Ohio Bowhunter Arrows Tank of a Buck From Tree Saddle

Ohio’s Corey Myers drew back on this buck three different times in 2021. He finally put the finishing touches on the story on October 7 this fall. Image courtesy of Corey Myers

The year of global chaos, 2020, is when Corey Myers first captured trail camera pictures of the buck that he finally closed the book on this October. At the time, the buck, a young one with decent potential, didn’t really catch Myers’ eye. The buck got his attention the following year, though.

“He blew up in 2021,” Myers said. “I bet he was in the 160 class. Since then, he’s been the only deer I’ve wanted to put my tag on.”

Interestingly, Myers had a few close calls with the tremendous buck in 2021.

“I drew back on him three different times,” he recounted. “All three times, he came out right toward the end of legal shooting time, and I was hunting in the timber. I just didn’t have enough light to see my sight through the peep. It was frustrating because I couldn’t get any closer to where I believed he was bedding.”

Despite the three encounters in 2021, 2022 was a slower season with only one encounter while hunting.

“It was kind of an odd deal,” Myers said of that encounter. “The wind started swirling when I got into my stand, so I pulled out and sat on the ground in a location where my wind wouldn’t be blowing where I expected the buck to come from. He came out and hit a scrape 15 yards from the stand I’d been in. It would’ve been a chip shot, but I had to sit there and watch him from 50-some yards away. He hit that scrape and kept going.”

Meanwhile, the landowner allowed some guys from Pennsylvania to hunt on the property, and they asked Myers to stay out for 10 days during the rut. Given the pressure, the buck assumed a larger home range. Myers found him during the 2022 late season about 1 1/2-2 miles from where he had found the buck’s 2021 sheds, meaning the deer had chosen new wintering grounds.

The buck had a tremendous body and world-class 191 1/8-inch (gross) antlers. Image courtesy of Corey Myers

This past summer, Myers located the buck while glassing fields toward the end of August. In prior years, the buck usually showed up where he hunts in mid-September. Myers also got a trail camera picture of the buck in velvet.

“I didn’t see him during my first two hunts of the 2023 season,” he said. “On the third hunt, though, it all came together.

“There’s a gas line where I hunt,” he continued. “Every year, the gas company comes and mows. They came through on Thursday, October 5, and mowed and cut down some trees. So, I went out and hung a set and hunted it. I figured that with all of the commotion they’d made and scent in the area, if there was ever a time to hunt on a sketchy wind, it was then. I saw a lot of deer, but not the buck I was hunting. And, I got caught in a thunderstorm on the way out.”

On the afternoon of October 7, Myers saw and filmed a bunch of young bucks from that same setup. With daylight fading fast, the buck suddenly appeared.

“He was working a scrape and munching on acorns,” Myers explained. “I had my video camera positioned toward a 30-yard lane, but he suddenly turned 90 degrees, walking directly at me. Now, he was only 15 yards away. I didn’t bother with the camera at that point.”

Despite the short distance, making the shot was very awkward. Myers was hunting from a saddle and the tether rope was restricting one of his shoulders. Plus, he had to crouch down to clear some twigs.

“The last thing I remember is centering my sight housing in my peep and finding my anchor point,” he said. “As I was lowering my pin down, the buck spotted me. We were locked eye to eye. It was intense.”

A moment later, Myers released his arrow, which connected perfectly. He climbed down and went straight to his truck. After waiting for a little over two hours, he went back in with some friends and they quickly found the buck only 60-70 yards from the stand.

After the three full-draw encounters in 2021, Myers was relieved to finally release an arrow and collect the buck that he’s known about since 2020. When asked what it feels like to kill a buck that he won’t likely top in the near future, he said, “Motivation. I’m motivated to keep trying harder.”

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