Native legend bucks could cause fairly a stir within the communities they hang-out. Hunters attempt to declare them and do absolutely anything to maintain them on their properties. Each spring, they pray the particular buck survived the season and lived to see—and develop—one other 12 months. Davey Stuckey, a 44-year-old retired Military infantryman, needed the monster whitetail of Fayette County, Ohio as unhealthy as the subsequent man. This buck had a 9-inch drop tine and a 2-inch antler rising out of his left eye socket. It took Stuckey 4 years, however on Oct. 31, 2022, he made native historical past.
Stuckey discovered the buck’s sheds in 2018, which rough-scored 187 inches with out a unfold measurement. However the buck at all times hung round one of many few farms within the space the place Stuckey doesn’t have permission. (The homeowners are shut household associates however they hunt the land). Stuckey didn’t see the buck once more for the subsequent two seasons, then noticed him from the street within the spring of 2020, nonetheless on the identical off-limits property.
“I watched him like that for an additional two years,” Stuckey tells Out of doors Life. “It was simply heartbreaking seeing a deer like that the place you’ll be able to’t even hunt.”
One way or the other, the Fayette County buck survived every fall. Issues modified this 12 months when the buck moved to a ditch on a farm only a half-mile down the street the place Stuckey had permission. He stored his mouth shut in regards to the discovery even because the native rumor mill churned.
“There have been like six or seven guys looking this deer,” Stuckey says. “There have been path digital camera photos throughout social media.”
Stuckey instantly hung a path digital camera close to the ditch. Shortly thereafter, the photographs began flooding in. Stuckey realized he was staring straight at one of many buck’s major bedding areas, the place he spent virtually half his time. He’d lay proper in entrance of the digital camera for seven hours straight, transferring little or no throughout authorized capturing hours. Then a chilly entrance moved in, urging the buck to his ft. Stuckey grabbed his crossbow and moved in.
“There have been these 30 mile-per-hour winds in the future, and I snuck up on this grass. I shot and missed at 30 yards,” Stuckey remembers. “The grass is so tall and thick, and I believe my expandable broadhead opened up in it. He didn’t know what occurred, he form of ran up on me at an angle and appeared round then trotted away.”
The subsequent day, the temperature climbed and the buck settled down once more. However Stuckey knew the mornings can be loads cooler.
“I went straight throughout the ditch and hung a treestand off this finger that caught out, and he began daylighting over there,” Stuckey says. “The third morning I hunted him, he stepped out bumping some does, grunting and lip-curling, and I shot him at 53 yards. He went out about 20 yards right into a cut-grass discipline after which bolted again into the ditch. I went down and he was simply throughout the ditch within the vast open.”
Stuckey instantly referred to as the native recreation warden. He knew different guys had been chasing this buck and he needed the warden to witness his authorized kill, simply in case jealousy kicked in and people referred to as Stuckey’s story into query.
“With me not having a lot besides path digital camera photos, I simply needed to cowl all my bases,” he says. “So the sport warden checked my permission slip, we walked on the market, tagged him, and drug him out.”
Stuckey’s taxidermist caped out the buck, being cautious to keep away from what Stuckey calls the “eye guard.” He preserved the left eye socket with its antler connected to the cranium cap, bumping the rack to a Buckmasters rating of 228 1/2.
As for the opposite hunters chasing the Fayette County monster, Stuckey mentioned he’s obtained a whole lot of assist and kindness for probably the most half, minus a couple of detrimental feedback.
“You’re at all times going to listen to ‘poacher,’ you’re at all times going to listen to ‘excessive fence,’ or ‘that was my deer, you don’t have any historical past with it,’ in the meantime I’m standing right here with sheds and path digital camera photos,” Stuckey chuckles. “I don’t keep in mind erasing anybody’s identify off of him. However for probably the most half, I received nothing however love.”
