Cat and Mouse Game Pays off with 194-Inch Ohio Buck

It was back in September when John Hamman first got trail camera photos of a giant whitetail buck on his lease in Ohio. Hamman has hunted the area for years and had never seen this particular deer before. He eagerly awaited more photos of it, but the buck was only on camera the one night, making Hamman wonder if the deer had just been passing through.

Even though he had only seen the buck on trail camera for one night, Hamman hoped he remained in the area. All photos courtesy of John Hamman

But a few weeks later, in early October, the buck returned. And then again the following night and the night after that. In fact, the deer appeared on camera for 19 days straight, but almost always at night. Hamman hunted hard whenever the wind allowed, getting in 10 sits, but he never saw the buck during daylight.

Once the buck finally returned to Hamman’s trail cameras, he showed up consistently for 19 straight nights.

After talking it over with good friend and hunting buddy Luke Carswell and brother-in-law Joel Williams, Hamman decided to expand his trail camera coverage and watch some scrapes out away from the area where the buck had been showing up. One evening, Hamman got a photo of the deer at a scrape right at last light. The next photo was 45 minutes later at his usual spot, where Hamman had been hunting.

After moving trail cameras around, Hamman was able to hone in on the buck’s location.

Now that he knew which direction the buck was coming from, Hamman began to search the area for bedding cover. There was a small patch of CRP on the mostly open crop farm. It was a long way, 1,500 yards, from where he’d been hunting but Hamman strongly suspected that he’d located the buck’s bedroom.

On October 21, the buck showed on camera in the daylight. Hamman decided to move his setup closer to the bedding area to try to catch the deer moving late in the evening. But there was a hitch. His wife, Bailey, was pregnant with their second daughter. She went into labor on October 24th. They were at the hospital for three days. The buck showed up during daylight all three.

The buck showed up during daylight for three straight days while Hamman and his wife were at the hospital for the birth of their second daughter.

Once they were back home with a healthy baby girl, on October 27, Bailey encouraged John to go hunt the buck. But the buck didn’t show that evening or any of the next several nights. “I found out later that two duck hunters on the same property had jumped the buck from his bed on the 27th. I guess that is what made him change his pattern,” Hamman said.

Hamman put out even more cameras to try to locate the buck. On the morning of November 3, the buck showed up on camera in the daylight. Hamman slipped in at midday and hung a stand near the buck’s bedding area for later that day.

Hamman got a photo of the buck during daylight one morning and hung a stand nearby midday.

“I got up in the stand early that evening. It had been pretty slow. Then, right before dark, I looked up to see a deer coming toward me at about 60 yards away,” Hamman said. It was the buck, but it was walking straight at Hamman and there was no shot.

Still, the buck got closer and as it did, it started getting downwind of the hunter. Hamman was worried that it would spook at any second. When the deer got to 15 yards, it stopped. “He stopped and lifted his head a little, then looked to the left and right, then he started to back up. He was walking backwards, still facing straight at me,” Hamman said. Finally, the buck turned broadside, but by that time, it was in heavy cover. As the buck walked, it paused in a beachball-sized hole in the trees. Hamman raised his crossbow, took aim, and fired.

At the shot, the buck lurched forward, took about four big steps, then plowed nose first into the ground, digging his antlers into the soft turf. Righting himself, the buck continued crashing through the cover, disappearing after about 20 yards.

Hamman gave the buck some time, collected himself, then climbed down to look at his bolt. “The bolt was broken and I was a little concerned. It looked like I had only gotten about 6 inches of penetration,” he said. But he noticed a heavy blood trail and quickly walked up on his trophy, which had only gone a few yards into the cover before expiring.

“Turns out the shot was perfect. It took out the heart and busted the off shoulder; I guess it bounced back out and that is what made me worry that I hadn’t gotten very deep,” Hamman said.

The buck was tall and tight with a 16 inch spread and tines that measured over 9 inches all the way out to the G4s.

The buck was massive, with a 6x6 frame and a nearly 6” flyer off the left G2. The rack was tight with a 16” inside spread, but extremely tall, with even the G4’s measuring over 9 inches in length. After getting the buck out, Hamman and Carswell put a tape to it and came up with 194 gross, Hamman’s biggest buck to date.

“I want to thank everyone that helped me get this buck,” Hamman said, “Especially my wife who pushed me to go hunt even though we had just gotten home from the birth of our daughter. This is the deer of a lifetime and I have enjoyed playing cat and mouse with him all season. I’ve passed on some really good deer this year hoping for a shot at this one. I feel extremely blessed with both my family and this buck. Dreams do come true.”