For the second year in a row, an Ohio hunter has killed a 200-class
trophy buck on the first day of Ohio deer archery season.
Once scored, the Adams County buck will easily score over 200
(non-typical). It has 33 points on its antlers and an inside spread of 24
inches. Jonathon Schmucker of Seaman, Ohio killed the buck with a crossbow
on the evening of September 30. Last year on opening day, Mike Rex of
Athens, killed a buck that scored 218 6/8. This is the first year deer
season has started in September.
“Trophy bucks on opening day are getting to be a tradition in Ohio,”
said Steven A. Gray, chief of the Division of Wildlife. "The state’s deer
management program is designed to manage for trophy-sized bucks while
controlling the state population through hunting of deer, especially
does."
Ohio is gaining fame as a trophy buck state. The famous 39-point Beatty
Buck was taken in Greene County in the fall of 2000. With a rack score of
304 6/8, it stands as the world's largest non-typical white-tailed deer
ever taken by a bowhunter. A white-tailed deer killed in the fall of 2004
in Warren County, known as the Jerman buck, became an Ohio typical record
with a score of 201 1/8. These two bucks and many other trophy bucks have
focused national attention from the hunting community on the Buckeye state
in the past few years.
The Ohio
Buckeye Big Buck Club (BBBC) has recorded more than one-half of all
its top 10 entries for both typical and non-typical deer during the last
decade. Of the 144 BBBC entries scoring over 200, 92 (63 percent) have
been killed since 1990. The BBBC has kept records of trophy deer since
1958.