Two Brothers, Two Big Bucks
By Mark Melotik
There’s nothing quite like a good old-fashioned sibling rivalry. And when the bone of contention is big bucks, well, color us interested.
Over the past two years, Ohio brothers Greg and Richard Patton have been on a roll when it comes to outsized Buckeye state whitetails. Greg, 51, started things off back on Nov. 9, 2022, when he arrowed a beautiful 13-point Morrow County monster with his crossbow.
For 10 years, Greg had been the only one allowed to hunt the 55-acre private honey hole, where he’d encountered some truly special deer. Greg had actually been hunting a buck he estimated at some 200 inches that November day — a giant he had recently captured for the first time there on a trail camera.
“That November day I was putting metal on a pole barn I was building on a property I had just purchased near my hunting land,” Patton recalled. “But while I was working I was kind of in a daze, and my buddy called me on it. He said, ‘Man, you’re just not into it today, what’s going on?’
“I told him, my cellular trail cam is going crazy today, and ever since I woke up I was just feeling it for hunting that day — like I knew it would be the day. My buddy said, ‘My, God, you gotta get in the woods. Just go hunting.’ It was about 2:30 when I left.”
Greg had been right about Nov. 9 being the day, but it would not play out exactly as planned.
“My target buck changed that day,” he said.
As he watched a doe move through his stand site, behind her was a brute of a buck he had been chasing for three years. Not the 200 incher, but stand-out impressive nonetheless. Soon, Greg was leveling his crossbow for the shot.
“The buck came in, rubbing on a tree, making all sorts of noise. The shot was about 30 yards. Fortunately, he went about 15 yards and dropped.”
“I’d seen the buck on the hoof one other time, had some previous trail camera photos, and my wife found his sheds the year before,” Greg explained. “I’d been chasing him for three years; I knew he lived in the area the whole time.”
A year later, on Nov. 30, 2023, it was half-brother Richard Patton’s turn to score big. This time the backdrop was the state’s gun season. Assisting in the Wyandot County hunt was the large (20-plus) group of friends that assembled annually for the gun season, including Greg. The group get together every deer season to drive stretches of cut farm fields dotted with smallish, 10- to 20-acre woodlots.
“I was across the field from Richard,” Greg recalled. “I heard him shoot and saw a deer fall but didn’t actually see how big it was,” Greg recalled.
“Richard’s deer was actually the target buck of one of his best friends and was known to several people in the area. There are plenty of trail camera photos of it floating around.
“We green-scored Richard’s buck that night, and then I green-scored mine,” Greg continued. “We had two different people score them, and they came out exactly the same — I think it was 169 5/8. So I got on the phone instantly to Richard, and said, ‘You’re not going to believe this.’”
The brothers then agreed to get the bucks officially scored, at which time they made a wager. Of course each of the brothers thought his buck was the biggest, but Richard’s friend also jumped in on the wager, choosing to support Richard’s buck. This was the same guy who had allowed the large gun-hunting group to drive the core area of his target buck.
“Mine had 13 scorable points and his had 10,” Greg said. “Richard’s is tighter but with a lot more mass.”
The tale of the tape showed what a close race it was. BTR master scorers Toby and Lori Hughes scored Greg’s buck at 170 2/8 in the Typical Crossbow category. Richard’s buck enters the BTR book with an official score of 167 2/8 in the Typical Centerfire Rifle category (it was taken with a .350 Legend). Greg’s buck features 149 2/8 inches of scorable antler, while Richard’s features 148 3/8 inches. That’s less than an inch difference in antler.
“In the end I won two free cases of beer,” Greg said. “But at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter, neither one of us really cared whose was bigger. They’re both our best bucks, but I do get to say I shot a buck bigger than him. And I’m older, and it should be that way.”