Setting the Bar High: Corey Richmond's First Buck

Corey’s first interest in hunting was sparked back in 2010, by a college buddy who was a turkey hunter. However, Corey didn’t start bowhunting for deer until the 2016 archery season in Ohio.

Until the faithful evening of October 16, 2020, Corey had never harvested a buck before. “I took two does with a bow and another during Ohio’s gun season, but I had never taken a buck before,” Corey explains.

In 2020, Corey purchased a new Matthews VXR compound bow and set up a range in his backyard. His broadhead of choice was the 100-grain Rage Hypodermic, and he practiced every chance he got that summer.

In late July, Corey set a treestand in a group of tall oaks. Nearby, he placed a trail camera on a well-used deer trail leading uphill to a 30-acre cornfield. Corey also cleared some shooting lanes on that trail in case a shot presented itself. As if luck was shining down, within days Corey started getting trail camera pics of the giant non-typical his wife had named “Jerky”

On Friday, October 16, a rare north wind rolled through Adams County, Ohio, and with it came a semi-cloudy, cool day.

“I was waiting for a north wind, and that was the first cold front of the season to blow in,” says Corey. “The temperature was going down into the 40’s that evening, and it just seemed like the perfect setup to get into that stand and hunt.

Just before Corey headed out for the hunt, he walked around to the barn to his bow range and took a couple 35-yard practice shots.

After he arrived at the farm, Corey took the long way to his stand through a cut hayfield. He stayed upwind and out of sight as best he could. By 3:30 p.m., the bowhunter was in his stand and ready to go.

An hour passed by, and then a lone doe suddenly appeared on the same tractor road, about 100 yards away near the bottom of the hill. The doe was alone, standing in the middle of the tractor road for nearly 10 minutes. She was feeding and watching behind her, as if company was expected.

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“All of the sudden, he popped out and walked over to the doe,” says Corey. “That was the first time I laid eyes on the giant buck. He was only a few feet from the doe, and both were grazing but not paying much attention to each other. That’s when I stood up and readied the bow.

The buck continued his slow but steady gait, walking without pause. His huge white rack bobbed with every step, and the scene was enough to give Corey a bad case of buck fever!

“As soon as I released the arrow the buck flinched, and then he took off running straight down the hill!” exclaims Corey. “He took off crashing through limbs and into the brush. He ran about 50 yards and stopped. I could see the right side of the buck’s rack as he slowly lowered his head, and I thought I heard him go down but wasn’t sure.”

Around 8:30 that evening, an excited trio of friends and family went looking to recover the deer.

“It was easy tracking,” says Corey. “The Rage broadhead cut a hole in his heart, and the short but plentiful blood trail led right to the buck. He went down exactly where he stopped.

In February, Corey’s buck was scored by Boone & Crockett measurer Bob Wood. The final measurements tallied to a whopping 217 6/8 net non-typical. The 23-point rack has a gross score of 223 5/8 inches. There is a total of 17 scorable points one inch or longer, seven of which were measured as abnormal or non-typical points. There are 6 7/8 inches of deductions. The inside spread is 20 inches; the outside spread is 28 5/8 inches. The longest tines are 12 1/8 and 12 5/8 inches, and the beautiful drop tine on the left side measures 5 2/8 inches.

“It was truly an incredible buck to measure,” says B&C scorer Bob Wood.

Be sure to subscribe to our magazine to read the full-feature story on Corey Richmond's first buck. Our September issue will cover Corey's history with the deer and will include even more great images!