Young Blood
December 30th, 2006
I’ve been deer hunting for six years now. Prior to this hunt I’ve taken four bucks and five antlerless deer. Having already filled my two doe tags in the early archery season, I told myself this year I was going to hold out for a trophy to hang my buck tag on and let the little bucks walk.
On December 28th, I got the chance to hook up with Dave Voisey of “Heart Of The Outdoors” for an evening muzzleloader hunt. I normally hunt with my father but since he had already filled his buck tag, he was going to hunt another stand and try to harvest a doe for the freezer. The plan was for Dave to try and get me on film shooting the trophy I had been dreaming of. On this evening the plan came together!
Shortly after 3:00 p.m. Dave, my dad, and myself geared up and headed for the woods. Dave and I were hunting in a tree where he had positioned two stands. One for the camera that he would be running and the other for myself. We had only been settled in the stand for about ten minutes when the buck appeared. Right away I knew this was the one I’d been waiting for. As he came walking towards us he stopped behind a tree for what seemed like eternity. Finally he came out and presented the shot. Dave said he was on the buck with the camera and I had a nice 60 yard broadside shot. After the smoke cleared from my muzzleloader I saw the buck go about 10 to 15 yards and go down. I had finally taken the buck I’d been looking for.
After a long celebration with Dave and my dad and about a dozen calls on the cell phone, we had a big photo shoot and loaded the deer up on the gator and headed back for the truck.
The buck has 8 points with a 17 inch inside spread and 5 inch bases and gross scores 123.5 inches. I already have my standards set high for the 2007 Ohio season.
Wesley England
It took a old fashioned deer drive to get this boy moving. Zach and I pushed this bruiser to dad who literally took the legs out from under the deer. It’s been a long time coming but dad now had true trophy. the deer field dressed weighed 213 lbs. and rough scores 157″. Thank you Lord for a blessed day. 
December first brought the cold air Ohio Shot gun season needed. We headed to a cut bean field where the farmer we have been working with agreed to leave 5 acres of standing beans. With Heart of the Outdoors President Ben Seiger behind the camera we waited in the frigid cold for our plan to finally come together. A half hour before sunset I got movement of this awesome deer heading its way to the field. As I prepared for the shot I waited while this buck ate safely behind the row of trees that divided us. I thought he would never lift his head out of those beans but when he finally did he headed our way.
On I went to one of my favorite stands, the deer bed on the other property in a large CRP field and then get up and cross through a gateway and come over on the property I hunt to feed at night. I got in the stand about 2:30 this evening and almost immediately noticed movement in the CRP field. It was a nice 8 point that I had videoed earlier in the season and a really nice 12 point I had seen twice so far but never close enough for a shot. The two bucks wandered around out in the field for a couple of hours and joined up with a 5 point buck. The three bucks started working my way slowly, finally the 8 point and the 5 point made their way through the gateway and walked right past me at 20 and 30 yards, as they walked on by I knew the 12 point who was dragging along behind would come through the gate sometime. Finally he reached the opening and stood there surveying the surroundings, when he started to come through he started trotting towards the other two bucks, he slowed to a walk and paused for a moment, when he did I swung the video camera around on the swingarm and drew my bow, he took a couple of steps and when he paused again I released my arrow. I followed my Lumenok to what looked like a good shot, it was a little back but angling forward. The three bucks ran across the wheat field to another CRP field, I then lost sight of them. I got down and checked my arrow and found it was covered from end to end with good red blood. Not wanting to bump him, I elected to spend the longest night of my life and leave him lay over night. I knew he made it to the CRP field so in the morning my Dad, Bill Chenoweth and friend Rob Penewit came out to help me find him. When they got there Rob and myself got in the back of my 4 wheel drive truck for a better vantage point and had Dad drive us through the CRP field to look for my buck. On the first pass through the field I spotted my buck laying just past where I saw them go in the night before. He’s a really nice 12 point that’s going to gross in the 150’s. It was a great hunt, I got to watch him for almost 4 hours and videoed him in the field most of that time, get the shot on camera by myself and then to have my Dad and best friend Rob being there to help me find him was great.
One night at church, a good friend of mine approached me with some trailcam photos and asked me if this buck was shooter….. “A SHOOTER” I said! This thing is a monster! To make a long story short, ony a few days later Larry had this Ohio giant only twenty yards from his stand! One well placed shot put this bigboy down!
Finally, after 5 days behind the camera for show host Heath Painter I got to get in front of it with a bow in my hand. It was the first full week of Nov. during the rut, so we knew anything could happen. The wind wasn’t right for our original stand choice, so we went with plan B. This stand was on a wooded ridge between a CRP feild and a large pond. The deer were using it as a travel corridor between the corn feild and the bedding area. So we doctored up our boots with Doc.’s and made the hike in. We wasn’t on stand very long before I heard the sound of something walking through the leaves on the ridge behind me. I had just turned to look when Heath said “Here comes a doe with a good buck on her tail.” I barely had time to glass him before they were at 30 yards, and by the time I had my bow ready the doe was at 10 and the buck was at 22. After moving my binoculars and coming to full draw with the doe at spitting distance i was able to lean out and make a perfect shot. The buck didn’t go 60yrds. I was pumped and couldn’t wait to get out of the tree. After a long 30 min. wait we made it to him and I reallized I had just shot my oldest whitetail buck ever. This 250 lb, blond buck was estimated to be 9.5 yrs old and in my book a real trophy. And best of all I got to share all of this with a good friend.
It was the first morning of a two week vacation and the wind was finally right for the spot we named the hallway. The northwest wind at 3-5 mph with a heavy frost and 19 degrees was perfect, and with it being the first week of Nov. with the rut on, anything can happen. We climbed into our stands about 45 mins. before shooting light and by daybreak had a racoon swimming in the creek below us. Then it started, cameraman Ray Hughes spotted two bucks at the other end of the draw sparring and working the other way. I quickly pulled out the River Valley grunt call and gave a few grunts and that was all the larger buck needed to hear. He turned and started walking towards our pinch point setup with hair all bristled up. As he got closer we could see just how much mass he had so I grabbed my bow and tried not to get to pumped just yet. But when he stopped where we put out Doc’s dominant buck urine and made two scrapes at 25 yards in some brush, I counted 12 points and there was no holding back at this point. So after what seemed like an eternity he stepped out at 15 yards for a picture perfect shot. The arrow flew true and after running about 20 yards my Illinois monster laid down and died on camera. To be safe we gave him the longest 30 mins. of my life before climbing down. To wrap my fingers around those massive horns was a dream come true.
High winds, warm weather, and a uncontrolable desire to get out into the treestand was the story on Oct. 28th here in Ohio. I had been on the road filming out West and this was my first sit in a treestand for the year. Cameraman Dave Voisey expressed his concerns about being able to film and hang on at the same time….. And hang on we did! Every few seconds, a strong gust would nearly blow us out of the stand. Lucky we had on out Hunter Safety Systems! Towards evening, the winds started to lay down and I started rattling. Moments later, a big buck lurked in the thick brush only twenty yards away. Dave struggled to find the deer in the camera…… But at the moment of truth, both Dave and my Gold Tip arrow found the mark. This big cornfed buck made my first sit a good one!