Buckeyenut

Here is a trail cam photo of him. As you can see he was a double drop, but broke the longer left one off in the last couple of weeks.

I appreciate the sentiment and the 411. However, I too, am very skeptical of the 195". The spread is indeed 26-6/8", and the beams are definitely 30" and 28-6/8, and the bases are 5-6/8" but I'm still not convinced. Regardless of what he scores, I am beyond thrilled to have had the pleasure to hunt him, and the unbelievable fortune to have harvested him. Thanks again!

Thanks, buddy! Those words mean a lot! RP

Chris- thanks for posting the picture! Honestly, I am still in stunned disbelief. We have been hunting this deer for 3 years. We have tons of trail cam photos, but we only saw him one time during daylight hours. That was 2 years ago, and my 13 year old nephew missed him clean. This particular hunt has an emotional (at least to me) back story due to the fact that my Dad was unable to hunt this year due to an aggressive cancer induced surgery 3 weeks ago. It is the first time he has missed the Ohio shotgun opener in 33 years, and I have never had a season when he wasn't there in my 28 years of hunting Ohio's gun season. It was also the first time my two brothers wouldn't be able to hunt the opener. So, needless to say I had a heavy heart heading to deer camp this year. However, on my way out the door, Dad told me to shoot a big buck for him. I immediately thought of the "wide 12". True story! The story of the actual hunt is very long, so I will try to cut right to it. I had a very eventful morning seeing 8 bucks and about 15 does including this same buck, and a very big 8 pointer that I would have been very happy with, but both of these bucks approached from opposite directions at the very same time (along with a nice 9 and 5 does). What are the odds of that? The big 8 approached from behind me, and ended up picking me off at 15 yards after moving my head about a nanometer, and the wide 12 disappeared into a thicket in front of me about 50 yards. I couldn't believe my perceived misfortune. I thought it was all over, but it was only 11:00 and the deer activity was cranking. Every buck I saw that morning was trailing or bumping does. At about 12:15 I was still trying to figure out how I could have a really big deer, and a truly giant deer both within 50 yards of me, at the same time, and not even get a shot? That's when I heard a twig break in the same spot I had seen the wide 12 a little over an hour ago. When I looked up the hill I couldn't believe it-there was no mistaking this deer, obviously! He was on the same trail heading down the hill that the 9 had bumped the does earlier, and he was fully committed. I picked an opening and just waited for him to step into it. I'm not gonna lie, and I'm still not sure how I kept my composure, but I was quickly becoming unglued. I took the shot and he kicked and took off. I was sure I hit him but he didn't go down, and I watched him run out of sight. I waited awhile, and then climbed down and looked for blood. I found a few drops, and then decided to hike out, and go get my buddy to help me with the track job. As hard as we hunted for this deer during the last 3 bow and gun seasons (I had over 300 hours in stand last archery season alone) it only seemed right to share this with my buddy. To put it mildly there were a lot of high fives at the end of this track job. There is an entirely different long story on getting the buck out of the woods, but I'll just say that I totaled my quad, and was very fortunate to have avoided very serious injury. Talk about going from the ultimate hunting high to scared to death, and just thankful to be alive! My taxidermist and I put a tape to him tonight, and we came up with a rough gross score of 195-4/8" and a net of 181-4/8". He has a 26-3/4" inside spread, and a 29" outside spread. His beams are 28-6/8" and 30". The smallest circumference on both bases were a matched 5-6/8". Sorry to ramble on and on, and thanks for taking the time to read my story.

My 12ga. Benelli loves the 2-3/4" Federal Premium Barnes Xpanders

Sure- come on down. It will cost you a rabbit/pheasant trip though!

Any time Chris! I love those pics. Took my biggest buck (152+") over on the far right edge of the second picture. The stand was originally about 40 yards in that direction. We moved it to take advantage of the break in the fence line over your left shoulder.

I have a MacBook Pro and have no issues with Cuddeback, Moultrie, or Wildview cameras. I load them onto iphoto through my Canon elph camera.

Our deer hammer our mineral sites year round in Eastern Ohio. We have been seeing and killing bigger deer since we started using minerals.

I would say bobcat. I just don't see a long, cougar-like tail even after blowing it up and pausing the video.

Where you on a guided hunt? If so, would you mind saying who the outfitter is and if you would recommend them (although if you saw a 200" typ and shot 193"er I think I know that answer)?

mikeb- we have planted turnips in our plots a couple of times- just down the river from you (Toronto area). The deer absolutely hammered them all Winter long. I recommend them highly!

I am thinking about a new bunny/bird gun. I want a 20ga, but wasn't sure how it would be for pheasants. How far can you stretch out there with that? What loads- 3inch? I'm loving the Browning Cynergy Feather composite stock! See below. http://www.browning.com/products/catalog/firearms/detail.asp?value=014B&cat_id=013&type_id=275&content=cynergy-feather-composite-firearms

To each their own. I, however, just want to grow (and ultimately kill) big whitetails and BFO is great stuff for doing just that! He definitely could have handled the competition product claims differently, but it will not deter me from using or recommending the BFO products.

Is that a 20ga Montefeltro?