Wes Brewer climbed into a favorite lock-on tree stand the evening of Sept. 26. He was 18-feet up in a treeline on the edge of a small privately-owned field in central Ohio’s Franklin County.
The 43-year-old Florida native traveled to Ohio a few years ago and decided to stay, in no small part because of the great deer hunting.
“There are a lot of deer, and some big ones, so I moved to Ohio,” Brewer tells Outdoor Life. “I’m a cabinet maker, had plenty of work and I met some great folks. I made some friends who’ve given me permission to hunt their land – so I’ve been here ever since.”
The treestand where Brewer hunted on Sept. 26 is the same spot he arrowed a heavy Ohio 165-inch 10-pointer in 2025.
“It’s a great stand that I have cameras up nearby and I knew a huge buck that I’ve been after for four years was in the area,” says Brewer, of Pickerington, Ohio. “I had four chances to arrow him over several years, but he was a fighter during the rut and every time I could have shot him, he had a half rack or broken tines – so I always passed him.”
This year Brewer had trail cam photos of the big buck and his rack was not yet broken. The deer traveled along a trail from a field to a feeder. The evening of Sept. 26 the buck came along the trail at 7 p.m., and for once, his rack was still whole – no broken tines.
“When he was broadside at 15 yards, I drew my 45-pound Bear Grizzly recurve bow and took the shot,” says Brewer. “But the buck took a step just as I released and I hit him a little bit back.”
But the bowman’s 150-grain Wasp SharpShooter broadhead drove through the buck, and Brewer found a blood trail leading through the woods just as the sun set.
The veteran bowhunter decided to leave the area, returning three hours later with his fiancée Courtany and her son 10-year-old Grayson. They found a faint blood trail, but not wanting to push the buck they backed out and returned the next morning.
“We had to do a little looking but found some blood, and Grayson spotted the buck first,” Brewer says. “We must have stepped right over him a couple of times the night before when we were looking for him. He didn’t travel more than 300 yards from the spot where I shot him.”
Brewer field dressed the massive buck in the woods, and they dragged the deer several hundred yards to an area where they could reach with a vehicle.
“It was a tough drag over dead falls, and lots of cover,” Brewer says with a chuckle. “But we managed it, and it was a real celebration for all of us getting that buck out.”
Brewer took his buck to Toby Hughes, an official Buckmasters of Ohio scorer. Using that scoring system, Hughes officially measured the buck’s massive rack at 206 1/8 inches, with just over an 18-inch inside antler spread. The buck’s dressed weight was 218-pounds, with an estimated live weight of over 245 pounds.
“I’m gonna have a Euro mount made of his rack, which looks cool and is less expensive than having a standard taxidermy mount,” Brewer says. “I sold my compound bows a couple years ago and have really enjoyed the last two years using my Bear recurve.
“I’ve used the same bow and the same Wasp broadhead to take two great bucks from the same tree stand two years in a row.”