The Right Five Acres: 380 Inches from Two Big Bucks

I opened the rear door of the truck cab and was immediately greeted with a mass of tangled antler. Caramel and beige-colored main beams from two big bucks were sticking up and over the backseat, while more points than I could count protruded out like fingers. I was struggling to find a place for my camera gear when the man in the driver’s seat fixed me with a grin and said, “Just put it anywhere and hop in.”

His name was Jake Givens, and we were taking a short drive out of town so I could photograph and hear the story of how he harvested these bucks. However, once we were on the road, it was hard to focus on what exactly Jake was saying. I was staring at the backseat, trying to discern where one buck began and the other ended, when suddenly I was hit with facts regarding the hunt for these deer that left me confused and wondering if I had heard them correctly.

Jake began by saying, “I shot Diesel,” the 195 6/8-inch giant, “out of a lawn chair in a makeshift ground blind with my four-year-old son.” Then, in the next breath, Jake said, “I shot Sticks,” the 183 6/8-inch typical, “with a borrowed bow just 30 yards from where I shot Diesel…both of these bucks came off of a five-acre property.”

As we boomed down the highway, I settled into my seat and asked Jake to take it from the top, ensuring I fully grasped every detail of the story.

Diesel: In All Ways Miraculous

Jake Givens began the 2017 archery season hunting a big acreage farm 25 minutes from his home in southern Ohio. He was chasing good deer on that farm, but when he got home from work on the afternoon of October 17, this drive was more than he was willing to make.

“I was just worn out from the day, really,” Jake admits. “So, I grabbed my four-year-old, and we went across the road to our property and set up a brush blind with some lawn chairs.”

The property “across the road” is a small, five-acre parcel owned by Jake's family. Primarily made up of pine trees, the small tract isn’t exactly where one would expect Boone and Crockett-class bucks to roam, but the land surrounding this island of pines is, as Jake calls it, “big buck country.” Ag fields, hardwoods and thickets make up the surrounding area, making food and hiding places abundant.

This was Jake's first hunt of the year on the five-acre parcel, and since he hadn’t invested much time there during the off-season, he had no expectations going in, only to show his four-year-old son, Dalton, some deer and, at the most, harvest a doe.

Once they arrived at their place in the pines, the finishing touches were made to the brush blind, and Jake and Dalton settled into their lawn chairs for an evening afield. But it wasn’t long before they got more than they bargained for.

A couple of hours into the hunt, two does were spotted working towards the blind, and just behind them was a buck with the body of an Angus steer and antlers that sprawled out like tree branches. The thoughts of harvesting a doe were quickly tossed aside as the massive buck continued pushing his way through the mid-October foliage.

“It all happened so fast,” Jake says. “I could just see him coming through the undergrowth, and within a minute, he was on top of me.”

The buck had quickly cut the distance to just five yards and was looking toward the brush blind. Luckily, Jake was already in position and prepared for the shot.

“As he came down the path, I drew back early and I was sitting there holding it,” Jake recounts. “And when he presented himself in a spot I thought I could get it done, I let ‘er fly.”

Having a shooter buck within bow range is always an adrenaline-filled experience, but to have a 190-class buck within five yards at eye level while a child sits next to you is something else entirely. But miraculously, Jake executed, performing in one of the most unexpected moments of his life.

“It sucks because there isn’t much to the story,” Jake says regretfully.

But after retrieving the buck later that evening and word got out of his harvest, neighboring hunters were able to fill in the blanks.

“Everybody in the surrounding area knew about that deer,” Jake says. A neighbor who lives over two miles away filmed the buck throughout the summer and was the one who gave him the nickname “Diesel.”

The Lean Years

After harvesting Diesel, it was difficult for Jake to find a deer that piqued his interest.

“I couldn’t settle,” he says.

I guess having what many would consider to be a once-in-a-lifetime buck hanging on your wall will have that effect on a person. However, this “Booner or bust” standard is one that many hunters would have abandoned after a season or two of tag soup, but Jake held the course and spent the lean years doing everything he could to ensure that his next opportunity wasn’t squandered.

“My preseason efforts became more extreme,” Jake says. “It made me school myself and try to understand how everything operates.”

And after a few years of increasing his knowledge and monitoring the small property, in the spring of 2023, Jake picked up a set of sheds that proved, once again, that a big typical was haunting the area.

The antlers were from a buck that Jake had known for a couple of years, but during the 2022 season, the buck blew up into something special.

“When I picked up his sheds, I knew it was on,” Jake says.

