Chris Richardson had a rough year in 2019, but he was on top of the world last season.
The Tennessean has traveled to Ohio to hunt deer for nearly 20 years. In 2019, he shot the biggest whitetail he’d seen to that point, but he didn’t recover it.
His search was cut short when he had to return home to be with family and his grandmother, who wasn’t expected to survive injuries sustained in a car accident.
Prior to Ohio’s 2020 deer opener, he drove up to scout public land three times.
“I was eager to return,” he said. “I covered a lot of miles, looking for buck sign and hanging trail cameras.”
One of his units yielded photographs of a respectable 8-pointer, which became his target buck. When he left his home Halloween night, he was pumped.
“I spent the first day checking cameras and hanging my stand,” Chris said. “I woke to 29-degree weather Tuesday morning. The wind made it feel more like 19.
“My stand was almost a mile into the woods, and I was sitting in it about 45 minutes before daybreak, hoping the big 4x4 would show. Shortly after sunrise, I threw out a few grunts and rattled, which is something I almost never do.
“Truth is, I was pretty cold and thought it might hurry things up a bit,” he admitted.
A couple of minutes later, he heard a buck grunting inside a nearby thicket. He was understandably disappointed when a spike emerged. Soon, however, he noticed another deer – the wish list 8-pointer – in the open hardwoods. It, too, had seen the spike exit the thicket.
No amount of grunting or bleating prevented the 4x4 from leaving.
At noon, Chris returned to his truck to eat and take a nap. He might have slept through the rest of the afternoon has his brother not called at almost 2:30. He was back in his treestand a half-hour later.
Chris spotted two does in the thicket about 4:00. The next deer he saw stole his breath.
“I couldn't tell just how big it was, but I knew it was much bigger than the others I had been seeing. It was even more impressive than the deer I’d lost the previous season,” he said.
Moments later, he took the 30-yard shot.
“I’ve never taken a deer anywhere near this size,” he said. “It was one of the best surprises I've ever had.”
With a Buckmasters score of 216 7/8 inches, the whitetail is the second-largest buck ever felled by crossbow in Clinton County, Ohio. It was actually No. 1 for five days, until another hunter bested it. Statewide, it’s now No. 12 for its (irregular) category.
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