A Buckeye Buck Bonanza
by Gordon Whittington
March 25, 2008

Last weekend, I was reminded that not every hotspot for monster bucks is totally off-limits to the average hunter.

I was in Ohio, which remains a trophy paradise despite a high human population, plenty of accessible land and affordable, over-the-counter tags for residents and nonresidents alike. Put it all together, and what you have is a shining example of great deer hunting, even for hunters on a tight budget.

Rick Busse (left) and Joel Snow show off a couple of western Ohio whitetails with amazingly long brow tines.

The occasion for my visit was the 2008 Ohio Deer & Turkey Expo, held at the state fairgrounds in Columbus March 14-16. I was there to present seminars on food plots, but I also wanted to check out the many trophy bucks I knew would be brought in by hunters from around the state.

The show didn't disappoint; there were hundreds of impressive mounts on display, and many of those bucks had been shot within an hour's drive of the capital city. It just goes to show that humans and big whitetails really can mix, particularly if the season is structured in such a way as to maintain a lot of mature bucks in the population. With a one-buck annual bag limit, no centerfire rifle hunting and only a short shotgun/muzzleloader season after peak rut, Ohio manages to keep growing trophy deer despite a human population density more like that of the East Coast than of the rural Midwest.

I saw ample evidence of Ohio's might even before I got to the show. That's because, after landing at the Dayton airport, I headed north to Piqua. That's the home of my friend Rick Busse, one of the state's best-known taxidermists. As you might recall, Rick mounted the Mike Beatty buck, the archery world record in the non-typical category, after the deer was shot in nearby Greene County in November 2000.

When I dropped by, I saw that Rick had some big antlers on hand from last fall, including a couple with incredibly long brow tines. Although neither buck would net out high enough to make the Boone and Crockett record book, both were amazing trophies anyone would love to have tagged. It just goes to show that you can't rely on the record books to tell you the total picture of where big whitetails are being taken.

Many of Ohio's top trophies will be on display at the Buckeye Big Buck Club's 50th annual meeting and banquet, set for Aug. 30.

While I was at Rick's, I also bumped into his good friend Joel Snow of 5-Star Trophy Outfitters in DeGraff, Ohio. If you've watched our TV show these past few years, you'll recognize Joel as host of some of our most exciting videotaped hunts. In fact, it was while hunting in his camp that co-host Stan Potts bagged our show's biggest-ever whitetail, a monster non-typical shot during the 2006 muzzleloader season. That great buck graces the cover of our latest DVD set.

Yes, Ohio remains a special place for trophy whitetails, and in celebration of that fact, on Aug. 30 the Buckeye Big Buck Club (www.buckeyebigbuckclub.org) will be holding a special event. It's the club's 50th annual meeting, and it will include a banquet and awards ceremony. The event will take place at the Bricker Building at the fairgrounds (same location as the Deer & Turkey Expo).

Club officials note that every hunter who's ever had at least one buck accepted into the BBBC listings is invited to attend. If even 20 percent of them do, this event will feature literally thousands of bucks on the walls, making it perhaps the single most impressive whitetail display ever put together. So to say we're excited about the event ourselves would be an understatement. For information on tickets, contact the club at the link above.

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