By Tom Cross
Ohio deer gun season opens Monday, Nov. 30 and runs through Sunday Dec. 6. The “Bonus Weekend” is Dec. 19-20. Black powder hunters get a crack at the deer Jan 2-5. Ohio youth season was Nov. 21-22. Afterward, archery hunters again claim the woods with a season that continues until Feb. 7.
As of Nov. 19, Ohio archery deer hunters have tagged 69,222 deer, of which 36,919 are bucks; 32,303 are antlerless. In Adams County, bow hunters have taken a total of 1,133 deer, of which 669 are bucks; 464 are antlerless.
Last year (2019) Ohio gun hunters harvested 63,567 deer during the week long gun season. It’s hard to say if that number will increase. Standing corn throughout the county and an abundance of acorns could spell trouble for gun hunters as when the first shotguns crack the bucks head for the cornfields to hide out for a week.
There have been some outstanding trophy bucks taken throughout Ohio this archery season, and perhaps two of the biggest that have been tagged in the state have come out of Adams County.
Corey Richmond’s big non-typical will make the books but a potentially an even larger buck has come out of Adams County. Shawn Clark, a resident of Indiana, Pennsylvania, harvested what could be Ohio’s top buck for 2020. The monster non-typical fell on the evening of Nov. 8 and has 29 points. A green score on the buck’s rack puts it at around 242 inches. If this score holds up, it could conceivably be the top buck taken in the state this season, most assuredly the top buck taken with a bow.
Several neighboring property owners knew of the buck and had the monster whitetail on trail camera, and another bow hunter was tracking the buck as well. Clark new nothing of the giant deer before he first laid eyes on it that Sunday evening. He had seen several deer that weekend including seven bucks the day before. Clark only gets to hunt a couple of weekends in Adams County, as it’s a six-hour drive for him.
That Sunday evening around 5 o’clock Shawn heard a rustling in the leaves and dismissed it as a squirrel at first. Then a small spike buck came out of the woods which quickly got his attention. Looking up in the woods, he saw movement and got his binoculars out to have a look and instantly saw a massive rack in the brush. His first thought was, ”This thing is big!”
He lifted his bow off the hanger as the huge buck slowly approached his tree stand, which was tucked in between a three big oak trees. Once the buck got within 27 yards it began working a scape and had its rack up in the tree limbs. Shawn had to quit looking at the giant rack and concentrate on the vital target area behind the deer’s shoulder.
He drew his new Hoyt Axius bow back and settled the sights on the buck’s chest and released. The shot was high but connected and the buck stumbled and fell into a small ravine. Shawn could hear the big rack clanking against rocks and limbs as the giant whitetail went down. Not knowing what to do next, he waited and once the silence in the ravine was permanent only then did he slowly climb down from his stand. The huge buck was down and that’s when a case of nerves hit Shawn and he had to walk away to collect his thoughts. He had just bagged perhaps the biggest buck in the state and he admits it was pure luck of being in the right place at the right time.
The monster whitetail is now back in Pennsylvania awaiting scoring by Buckmasters and after 60 days drying time it will be scored by Boone & Crockett for the final score and its ranking as one of Ohio all-time whitetails with a bow.
UPDATE: Clark’s buck was scored Saturday, Nov. 21, by top Buckmaster scorer Toby Hughes of Caledonia, Ohio. The buck had 28 scorable points, 241-7/8 total inches in mass, 11 inch tines, circumference of the main beam was over 5 inches, inside spread was 18-4/8, outside spread was 22-3/8, the rack had 18-2/8 total inches of irregular (non-typical) points for a Buckmasters final score of 260-2/8.
“To my knowledge, it’s the largest whitetail buck taken in Ohio in the 2020 season”, said Hughes.