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Bow Buck Top 10 in Buckeye State
By Patrick Dunning
Corey Myers broke Ohio’s top 10 in BTR’s perfect category for compound bow with his early October harvest in Columbiana County. His personal best buck measured 188 4/8 inches as a 13-pointer and is #8 in the state.
“We played cat and mouse for three years; I think he hunted me just as hard as I hunted him,” Corey told Buckmasters. “Every encounter I had with him was at last light and never got to let an arrow fly. I was drawn back on him three times and found of his sheds in 2021.”
Despite having rights to hunt a 700-acre private farm in northeast Ohio, Corey says he delt with a fair amount of pressure from folks driving deer on the property during gun and muzzleloader seasons and out-of-state hunters friendly to the farmer.
“Hunting pressure during gun season in Ohio is unreal. Every farmer and their cousin is out there driving woods. Come November and December gun season, this property gets pressured probably as much as public land.”
The 32-year-old knew his odds were best during archery season and trail camera photos indicated the deer was bedding in a swampy low spot next to a natural gas line. Corey situated a tree saddle 18-feet up a skimpy sycamore on a corner of the gas line and an access road the gas company constructed for maintenance.
“We had a big front come through and I saw a bunch of deer my first sit in that new location but no sign of him. I got caught in a thunderstorm at sunset, left my set there and didn’t hunt the next day. I went back out Saturday evening,” Corey said. “I’m sitting in a thin row of timber on a corner of that gas line looking at that access trail and he came out thirty minutes before dark.”
When the 7x6 got to within 12 yards of Corey’s tree, he crouched down to avoid a couple limbs and drew back on the buck quartering toward him.
He tucked an arrow behind its shoulder into the chest cavity and had a red-carpet blood trail to follow.
Corey recovered the deer 60 yards from the base of his tree two hours later and picked up a 12-pack of Busch Lattes on the way to the house.