October 26, 2022
By Blake Garlock
Prior to Ohio’s 2022 archery season opening, Sean Frederick was late to hang his trail cameras and put out attractant to inventory the bucks in his area. Sean hunts by permission on a small, 17-acre property that only has a few acres of timber on it. He finally got his cameras and some corn out in mid-August, and it didn’t take long for the area to produce. “It was only six hours after I put that stuff out, and there he was,” Sean remembers. “That monster was on camera, and I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’”
When Sean was scouting this buck, he noticed the deer only came out on when there was fresh corn on the property. “That monster” was a big-framed 6x6 with some kickers. However, through his scouting and trail camera photos, Sean did pick up on one trend of the buck. “I have a corn feeder on the property, but the big deer never bothered with it,” Sean says. “He only daylighted on my cameras whenever the corn was extremely fresh.”
The big deer disappeared for almost two weeks prior to hunting season. So, on the day before the archery opener, Sean put out some fresh corn. The big typical and another good 10-point daylighted that evening, getting Sean excited for opening day.
Sean was late to get his cameras out to take inventory of bucks in his area this year. Luckily, that didn’t affect his success. Once the season opened, Sean hunted the buck several times, but he never saw the deer. In fact, movement was pretty slow on the property. Sean hunted on Sept. 28, and he saw some does and young bucks. So, since he was off work the following day on the 29th, Sean decided to try his fresh-corn theory. “I think he was bedding to the south, and I had a wind that was just good enough to avoid his bedding area that day,” Sean recalls. “So, I went in at noon and put some fresh corn out. I even picked a new tree out based on his approach and the wind, allowing him to catch the corn’s scent before he smelled me.”
Advertisement
Sean went home to get ready for the hunt and returned to his tree at 4:00 p.m. Shortly into his sit a couple does spooked from a thicket, and it didn’t take long for him see what spooked them. A blonde coyote ran through Sean’s spot, heading right toward where his target buck beds! “I thought my hunt was over after that,” Sean says. “I figured the coyote would bump the buck from his bed.”
Sean Frederick shot this impressive Ohio typical on a 17-acre property that he has permission on. Eventually things settled down, and a couple more does fed into Sean’s area. Since they were does, Sean turned his attention to another spot, and there was a surprise waiting for him when he looked back at the does. “I turned back around, and that monster was right next to those does! Only 30 yards from me,” Sean says.
Excitement immediately consumed Sean, and in the process of clipping his release to his D-loop, Sean accidently hit his trigger and his arrow fell off the string and caught on the rest. The commotion caught the buck’s attention, but he quickly returned to feeding. Hunting in a saddle, Sean repositioned himself so he could make the shot.
Advertisement
Sean green scored the buck at 182. “I leveled my sight and just sent it,” Sean says. “I shoot the SEVR Robusto broadheads, and my arrow passed right through him. He ran a little over 20 yards, stopped and tipped over!”
Sean unofficially green scored the big typical at 182. With just two kickers, the mainframe 6x6 is big and beautiful. “I’m still in awe of how big this monster is,” says Sean. “It’s crazy to me, especially since it happened so early in the year.”