And by the time summer of 2023 rolled around, the buck, now nicknamed “Sticks,” had become a denizen on the five-acre property, showing up constantly on Jake’s trail camera throughout the summer. This caused Jake to believe that he had a better-than-average chance of harvesting the buck in early season. But, as mature bucks do, Sticks pulled a disappearing act just before archery season opened in late September. What followed was over a month of Sticks being absent from the area, but on the evening of October 30, Jake received a new trail camera photo from a neighbor who had also been watching Sticks throughout the summer, with a text simply saying, “He’s moving.”

Unfortunately, however, Jake's hands were tied. He had to work the following morning, then meet up with his family that evening for trick-or-treat.

“I wanted to hunt so bad,” Jake explains. “And I could’ve been there that evening, but morally, I had to go trick-or-treating.”

And while Jake was gearing up to help his kids gather candy, he got a bitter-sweet alert from his cell camera: it was Sticks loitering in front of his tree stand.

“When I got those pictures,” Jake says. “I freaked out.”

This missed opportunity prompted Jake to begin formulating a plan to pull an all-day sit the following day, November 1. The only issue was he didn’t have a bow. The crossbow he had used earlier in the season broke when it was dropped from a tree. Then, after ordering a replacement and arriving just in time for his hunt, the new crossbow blew up in Jake’s hands, breaking his pinky. But when you have a buck like Sticks on your radar, it takes more than two broken bows and a cracked finger to call off the chase.

Jake arranged for his buddy to drop off another crossbow before he left for the woods the next morning, and while he was waiting, at 3:40 a.m., Jake received a photo from his cell camera of Sticks mounting a doe.

“I knew it was the right time,” Jake says. “He was stuck on that doe, and she was going to stay in the area.”

After getting the new crossbow and fresh confirmation that Sticks was still in the area, Jake set out for the pines.

The stand Jake chose for his all-day vigil was located just 50 yards in the pines where he had received photos of Sticks the past two days. This stand not only allows observation of the entire property, but it hangs on a transition point from a neighboring thicket to a small clearing on Jake's property.

“The deer always move out of that thicket,” Jake says, and because of this, he has engineered the clearing to work in his favor. “I think of the path of least resistance,” he explains. “The opening will grow chest-high grass, so I mow a path to my shooting lanes from the thicket to funnel them to me.”

Sticks: Showdown in the Pines

After getting set in his stand, Jake had plenty of great action during the morning, but as the sun rose higher, the deer activity tapered off in the afternoon. And by the time evening arrived, Jake had seen only a small buck and two does. With the slowed deer movement, doubt began setting in.

“I was like, man, I did all this sitting for nothing,” Jake recounts.

But just when he thought his time spent on stand was in vain, he heard movement and looked to see Sticks following a doe through the undergrowth with a young buck in tow. The three deer were heading for Jake’s clearing just outside the pines.

Tension grew as Jake knew that an opportunity he had been dreaming of was about to present itself, but as the doe stepped into his shooting lane, Sticks became agitated with the young hanger-on and tried discouraging him with a snort-wheeze and a short chase.

This lash-out caused Sticks to be even further from Jake's shooting lane, and now, his large off-white rack was barely visible through the thick foliage.

After maintaining this position for a few moments longer, Sticks finally broke away and began towards the clearing after the doe. But just before he arrived, the doe snorted and bounded out to Jake's left and towards a lone pine tree in the middle of the clearing.

This was the tipping point.

“I said to myself, If he comes across the opening, I have to be ready,” Jake recounts.

But instead of walking through the clearing after the doe, Sticks hooked around and started to enter the thick undergrowth of the pines.

“He was walking on the trail I used to walk to my stand,” Jake explains. “I wouldn’t have had a shot if he entered, but he would’ve been even closer.”

With Sticks facing Jake’s stand at just 12 yards, he knew it was now or never. The only shot opportunity was a chest shot, and Jake had to take what he was given.

“I’m holding the crossbow up and my heart is just going, ba-boom-ba-boom. I’m like if I don’t calm down, I won’t be able to make this shot,” Jake recounts.

After swallowing his nerves, Jake centered the crosshairs on Sticks’ chest and pulled the trigger. The borrowed crossbow performed perfectly, hitting Sticks in the heart and dropping him just inside the pines. Unlike with Diesel, this opportunity was one Jake had envisioned.

“When you can anticipate the moment like that and it comes full circle, it’s unreal,” Jake says.

But the most unreal aspect is that yet another big typical whitetail was harvested off this property, a small chunk of land that most hunters would have quickly disregarded. When I asked Jake why he believed this small parcel produces such high-caliber deer, he credits not only the quality of the surrounding habitat but also the upstanding nature of his neighbors.

“Luckily, in that area, there are a bunch of ethical hunters,” Jake says. “That’s what has helped grow all these deer.”

That made me smile and think: the neighbors giveth, and Jake taketh away.

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