The night of Oct. 12 was the third time this season that Taylor Hahnert had hunted from the identical tree stand on a non-public 30-acre parcel in Knox County, Ohio. Hahnert was after an enormous buck he’d seen usually on the farm. It was one he’d handed on a number of occasions over time, and a pair of cut up brown tines made it simple to acknowledge.
“I had plenty of path digicam pictures of the buck, and this summer time after I bought photos of him in velvet, I knew this was the 12 months to take him,” Hahnert tells Out of doors Life.
Sitting 18 ft up within the cover of a mature maple, Hahnert’s stand was located on the sting of a standing bean area. He’d broadcast some turnip seeds there earlier in the summertime to assist draw deer to the spot, and he stored a detailed eye on the sphere because the night wore on.
Picture courtesy Taylor Hahnert
“About 6:15 p.m. I noticed the buck strolling towards me, and I attempted to range-find him,” says Hahnert, 30, who lives in Ostrander. “However my rangefinder died, so I needed to estimate the yardage and make my shot.”
Hahnert estimated the vary at 40 yards and let an arrow fly. He’d later study that the buck was solely 35 yards away, and he hit it a bit excessive.
“However the arrow clipped its backbone,” says Hahnert, who was utilizing a compound bow with a 100-grain, 3-blade mechanical broadhead. “The buck solely went 20 yards and dropped within the bean area.”
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After watching the buck fall, Hahnert referred to as his spouse Kaitlyn and pal Cody Grey, who drove out to the farm to assist recuperate the large buck. His spouse additionally introduced alongside their three-year-old son, Knox.
“It was nice as a result of I wished him to assist discover the buck … and when Knox noticed the deer he mentioned, ‘Oh deer boo, boo.’” Hahnert says. “That second with him, my spouse and pal. I’ll have that ceaselessly.”
Picture courtesy Taylor Hahnert
After loading up the buck that Hahnert nicknamed “Mega Break up,” they took it to Toby Hughes, an official scorer with Ohio Buckmasters. The mainframe 12-pointer had heavy mass, and Hughes scored it at 177 inches. They estimated the buck’s age round 4.5 years previous.
Hahnert says he’ll have a shoulder mount made from the buck. And searching again on the hunt, he thinks some divine energy might have been concerned.
“An excellent pal of mine owned the farm, and I hunted it for eight years with out taking a buck from the place. He was in in poor health well being earlier this 12 months, and I informed him I’d shoot a pleasant buck off the farm,” says Hahnert. “He handed away lower than two weeks earlier than I shot Mega Break up, and I can’t assist however consider my pal was smiling and had a hand in my success.”
