RidgeGhost's Ohio Buck

[RidgeGhost]

After a rough season last year, and never drawing my bow on a deer all season, I was determined more than ever to get back on track this year. I focused my efforts on Ohio. I planned to hunt every weekend and burn all my vacation until I killed one.

This weekend was my fourth weekend trip to hunt. I had honed in on a few areas that I knew held older bucks. This property in particular was several thousand acres, but over the course of winter scouting and the previous three weekends, I determined that there was only a tiny portion of the property that actually held bucks. I had walked many miles scouting the entire piece, and the only place that I found a track of a mature buck was in this pocket. Overlooked, thick, multiple habitat types converging, water, food - This tiny pocket had it all. The biggest difficulty was that I didn't actually know where the best beds were within the pocket. I knew approximately where bedding was, but not close enough to dive right in. I had pictures of two ten points in there that I would be happy to shoot.

My first hunt in the area was opening day. It was 92 degrees and I was bordering on dehydration getting back in there. No deer were seen on hunt #1. The second hunt was a morning hunt. I sat just on the downwind side of a bedding point near the area where I knew the bucks were. There were plenty of acorns, but the bedding was not being used. Hunt #3 was back in the heart of the area. I pushed past the tree I sat the first day, following tracks back as far as I could until I lost them in the leaves. I had pushed in to within 50 yards of an old clearcut when I set up. No deer were seen until dark when I was lowering my bow and the dark shadow of a large bodied deer took off from 20 yards. I was close!

This weekend was the fourth hunt in the area. I made my way in and pushed past the tree I was in the previous hunt. On my way there was a fresh scrape and a rub bigger than my thigh that had been hit in the last few days. I knew there was a buck in there and I just had to get close enough. This time I set up as far as I could go while still having a tree big enough to hang a stand in.

At 6:30, I spotted a doe sneaking up the ridge to me. I stood to get ready, but somehow she caught me. She stomped a bit, and trotted 30 yards down the ridge and started circling to get downwind. When she did that, several other does scattered from the brush that I hadn't seen. In all the commotion, I caught movement 35 yards behind me and there he was. I saw five points on one side and assumed he was one of the tens I had pictures of - I never looked at the rack again. He seemed to think the does were running from him, so he started nudging them around. He bumped the doe that was trying to get downwind of me, so she never caught me. As he was bumping the does around, I pulled out the grunt tube. He was now about 75 yards down the ridge. I grunted loudly, he threw his head up, but went back to nudging does. So I hit the tube again and he threw his head up again. This time I snort wheezed and he immediately started working his way up the ridge to me.

He was coming quickly and my heart rate was spiking. As he neared an opening at 25 yards, circling on the downwind side, I drew. He was about to hit my wind in another step or two. I had to shoot. He was quartering to me hard, but I put it on his shoulder and let it go. He turned and charged down the ridge, crashing through everything in his path. Within seconds, a big crash, then silence. Five minutes later the coyotes started howling all around where I heard the crash. A short track job turned him up. I didn't realize until I walked up on him that this wasn't either of the tens I intended to shoot, but a 3yr old 9pt. He's not what I'm after,really, but I'm super proud of him. There is so much hard work that has gone into making this hunt a success. I'm happy to share this story on here, because only beasts really understand what it takes to make this happen consistently. It's a little bitter sweet that I'm done in Ohio for the year, but it gives me the opportunity to check out another state with lots of time left.

The blood trail:

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And the mistaken identity buck:

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[mipubbucks24]

Congrats beautiful deer, and great write up!

[muddy]

Congrats!

[Lockdown]

You’re a big buck’s worst nightmare man!! Congrats on a fine buck!

[Jurist]

That is sweet!

Nice Job..

[thwack16]

Awesome buck and hunt man! Congrats!

[218er]

That’s a great buck. Congratulations

[seazofcheeze]

Congrats on a great buck!

Just curious what your arrow and broadhead setup is? Looks like it smashed through the quartering to shot, which is why I am curious.

[Bigburner]

Let’s go! Great buck

[bigbucks1234]

That's a beauty ridgeghost!!!! Congrats!!!
Do you think would have gotten a shot on this deer if you hadn't moved in closer with that last sit??

[Dewey]

Nice buck. Congrats.

[bigredneck61088]

Nice one!

[Evanszach7]

[Motivated]

Congratulations!

[john1984]

Gr8 buck