"That was one big buck!" Tim said. "He was 40 yards away from me, standing broadside and pawning the ground. Since I was standing in a thicket, the only way I could get a shot was to step out in the open. So I put the scope on him, took three steps into the pasture and pulled the trigger."

The buck immediately turned and ran back along the field edge about 75 yards before turning downhill and disappearing into the thicket. It was getting late, and since Tim wasn't sure of his hit, he elected to wait until the next morning before recovering his buck. The following morning the deer was found less than 100 yards from where Tim had shot it.

"I saw the antlers sticking up when I was about 30 yards away," Tim recalled. "I knew he was big, but I didn't know he was that big!"

Tim's enormous 10-pointer was officially scored by Buckeye Big Buck Club scorer Ron Perrine and netted a final score of 180 2/8 typical B&C points.

JACOB CORDRAY'S BIG NON-TYPICAL
One of Ohio's top non-typical bucks of the 2007 season was taken by Jacob Cordray in Morgan County on Nov. 11. Jacob and his brother Josh grew up hunting. No stranger to deer hunting, Jacob has taken his share of bucks, including an impressive 8-pointer downed during the '03 gun season that just missed the minimum entry score for the Buckeye Big Buck Club.

"I took up bowhunting when my parents told me they had been watching an enormous 8-point buck at their bird feeder," Jacob said. "They had pictures of it too. After hearing about the buck, I purchased a crossbow and set up a blind next to a deer trail leading to my parents' place."

Buoyed by beginner's enthusiasm, Jacob sat in that blind for six to seven hours at a time, but he never laid eyes on the buck.

"I saw plenty of does and young bucks," Jacob said. "But the big 8-pointer never showed up."

Later on during gun season, one of the neighbors downed the big buck.

"After that, I lost all interest in bowhunting," Jacob said.

Jacob is an avid rabbit hunter, and he owns a pack of beagles.

"I went rabbit hunting on Nov. 10," Jacob said. "However, the minute I turned the dogs loose, the first thing they did was hit a deer track. They started running it, and I was disgusted. So as soon as I could, I loaded the dogs back in the truck and went to town." While in McConnelsville, Jacob purchased a Buck Roar grunt call and a deer tag. "I came back home, put up my dogs and went deer hunting that evening."

Jacob only gets to hunt on weekends because his job at a stone quarry keeps him away from home most of the week.

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