Veteran bowhunter Mike Rex had made a herculean effort to arrow an Ohio megabuck known as the 'Sticker Tine Buck,' but the 2008-2009 bow season was rapidly coming to a close. It fell to Mike’s son Ryan to finish the job.
By Mark Hicks
Ohio’s bow season was nearly over in January 2009 when an emergency snow day closed Ryan’s school, giving Ryan the opportunity to hunt the 'Sticker Tine Buck' one last time. After a brutal afternoon on stand enduring the ice and cold, Ryan arrowed the huge buck late in the day. With 16 scorable points, the deer netted 181 7/8 non-typical.
Ohio whitetail hunter Mike Rex first saw the Sticker Tine Buck while driving home from a restaurant in late October 2008 with his sons Ryan, 16, and Corey, 14. It was an hour after dark, and the buck suddenly dashed across the road through the car’s headlights. Mike hit the brakes to avoid a collision. The buck lingered long enough to show off its tall main-frame 10-point rack. A small yet obvious sticker point on the left G-2 gave the buck its name.
That chance encounter immediately made the Sticker Tine Buck the focus of the Rex clan’s hunting season last year. Mike is an avid bowhunter who, at that time, had taken 18 Pope and Young-class bucks in Ohio in consecutive years. (Mike appeared on the cover of North American Whitetail in January 2006 with a 218 6/8-inch Ohio monster taken on opening day of the 2005 archery season. See his story in that issue.) Ryan already had three Pope and Young bucks to his credit, and Corey had taken four good bucks with shotgun and crossbow. You won’t find a family that shares a closer bond built around whitetail hunting.
Mike had hunted the area where he saw the Sticker Tine Buck years before, but he knew the property had changed hands. That very night, he checked his plat records and found the name of the current landowner. The next day, he secured written permission to bowhunt the property.
THE QUEST BEGINS
After two hours of scouting the property, Mike had found only a few small rubs and half-hearted scrapes. Maybe the giant buck had just been passing through, he thought. Mike was almost relieved because the property contained a sheer hillside that was rocky and physically demanding. He was about to give up when he saw some huge oak trees on top of the ridge and decided to check them out. When he crested the ridge, he spotted the Sticker Tine Buck standing next to a bedded doe 30 yards away. The hunt was on!
Mike Rex arrowed this Pope and Young 8-pointer in late November 2008, thinking it was the Sticker Tine Buck. Since he had filled his tag, the task of shooting the Sticker Tine Buck then fell to his 16-year-old son Ryan. Ryan came through with flying colors at the 11th hour.
Mike determined that the Sticker Tine Buck was traveling down the ridge into a drainage that had cut into a rock face. To the east of the drain were open hardwoods. To the west of the drain was a band of thick 'grouse' cover that bordered an overgrown pasture. Mike believed the buck approached the drainage through the cover from the west, which is the direction of the predominant wind in southeast Ohio. He set his stand in a tree on the eastern downwind side of the drain. Provided the buck did as expected, that would give him a 20-yard shot.
Mike also set up a trail camera near his tree that automatically sent photos via satellite to his computer and cell phone. This let him keep an eye on the spot without intruding into the area. The camera captured the first photo of the Sticker Tine Buck in early November.
Mike had correctly figured where the buck was traveling. The downside was that the photo had been taken at night.
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