“I was devastated,” knowing those chances don't come often, Lance Fowler's heart sank for the rest of the evening. 

The story of this giant starts on June 28, 2023, with the first camera placement on a new farm. That evening, Lance started getting pictures of a nice eight-pointer with a couple of stickers. He and his brother were excited but not overly impressed, as they knew of larger target bucks.

Of course, if this deer happened to walk by, they’d take him, but he wasn’t the focus. He never seemed consistent in his travels, and they were only getting about one picture per week. After harvesting the soybeans, the buck became even more infrequent and almost faded out of their minds.

Turning the Page

Fast forward to July 10th of this year while Lance and his dad were hanging cameras. This farm is mostly crop ground without much cover for deer. Lance and his dad were searching for the best camera placement and saw a deer take off. They immediately looked at each other and said, "That may be the biggest deer I've ever seen in velvet."

They placed the camera and got out. Lance immediately made a call to his best friend and hunting partner, Carter Quint, who didn’t believe him at first until the next day at 11:34 am. Lance had photo proof. After studying the few pictures from 2023, they decided the eight-pointer from the year before had piled on the inches. Amazingly, it was the same deer!

The next several days of frequent pictures kept the excitement high, and Lance knew he needed more intel and more cameras to determine the best ambush position. On July 20th, he and Carter went on a mission. Nearing a planned camera placement, a smaller fork horn, which was the only deer that ran with the velvet giant, stood up from a bed. Lance quickly dropped and spotted the big buck standing barely 30 yards away. Thankfully, the wind was right, and while the buck knew something was wrong, he simply walked around the corner. 

While quickly getting the camera started, Lance heard something. That deer was walking right toward him. Knowing it was too late to hide, he grabbed his phone and filmed the encounter. The buck almost ran him over at 5 yards while heading up towards a pond and out of sight.

"My heart sank immediately," as he thought the buck might change home ranges due to the intrusion. Thankfully, that evening several pictures confirmed the buck was not gone. As you would imagine, they stayed off the farm, and with each piece of intel, they watched the buck’s movements and put the puzzle together.

Coming into August, the buck seemed to be showing off for the cameras, giving them daily pictures until August 14th. Then he disappeared for a solid week, causing panic around the Fowler house. Fortunately, he became regular again until August 31, a mere 15 days before the start of Missouri bow season. Over the next seventeen days, Lance anticipated the next notification, but it seemed as though another disappearing act may have happened.

With high hopes the giant would resurface, but also knowing they didn't have a tree stand ready, they hung a few sets just in case. Hanging the last stand, Lance made a mock scrape. And, within a few evenings, the buck was back and using the scrape!

On September 22, the buck walked by the scrape and laid in camera range for 5 hours. With a perfect wind for the next evening, Lance slipped in and started glassing. After studying the ground in front of him, he looked back to where he had walked in 45 minutes earlier. He couldn’t believe his eyes! The giant stood up from his bed 180 yards away. It had to be bedded within 15 yards of his path to the stand! Of course, Lance was surprised but immensely thankful he hadn’t bumped him.

The buck stood stretching his legs for a few minutes and laid back down. This provided for some great video footage, and his friends couldn't believe the snap chats they were getting. Once the buck stood back up, Lance still had the camera rolling and watched as he slowly walked away.

The First Encounter

The buck was filling his stomach with corn, and after an hour and a half, with the light fading, he turned and started walking straight toward Lance's position. He lost visuals for a short period but could hear the buck coming and knew to be ready. The deer cleared a corner, and even though the light was low, there was no question this was the buck he was after. Lance drew back, and the buck walked perfectly into an opening at 25 yards. But it was too dark! He couldn't see through the peepsight to get a shot. 

Knowing those chances don't come often, Lance was devastated. Even though his family was elated and loved the footage, Lance couldn't quit thinking that may be his only chance.

