Talk about a roller coaster of emotions. After three frustrating years patterning this Ohio Monster, 21-year-old Wyatt Damron arrowed the biggest buck of his life. That same night, his father, Thomas, was rushed to the hospital for an emergency surgery.
The procedure was successful, and Thomas is recovering. He hasn't been able to hunt lately, but he's been Wyatt's biggest cheerleader in pursuing this Union County 26-pointer that scored 191 4/8 for Buckmasters Trophy Records.
The kid has wide eyes for his father and didn't think twice about dedicating this trophy to his pops, nicknaming it Dad's Buck.
“My dad taught me how to hunt, so I'm calling this Dad's Buck because he's been pushing me to be positive about this deer. It's been a struggle,” Wyatt said.
Opening evening of Ohio's 2022 bow season, Wyatt said his target buck came within 40 yards, but he couldn't get a shot since it was in some brush. Two days later it was 60 yards and closing when the wind started swirling. The buck tore through a hay field for about 600 yards onto a neighboring property, and Wyatt thought he'd blown his chance.
The stars aligned six days later, however.
The 182-acre private tract Wyatt hunts is split by three landowners. Each has two or three hunters on the property, so pressure can be higher than ideal. Wyatt set up his hang-on stand in a 10-acre patch of woods on the back of a leach pond on top of a pinch point deer use to get to a CRP field.
“My stand faces toward the CRP fields, and the deer come through there from their bedding area, maybe 50 yards from the pond,” Wyatt said. “Where I hunt, there's a ton of pressure, so I wanted to get him early before he got spooked too much.”
Just after 6:00 that evening, a group of does and young bucks were active and browsing near the pond. Over the summer, Wyatt had seen Dad's Buck on camera with a bachelor group and knew it was in the area.
He started fiddling with his camera setup and happened to look up. The giant was coming straight for the pond and acted like it wanted to follow the previous group to the ag fields.
Wyatt grabbed his bow off the hanger, gauged the buck's distance and, when it quartered slightly toward him at 35 yards, he sent a Muzzy Trocar HB-TI through the liver that stuck in its back hip. The shot was a little farther back than Wyatt prefers, and although he didn't hear the buck crash, he saw the deer wasn't putting any pressure on its back right leg as it fled the pond area.
The next morning, Wyatt and a couple of his buddies spent nearly two hours, at times on their hands and knees, looking for specs of blood. At 14 hours since the shot, the trackers began to worry and talk about meat spoilage. Not long after, Wyatt found his arrow coated with dark red bubbles. Just over a football field later, they located the buck in some bedding cover.
“While we were tracking this deer, the surgeon came in and told dad he'd have to have surgery,” Wyatt said. “My mom and aunt were with my dad, and right after the surgeon left, I found the deer and Facetimed Dad. My mom said he was thrilled. It was crazy timing.”
Before Thomas was transferred to Cleveland Clinic, he was able to stop by the house and see his son's buck. Wyatt said he hopes to get his dad in a blind with a crossbow this hunting season. We'll keep our fingers crossed, too.
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