Southern Ohio’s Pike County is prime whitetail floor, with rolling hills and hardwoods, brushy attracts and loads of farmland. That’s the place Dale Cooper, of Chillicothe, discovered himself on Dec. 2, the opening day of gun season. Sitting 15 toes off the bottom in a ladder stand, he waited patiently for a buck that he’d solely simply discovered about.
“I knew there was a giant 8-pointer round, however I received a path digicam photograph a pair days earlier than the season opener that made my coronary heart skip,” Cooper tells Outside Life. “That photograph modified every little thing.”
Cooper sat by way of the morning with out seeing a lot. Round lunchtime, he got here down to fulfill with some buddies who have been searching the identical personal 30-acre piece.
“I’d confirmed my pal Kevin Billard the image of the large buck earlier than the season, so he knew the scale deer I used to be after,” says Cooper. “I had lunch with him and some different buddies, and after we received as much as go away for our afternoon hunt, I advised them I used to be gonna shoot a 21-pointer.
“All of them laughed — besides Kevin.”
Cooper was again in his tree stand by round 1:30 p.m. Once more, he watched and waited for the buck, solely this time it got here in. He first noticed the buck at 4 p.m. when it was 80 yards away. The deer had stopped behind a tree, however he was capable of lean across the tree to get a shot.
“I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder and fired, however nothing occurred. He simply stood there – didn’t transfer. I labored the lever motion quick to load one other spherical. Then I put the crosshairs behind his shoulder once more and fired a second 180-grain bullet.”
After his second shot, Cooper noticed the buck kick by way of his scope. Then it turned and ran. Cooper marked the spot the place he overlooked the buck, and 20 minutes later he went right down to search for the deer.
“After I was strolling to the place I assumed I’d final seen him I discovered a heavy blood path and began following it,” he says. “About 30 yards down the path the buck was mendacity useless as a doornail.”
Cooper despatched a message to his buddy Billard and advised him he wanted assist loading the estimated 260-pound buck. Billard confirmed up, and after subject dressing the deer, the 2 hunters dragged it 100 yards to the place they might load it onto an ATV and get it out of the woods.
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The buck was very lean, Cooper says, and was doubtless worn down by the rut. Nevertheless it’s rack was nonetheless in nice form, and he introduced it to Toby Hughes, an Ohio Buckmasters scorer, the next day. Utilizing the BTR system, Hughes scored it at 225 3/8.
“That huge ol’ buck had an enormous gouge within the facet of his head, which I assume was from combating one other deer,” Cooper says. “I’d positive prefer to see how huge the buck was that was making an attempt to kick my buck’s tail.”
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