to learn it had survived the 2014 season. But when the 32-year-old hunter didn't see the whitetail during the fall and winter of 2015, he was sure someone else had shot it.
The only way Jeremy could deal with the loss was to imagine seeing the next best thing on his wall.
He was so obsessed with the deer and so enamored of its world-class rack, he gave serious thought to taking the antlers he'd found to a taxidermist and having them anchored to a mount with a different cape. It seemed unrealistic to hold out hope the animal was still breathing.
Kansas' 2016 season arrived before he could act on his impulse.
On a hot and windy Oct. 3, despite an unfavorable breeze, Jeremy and his brother-in-law, Teddy Barnes, walked to their stands about 5:30 p.m. The trip was not planned.
"It was definitely last-minute. The wind wasn't right, and I didn't really expect to see anything," Jeremy said. "Everything was wrong for hunting that place that day."
The property is just 200 yards from Jeremy's home.
To boost Teddy's chances of shooting his first buck, Jeremy offered him the high-percentage spot while he went to a hang-on stand beside a standing cornfield. The latter was 15 feet up a very skinny tree.
"It's so wobbly, you can't even hunt out of it during a big wind," he said. "I didn't expect to shoot anything."
Soon after he settled in, however, Jeremy saw the palmated buck he'd thought was long dead standing 40 yards away at the edge of the corn.
"It might have been there the whole time," he said. "For all I know, it could've watched me climb the tree."
Jeremy had to watch the deer in its bed for an hour before it rose and began walking toward him. The first clear shooting lane was at 30 yards, and that's when the deer felt the sting of a broadhead.
He believes the whitetail was at least 6 1/2 years old, and it was as impressive in body as it was in antler.
"I didn't have any scales. But I weigh 270 pounds, and that buck made me look little," said the 6-foot, 3-inch hunter. "I've shot some good deer, but nothing like this."
The buck's BTR composite score is 200 7/8 inches. There's more to the story, but you'll have to read it in Rack magazine.
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WMA Monster: Ross Fenley / Oklahoma / BTR Composite Score: 213 6/8