Brian Hayslip of Blue Creek, Ohio, saw this 214 3/8-inch "dream" buck numerous times before he finally connected on Nov. 27, 2006, opening morning of the Ohio firearms season.

The 588 square miles that make up Adams County have long enjoyed an abundant acorn crop, mild winters and vigorous wildlife enforcement. In recent years local deer hunters also have become very selective about what they harvest. This all came together enough in the fall of 2006 to perhaps borrow the title “the whitetail capital of the world” from places like Pike County, Illinois, and award it to Adams County!

BRIAN HAYSLIP’S “HOMEBODY” BUCK
Brian, who lives in Adams County, first spotted this giant 20-point non-typical not far from his home on his way back from the county fair in late July. “He looked like he already had some velvet peeling from his antlers,” Brian recalled.

The next time Brian saw the buck was in August in a nearby field. “When I saw him again, I knew the rack was huge,” Brian said.

Then Brian spotted the buck twice in September. Several neighbors were also aware of the big non-typical.

“A couple of kids had seen him, but I don’t think anyone believed what they were telling people.”

Brian was unable to hunt from a tree stand last fall when bow season opened because of an ankle injury. “So I drove my 4-wheeler to the top of a hill and started hunting on the ground in a downed treetop.”

Brian next saw the buck late one evening during the second week of bow season. “He was in some thick cut timber. I could only see the top of his shoulder as he walked past and I couldn’t get a clear shot.”

Brian saw the buck again in November as it courted two does. “They came around the point and I watched them a few minutes before they walked out of sight.”

Brian was hunting in a 15-acre logged out hollow near Shawnee State Forest. The hollow was thick with second growth saplings and greenbriers. “I think the old buck had found a home in there,” Brian said.

On Nov. 27, 2006, opening morning of the Ohio firearms season, Brian saw only three does and a small buck. After lunch he went back to the same hollow that he had hunted all season long. “About 2 p.m. the buck came out of a thicket of cut timber that I’m sure he’d been staying in for most of the fall. He trotted along the hillside toward the point. When he got to within about 60 yards, I aimed and fired. He ran to the other side of the point and went down.”

Brian was hunting with a Remington Model 870 12-gauge smoothbore with open sights. “The minute I saw him go down I started thinking, Well, I finally got my dream buck!”

Brian had always observed this buck in the same fairly small area. In fact, he shot it only a few hundred yards from the spot where he had first seen the deer the evening he was returning home from the county fair. With a total of 20 points, the main-framed 5x6 giant had 47 inches in abnormal points. Brian’s “homebody” buck from Adams County netted 214 3/8 non-typical B&C points.

THE ANDY LINTZ “FUNNEL” BUCK
Andy, who lives in Otway, Ohio (just east of Adams County), was also hunting on opening day of the 2006 firearms season (Nov. 27). He was hunting on a farm near Brush Creek State Forest. Andy’s uncle, Randy Hilterbran, had seen a huge 10-point buck in this same area just after muzzleloader season ended in 2005.

Andy recently had taken a job as “pee-wee” football coach for McDermott Elementary School and this had greatly limited his bow hunting during the fall of ’06. “I only got to hunt a couple of days in bow season,” said Andy. “I saw a small 8-pointer, but never saw the big deer.”

The remote area Andy was hunting was a natural funnel for deer. “It’s in a deep hollow and the deer have to come around the edge of a steep hillside to get through it,” Andy said. “We knew a good buck was using the area but it was tough to hunt. It took me an hour just to get to my stand.”

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