Alicia Miller might've heard a shotgun blast possibly emanating from within the family's 30-acre farm. But gullible, she isn't.
She and her husband Arjay were hunting apart that day, the shotgun opener in Washington County, Ohio, along with his two brothers, Adam and Ben. When she heard the news that Arjay had shot a buck, she was happy. When she heard it was bigger than the one she had on the wall, she was justifiably skeptical.
"With those jokesters, there was no way I was falling for an I-killed-a-16-point-monster line until I laid my eyes on that beast myself," she said.
Seeing was believing, even if it stung just a little bit.
"I was happy and proud of Arjay, even if I could see the smirk he was hiding inside because he had finally surpassed my wallhanger after carrying the burden of second place for four years," she smiled.
The Millers love deer hunting.
On the fateful day, the four hunters split and went to their favorite spots. It was just breaking day when Arjay chose a vantage point overlooking a dense thicket. The place was so thick with multiflora rose bushes as to be difficult for bowhunting, but perfect for a slug gun.
Thirty minutes after he arrived, Arjay heard a noise in the thicket and focused his attention in that direction. Whatever was inside was coming closer, but he couldn't see anything.
"I had a grunt call with me, so I gave a few grunts, and then I finally saw a deer coming my way," he told Ed Waite, who's writing the story for Rack magazine.
"I think it was about 40 yards away when I glimpsed the headgear and knew it was a buck," he continued. "I couldn't tell how big it was at that point, but it had a good rack."
As soon as Arjay had a clear shot, he took it. He saw the buck tuck its tail before disappearing over a ridge.
The buck's BTR composite score is 193 6/8 inches.