HENNESSEY — Walk in Donnie Miller’s home and one immediately notices the decor.

There are two mounted bears that he shot in Alaska and Canada. Deer heads are mounted wall to wall.

“That’s my hobby,’’ said the 68-year-old Miller. “I don’t drink. I don’t run the bars, but I do like to hunt and fish.’’

Miller’s love of hunting helped him go from raising wheat, cattle and beans to raising quail, pheasants and chuckars on a game bird farm five miles west of Hennessey.

Miller has been in the business for 20 years.

“I had no idea there was that much of a demand,’’ Miller said. “As far as Oklahoma and a lot of surrounding areas was concerned, I can’t say it was on the ground floor, but it was close to it ... I couldn’t think of one or two bird raisers in Oklahoma when I started.’’

Miller used to raise and train bird dogs. He originally wanted to raise quail because quail production was going down in the state.

“I was going to put in 500 quail, just for my training dogs,’’ he said.

A neighbor, Pat Klein, said to get 500 for him. Miller built a pen for the 3,000 chicks he originally ordered. He sold them. He sold another 3,000 the next year and another 3,000.

“My hobby turned into a business,’’ Miller said. “Lots and lots of people were coming to me. That’s how my business grew ... word of mouth.’’

Miller has lived on his property since his family moved to Hennessey when he was seven. He doesn’t miss farming.

“Prices are just driving farmers out,’’ he said. “I can control the price I get for birds. With cattle and wheat, it’s what do you give me. With a bird I can say I have to charge 10 cents more because feed is up. With cattle, you have to take what you can get.’’

His customers are from Oklahoma to Texas to Kansas to Colorado to New Mexico and to Minnesota. T. Boone Pickens is among those who have purchased his birds.

“You never know when you’re going to get a call from people needing birds,’’ Miller said.

This summer Miller may have close to 60,000 birds.

Like farming, it’s a seven-day, 12-month-a-year job as he watches his incubators, hatcheries and deliveries. He estimates he’s put as much as 50,000 miles on his car.

“It’s not a hard job, but you have to stay busy,’’ he said. “It doesn’t go away because you want to sleep in.’’

His busy delivery time is from September to March.

The traveling does have its advantages. On a trip to Kingsville, Texas near Corpus Christi, he got in some deep sea fishing. Because he is so busy with the birds, he doesn’t fish as much as he used to.

He remembers the time when he would never miss a day during the quail hunting season. Now that he raises quail, pheasants and chuckars, it doesn’t hold the same excitement.

“I don’t mind killing them (quail),’’ he said. “It just doesn’t hold the same excitement it did. If I raised deer, some of that excitement would be gone.’’

He killed his first deer at 15, and the excitement is still there for him. In fact, he might be even more enthused now.

“I always wished I had bigger and better trophy bucks,’’ he said. “The horn growth is getting better. A lot of it is the conservation among farmers and hunters. They want to see better bucks. They are passing up the younger deer and harvesting the older deer so we can have that.’’

He tells the story of the brown bear mounted in his living room. It took five shots to bring down the bear in Alaska. The snow in Alaska is deep enough where the bears can look like shadows from the sun.

Miller said game bird farming is harder than hunting.

“You sweat a lot climbing mountains, but you sweat a lot more running a game bird farm,’’ he said. “It’s a good business if you stay up on it. If you get behind, you’re behind and you can’t catch up.’’

Miller said he wishes he was 40 years younger because he loves his work. He still can drive all night to deliver birds or eggs. He said it’s easier for him to drive all night than it is during the day.

Patience, he said, is the key to both a successful game bird farm or hunting.

His costs are going up. A gallon of propane that once cost 50 cents, now costs $1.50. He used to charge 85 cents a mile. Now, it’s a $1.25.

A quail egg will usually take 23 days from conception until it hatches. He can have up to 44,000 quail eggs and 22,000 pheasant eggs at one time.

He does his own wiring and plumbing.

“You just have to these days,’’ he said. “You can’t afford to have somebody else to do it so you do it most of it ourselves.”

Twenty years of raising birds has caused him to get used to the smell of the pens where he gathers his eggs. One bin can hold up to 17,900 pounds of feed.

“You can’t believe how many pounds these birds can eat,’’ Miller said.

His quail are mostly northern bobwhites.

“This is the size of bird most people will be hunting,’’ he said.

The chuckar is a bird that is native to Afghanistan. They thrive in a semi-arid climate.

“It seems like get can get by on nothing,’’ he said. “They are a pretty hardy lot.’’

Miller’s one regret is his difficulty to find help.

“There’s a young boy that I’m trying to take ahold of,’’ he said. “One of these days, I won’t want to drive all night. I’m trying to find someone to take my place.’’

That could be his 15-year-old grandson, Alex Miller, who lives in Kingfisher. The younger Miller spends his summer with his grandfather. Miller’s wife died three years ago.

“Alex came along at the right time,’’ Miller said. “I just felt like he needed to be here. It was a lifesaver spending the summer with me. I was alone ... it worked out great ... he’s a good worker.’’

And already a hunter.

“It’s a thrill being able to show him how to hunt,’’ Miller said.