It was Dave Talbott’s first year hunting a small farm in southeast Ohio. The property, which is owned by a family friend, has rolling hills and steep hardwoods and is scattered with hayfields.
“I never walked the farm until the week just before bow season opened,” says Talbott, who lives in Logan. “I found good deer sign, with lots of buck rubs on trees.”
Talbott didn’t set any trail cameras or bait. Instead, when the season opened, he just walked the woods, scouting and hunting different locations. He used a lightweight tree saddle and climbing sticks to check areas quickly and quietly.
“I sat in six different trees over 12 hunts, moving according to wind and weather conditions,” says the 26-year-old, who works in heavy construction.
On the morning of Nov. 7, he hunted a pinch point where he knew a few does were bedded.
“But I didn’t like the place and started walking the farm again when I climbed down that morning.”
It was the first cold day of autumn, cloudy and with temperatures around 40 degrees. Talbott located a couple of fresh scrapes, and climbed into a nearby tree around 1:30 p.m. to hunt that afternoon. He didn’t see much until about 4:30. That’s when he spotted a big deer headed his way along the field edge.
“I knew he was big, and a shooter, and it all happened very fast.”
When the buck stepped behind some brush 15 yards from Talbott, he drew. The deer stepped into an opening, and Talbott released his arrow.
Talbott saw the deer run about 30 yards and, pouring blood, enter the timber toward a distant hayfield. Then it disappeared over a hill.
“I was shaking uncontrollably when I called my wife, dad, and best friend [Brady Garren] and told them what had happened,” Talbott says. “Dad and Brady got there after sunset to help me look.”
Carrying flashlights, the three men followed a blood trail for about 150 yards. But the trail petered out. Then they heard thrashing in a nearby ravine. Thinking it might be Talbott’s buck, they backed out and called in Triple BC Deer Drone Recovery for assistance.
“They got there with a drone a couple hours later,” says Talbott. “They flew the drone to where we last found blood and in just a minute the buck was found in the ravine, but its head was up.”
They waited an hour and flew the drone again but saw just a slight movement from the buck. An hour later when they flew the drone a third and final time, they saw the buck was dead.
By then, around 11:30 p.m., more friends had arrived and seven people went into the ravine to help haul out Talbott’s huge buck.
“I knew he was a great buck, but I had no idea he was that big until I walked up to him,” Talbott says. “I was beyond ecstatic.”
It was after midnight by the time they field dressed the buck and dragged it 600 yards to the truck. They loaded it and drove to a friend’s cooler.
The next day Talbott’s wife, Alison, took photos before they caped the buck and processed the meat. The buck has 16 points and is an estimated 5.5 years old.
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“My taxidermist says it should score about 190 inches,” says Talbott. “The whole thing is so unreal I can’t explain how I feel. I spent a lot of time there hunting and learning the farm, how to use the wind and where the deer were bedding and scraping … It’s just an incredible experience.”