October 4, 2006

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.