Ohio’s 2021 bow season opened three days after Derek Walker found out he had COVID-19.
Had his cell phone not revealed daytime images of the buck to which he’d already devoted two seasons, he might have stayed home with the rest of the quarantined family. Spending time in a treestand would be isolation enough, he decided. It couldn't make his fever and headache any worse, right?
He hunts only 2 miles from his Marengo home anyway.
Still, he knew his physical strength wasn’t up to snuff.
“I tried shooting my compound bow a few times, but I just couldn’t pull it back all the way. I couldn’t make it happen,” Derek told Gita Smith, who’s writing the story for Rack magazine. “I was worried that, if I took my bow, I’d make noise on stand while trying to pull back, or I’d make a bad shot and scare that deer away.
“In the end, COVID made the decision — the crossbow — for me,” added the 37-year-old real estate agent.
Derek hadn’t planned to be in the woods on opening morning. He was cooking breakfast that day when his trail camera sent an image of his Most Wanted an hour after daybreak.
Of course, he knew where he’d be spending the afternoon.
Not wanting to cross open ground to reach his stand, he crept in by a different route, and was aloft just before 4 p.m.
Three hours later, he spotted the trail-cam buck browsing in some tall weeds. As soon as the deer stepped into a clear lane, he squeezed the trigger.
“As soon as I hung up my crossbow, I started shaking,” he said. “My head was spinning. I couldn’t believe that had just happened.”
Derek texted his cousin, Nick Stillwell, who was hunting nearby. He also called his father, Jim. Within the hour, the three men spread out and began trailing the animal.
Despite sparse blood, they found it by following smushed weeds. He’d double-lunged the 16-pointer, but the broadhead’s blades had not deployed.
The Morrow County whitetail, one of Ohio’s first 2021 giants, tallies 202 5/8 inches on the Buckmasters scale. Its score is helped by a 22 1/8-inch inside spread and nearly 30 inches of irregular growth.
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