Not wanting to give up but knowing the wind was wrong for the next morning, he began planning an evening hunt. With his brother in another stand and Carter with Lance, hopes were high, but no buck. Trail cameras wouldn’t provide more intel until the next morning when Lance didn’t go hunting. At 7:30 that morning, the monster was back - right in front of the stand. He knew his chances of harvesting a deer like this were probably decreasing with each encounter, and he needed to make the next one count.

Moment of Truth

With sound advice from his Dad to make it happen, Lance left work early for an evening hunt on September 25. Thinking he had plenty of time and wanting to keep his shooting skills sharp, he nocked an arrow and let one fly to a target at 64 yards. Something was wrong! He hit the bottom of the target.

Knowing the shot felt good, he shot a group at 40 yards with similar results. After his 20-yard group was tight but 5” low, panic sat in. He checked every screw on his sight, rest, and bow and made sure nothing else had changed. Finding nothing obviously wrong, he made enough adjustments to group ½” low at 20 yards and knew he better get to the woods!

Now, instead of having plenty of time, Lance was running late. En route to the farm, he made several calls for advice on his bow and made sure nothing was missed. While pulling into his parking spot, two does leapt from their beds, and his nervousness turned into instant excitement. 

After sneaking to the stand and trying to relax, Lance started glassing. Something caught his eye about 320 yards away, and he thought he saw antlers. Then, the antlers moved, and he knew right away it was the giant. Finally, his target stood up, stretched his legs, and laid back down. The anticipation was building, and after another 25 minutes, the buck finally stood up and slowly moved while eating. 

Then a smaller buck stepped into the draw 140 yards away. Lance’s target buck took exception and started running straight towards him. They squared off, and after dominating the younger buck, a small tree proved no match for this buck’s huge rack and aggressiveness. After slinging the smaller limbs from his antlers, a steady gait brought him to almost 80 yards before he stopped to graze. Again, it took him another 15 minutes to start closing the distance.

This time he stopped to feed at 62 yards. Was he ever going to get close enough? Finally, Lance knew the shot window was coming. As the deer walked behind a limb that was left for cover, Lance came to full draw. As often happens, the buck stopped just before clearing the limb, leaving Lance a clear view of nothing but his head. Although he had practiced holding his draw many times before, this one seemed like agony! 

It was obvious the buck didn’t want to move. So, finally, with the buck’s head turned in the opposite direction, Lance let down his draw. But, this meant once the buck started walking, it would require a quick draw-and-shoot before he was out of the clearing. He finally took a few steps, Lance drew back for the third time on this deer, placed his pin near the front shoulder, and slowly squeezed the release. He could tell his impact was slightly further back than planned but should still hit hopefully the lungs and probably the liver. The deer ran about 10 yards, stopped behind a hedge tree, and stood still.

Final Seconds

Wanting to get another arrow in him, but knowing he couldn’t, Lance stood there waiting on another clear shot. Little did he know, the buck had run in front of a trail camera. It didn’t take long before Lance’s dad and brother were blowing up his phone with questions about the hunt. But Lance couldn’t answer! At least two minutes went by with the buck standing there with Lance barely able to see him. Finally, the buck toppled over, and Lance heard his last breath.

About 45 minutes later, he climbed down and slowly crept toward the buck. He spotted the left antler lying completely still on the ground, and celebration rushed over him. Thankfully, his dad, brother, Carter and a whole crew of others were on the way to celebrate with him and help with his recovery.

What a joy that evening was with friends! And, the next morning the excitement continued as he looked through trail camera pictures that caught the excitement of the recovery. His first official Boone and Crockett green scoring has been completed with a gross score of 231 ⅝”. While there will be a mandatory drying period, this buck is still one for the record books.

Congrats to Lance on a great buck and the fun of chasing him! Now, he says it’s time to turn his focus toward finding his brother a giant to hunt. Good luck!

- Robbie Jessen, DeerCast Senior Writer