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Big Buck Trumps Couples Counseling

Big Buck Trumps Couples Counseling

By Mike Handley

For a month and a half in 2020, Dillon Feland was not a contender for husband of the year. His life consisted of eating, sleeping, crunching numbers at his father’s company, and social-distancing in a pop-up blind on a lease 30 miles outside of Oklahoma City.

While everyone else was obsessing over coronavirus and who would be the country's commander in chief, the 26-year-old Oklahoman could think only of a deer his trail camera had photographed.

Last year, the seven members of the Sooner State Hunting Club  mapped the property and drew for spots. Because he wasn't able to hunt in 2019, Dillon had first choice: a creek crossing on the smallest of three tracts comprising the acreage.

An Oct. 5 trail camera image caused Dillon to become obsessed.

In six weekends of bowhunting, however, he saw only five deer. He hunted so much that it caused friction at home.

“I thought this buck was going to ruin my marriage,” he said.

On Friday, Nov. 20, Dillon received a daytime photo from his cell camera showing the deer was only 20 yards from his pop-up blind. He was inside that setup the next day, but he saw nothing. Sunday was also a bust until his wife texted him at 11:00, saying her vehicle battery was dead.

While leaving, Dillon followed a nearby “deery-looking” tree line. Peering intently into the woods almost the whole time, he eventually saw the too-perfect white patch surrounding what might be a deer’s eye. He stared at it for at least five minutes, waiting for it to blink.

Finally, to satisfy his curiosity once and for all, he raised his .270 rifle and looked at the white doughnut in his scope. Even with help, he couldn’t tell for certain he was looking at an eye 80 yards distant.

“I could barely see it,” he said.

“Eventually, though, I kinda saw a tail. Then I took a step to the left and saw a scar. When I saw that, I knew which buck it was. My heart dropped out of me,” he said. “I shot it through the brush. I made out a little piece of shoulder, and I shot it.”

This will be the first mount for the Feland household. Dillon and his wife are negotiating where it’ll hang.

— Read Recent Blog! New Runner-up Crossbow Record: With a BTR score of 309 6/8 inches, the 46-pointer is Louisiana’s new crossbow record. It’s also No. 2 in the world within its category.

Copyright 2024 by Buckmasters, Ltd.

Copyright 2020 by Buckmasters, Ltd