Baltimore hunter bags his biggest buck yet on last day of bow season, feels blessed

BALTIMORE — James White had been having a slow hunting season. He'd spent plenty of time in the tree stand near Pleasantville but was waiting for the right deer to come by.

He was about ready to hang up the bow for the season when the right deer did come along. It passed one of his trail cameras on Jan. 26, and he couldn't stop thinking about it.

It was late in the season, which is when white-tailed deer begin to lose their antlers. He'd seen several without antlers passing his stand, and the prized buck he got on camera could have been one of them.

Then, on the last day of the season, White saw the deer in range of his bow and took the shot. He brought it down, bagging his largest deer ever in his 23-year hunting career.

"After I'd spotted it on the trail cam, I didn't sleep for about two days. I thought about it non-stop, and I'd seen him from the stand a couple times, but he was outside of bow range," White said. "It was amazing to get him, I feel blessed I was able to take him down. You can tell their age by their teeth, and he was right around his peak: any older and his antlers would have started coming in smaller, and the meat wouldn't be as good."

"I had seen a ton of deer this season, some with a lot of potential but when I saw him, I was almost fixated on getting him."

White said they had the buck appraised, and it got a "rough green score" of 174, but he'll be getting an official score later in February. It was a 13-point buck, with an antler spread of 26 inches. Various hunting clubs throughout Ohio score their bucks on their own scales, but 174 is high.

Tony Zerkle, Fairfield County Wildlife Officer with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, said the county has a good supply of trophy bucks, owing to the large amount of food and cover the deer can find.

"We've had good hunting seasons in the past few years, according to the harvest record. We're within a few hundred of the previous year, so it seems we have a stable herd population. In 2011, we had an overabundance of deer, but now we're about stable," Zerkle said. "Hunting is the number one management tool to reduce human-animal conflicts, whether that's deer striking cars or eating crops."

Zerkle said ODNR tracks the number of deer harvested each year, with the distinction of antlered or antlerless, but it doesn't track size. He added most bucks are mature at about four or five-and-a-half years old, before they start to decline.

White said population management is one of the reasons he hunts, but it's also been a major passion for him since he was eight years old.

"My mother would send me to a family friend's farm in Logan over the summers, and Danny had a real passion for the outdoors. He invited me back in the fall for deer season, and that's how I got started," he said. "I'd say hunting is the outdoorsman's drug. It's almost always on my mind. And it isn't always about the trophy of the hunt, for me, helping the area's deer population stay manageable is important."

"I could sit in the stand for hours, not take a single shot, and still be happy."

White said he also likes hunting for the camaraderie he has with friends. It's a hobby they share, and he said hunting is a way to relax. He said he likes bow season more than gun season, because you can see the seasons change and hunting with a rifle "isn't as challenging."

"Hunting is also something to share with younger generations, to get them outside and get them interested in the outdoors. My girlfriend's son George showed interest last year, and we got his first deer in November. It's something special we can share, and it gets him out of the house and keeps him active," White said.

Hunting can be challenging, White said, it's not always simple. Factors like weather, the season and amount of available food can affect herd patterns. He said hunting takes strategy.

"Deer are smart, smarter than most people think. You have to keep an eye on what the weather's been like to know when they're most likely to be active. With the big freeze we had the week I got the buck, it wasn't likely they'd be active, so there's no point in going to the stand until it warms up a bit," White said. "When you can figure out their pattern, you can plan on when it's best to take them."

He added it can also be discouraging to go hunting and not bring any deer home, but that shouldn't put off new hunters.

"I spent about 100 hours in the stand before I took this buck, so I know the letdown of a hunt can be bad. I was discouraged this whole season, seeing other hunters go out once or twice and coming away with good deer. I spent four to five hours at a time in that stand, so it took a long time to get this deer," White said. "But you shouldn't give up, you never know what the next move is."

White said he processed the trophy buck personally because he wanted to know he got the meat from the deer. The hide and antlers have been taken to a taxidermist for preservation.

Barrett Lawlis is a reporter with the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette. You can share story ideas or comments with him at 740-681-4342 or send an e-mail to blawlis@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BarrettLawlis

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Baltimore hunter bags his biggest buck yet on last day of bow season