“I had pretty much given up on seeing him again and I was about to get down. But then I happened to look at a tree in the field near the fencerow, and there he was, walking stiff-legged with his hair all bristled out. He got into some saplings and started raking them and breaking them off and throwing them over his head. He was pawing the ground and getting mad and ready for a fight. I really had him fooled!

“I got the bow up and ready. It took him several minutes to get within range. He was moving slow and stiff-legged. He kept looking across the fence. He was probably 12 to 15 yards from me when I triggered the release. Just as the arrow left the bow, I saw the buck turn and I thought I had blown it. I closed my eyes. I knew it was probably the only opportunity I would ever have for this particular deer.”

When George finally opened his eyes, the arrow was not in the ground and the deer was pushing hard through the thick brush. “I saw about four inches of arrow sticking out of him and I got a sick feeling,” George said. “Then I sat down and collected my thoughts. That arrow is 30 inches long, I thought. Since it’s still in him, it has to be in the heart-lung area.”

“It started to rain so I got down. I didn’t go 40 yards before I saw the white belly of a deer. When I got up within 20 yards I saw my arrow. The deer had gone less than 100 yards. While cleaning him I found that my arrow had gone through his heart.”

George was using a BowTech Allegiance, with Easton arrows and a Muzzy broadhead. The main-framed 5x5 had 4 tines over 10 inches in length. The huge buck also had 4 abnormal burr points. The massive rack grossed 187 and netted 174 5/8 typical points after deductions.

JAN MILLARD’S CROSSBOW MONSTER
Avid whitetail hunter Jan Millard of Paulin, Ohio, (Fayette County) was severely injured 16 years ago when a fall from a tree stand fractured his neck and shattered his left shoulder. Doctors told him his bowhunting days were over. For the next 14 years Jan hunted with a light compound bow and he limited his shots to less than 20 yards. In 2005 a painful bone spur developed in his left shoulder and it was time for the surgery that he had put off for so long. Surgery was followed by strict instructions not to shoot a bow. Jan went to see his doctor on Nov. 1, 2006, and received permission to hunt with a crossbow.

“My buddies called me that evening and asked me to check for deer and for any sign of the buck we had nicknamed ‘Old One-Eye’ on a farm in Adams County we have permission to hunt,” Jan said. “So my son Travis grabbed his grandpa’s old Horton Hunter crossbow for me to use and we left for Adams County the next morning.”

Jan didn’t hunt on the morning of Nov. 2, but Travis did. After lunch Travis went back to his stand, and Jan decided to check the other tree stands.

“We brought along the old crossbow in case I decided to hunt, and I asked Travis to cock it for me in case I saw something big,” Jan said.

Jan then went to check on a stand located in a thick patch of cedars.

“Within 10 minutes a 6-pointer walked out of the cedars,” Jan said. “He fed around me then went into a nearby hayfield. After he walked off I heard a grunt. I turned around and barely caught a glimpse of a large buck with a doe. Then another 6-pointer and two yearlings came by and went into the field. I heard the large buck grunt again. He stepped into an opening about 50 yards away and I recognized him as Old One-Eye! He was huge!

“I was watching him when I heard a limb snap. I turned around and all I could see was a wall of tines. This new buck was looking at Old One-Eye and his doe. As soon as he came out from behind the cedars he stopped right in front of me and I shot him straight through the heart.”

Just like the Lintz and Dotson bucks, Jan’s awesome buck was a main-framed 5x5 with 2 abnormal stickers. However, because those 2 points added up to 10 6/8 abnormal inches, the buck was scored as a non-typical. Despite 13 1/8 inches in side-to-side deductions, Jan’s great crossbow buck officially scored 170 6/8 non-typical points.

Dave Graham, chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said, “It’s not unusual to see certain counties become hotspots for trophy deer, and now it seems that Adams County is the place to be!”

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