Noah Ward with his 22-point “Godzilla” buck taken in northern Adams County on November 6. (Photo by Lane Williams)
It was a short summer witnessed by the fact that another deer gun season is at the doorstep and right behind is Christmas. Ohio deer hunters will take to the woods November 27, in a week-long gun season after an archery season that saw many tremendous bucks taken in the Buckeye state.
A pending state record typical buck taken by Chris Alexander during the archery season in Clinton County green scored 206 -7/8 B&C points by Ohio Big Bucks Scorer Mike Rex. The big 11-pointer gross scored 235+. If this score holds up after the required 60-day drying time it would beat the current state record buck taken by Brad Jerman in 2004 that scored 201-1/8.
As of November 14, Ohio bowhunters from across the state have taken 73,237 deer. In Adams County a total of 1,156 deer have been checked by bowhunters so far this season; that’s up 76 deer from this time last year. Of that number 680 are bucks, 476 are antlerless. Last year’s (2022) gun season deer hunters in Adams County tagged 1,043 deer.
According to a report from ODNR, November 11, Veterans Day, was the best day for bowhunters so far this season when 4,621 deer were checked in that single day. Deer biologists with the Ohio Division of Wildlife always cited November 11 as the peak of the rut in Ohio.
Ohio’s deer gun season is open from November 27 through December 3. The “Bonus” gun season is December 16 and 17, statewide muzzleloading is January 6 -9. Archery season continues until February 4.
There could be some changes to Ohio’s deer gun season in the near future. There is talk of opening gun season the Friday or Saturday after Thanksgiving and allowing it to run through two weekends, and eliminate the bonus, or late gun season altogether. There are some rumblings too about moving the youth season from November to mid-October. That would space the youth season and the regular gun season six-weeks apart. I would like to see the archery season open in early September and close deer season altogether by mid-January.
Perhaps the largest buck tagged in Adams County so far is the buck taken by 26-year-old Noah Ward from Peebles, son of Lonnie and Diane Ward. Through trail cam pics the big whitetail, nick-named “Godzilla”, was a well-known legend throughout the neighborhood.
It was a windy Monday afternoon on November 6, Noah recalls, while he sat in his stand that afternoon and only the second time he had been hunting this season. His job working second shift at GE doesn’t leave much time to hunt he said.
“I had two does come in earlier and they acted like something was behind them”, said Noah. “Then a small buck showed up and I decided to use a grunt call to see what he would do”.
It was the first time Noah had been to that location along the backbone of an oak ridge in woods he knew well. “There were a lot of rubs and scraps all along the ridge”, Noah said.
From a distance Noah first laid eyes on the legendary buck at 4:15 that evening when he spotted those massive white antlers coming his way. Noah didn’t know if the buck was coming in because it was following does or if the grunt call got his attention. It didn’t matter. Noah quickly checked the yardage on a nearby tree the buck would likely pass by if it continued its course.
“Sure enough the buck paused right by that tree at 28 yards,” said Noah. “I was a bundle of nerves watching that buck come in but when I drew my bow it was the calmest I had been.”
Noah steadied his bow, aligned his sight and target and the arow found its mark and the big whitetail bolted.
“I was so shaken by then I nearly threw up.” 80 yards away the buck stumbled and fell over. It was Noah’s first buck with a bow. “I still can’t believe what happened,” said Noah.
Buckmaster scorer Rob Meade of Seaman scored Ward’s giant 22-point non-typical at 217-7/8 inches. The buck had a 17-5/8 inside spread with forked tines over 11-inches long.
