Ohio has been cranking out giant bucks since the season opener, and Ross County bowhunter Daniel Cermeans added a massive 16-point buck to the tally when the season was barely two weeks old. After evading not just one but two arrows over a three-year span, the massive buck seemed to be living a charmed life—until Cermeans finally connected on October 7.
Cermeans, a 35-year old builder, first recognized the buck in 2022. “He was a 130-class 10-point with a split G2 that fall,” he said. “He kind of stood out because he looked to be a 3-year old buck we had no history with; he just showed up around the rut and stayed. He was also unique because he was a heavy-racked deer. The genetics in this area seems to run to tall- but thin-racked bucks. And he was just the opposite. That fall, I was filming my step brother and hunting partner, Ryan Slopko, and he had a good shot at the buck. But the deer ducked and spun and somehow avoided that arrow. When you look at the film, it’s really unbelievable he didn’t kill that deer. Anyway, he missed clean, and we had no other chances at him that season.”
Last fall, the buck was still calling Cermeans’ 120-acre property home, but he’d grown into a clean, beautiful 10-point—and a buck that avoided any attempts at tagging him. This past summer, the buck reappeared on Cermeans' camera starting August 20th and had, in the modern whitetail terminology, “blown up,” according to the hunter. “He showed up at our feeder (baiting and feeding is legal in Ohio) that day and just kind of kept hanging around,” Cermeans said. “By the time the archery opener rolled around, I felt I had a decent chance of seeing him, provided I waited for the perfect wind to sit my best spot. So, my first sit for him was October 2nd, and right on cue, he showed up. I took the shot and missed when my arrow hit a small twig that I thought it would clear. Fortunately, the buck really had no clue what had happened. He just heard a funny sound, jumped and trotted off a bit, then walked away.”
Though obviously disappointed, Cermeans wasn’t about to give up on the buck, and when a promised cold front came through, he had the right wind for his stand and the perfect conditions for a second try. “I normally wait for my step brother Ryan to go with me, but we had a 30-degree temperature drop coming and he had to work,” he said. “So I told him, ‘Bud, I have to go without you,’ and he said ‘Go kill him!’” So I hit the stand, and it wasn’t long before the first buck showed up.” That buck was soon joined by another, and another, until Cermeans had 10 different bucks in front of him. Several had squared off to spar with each other and a couple were at the feeder, when suddenly the big deer he was after appeared and ran off all the competition. “It was crazy,” Cermeans said. “Those younger bucks formed a single-file line and paraded out of there and towards the woods.”
The big one stood alone at the feeder and gave Cermeans a 32-yard, quartering-away shot. He made a perfect shot, the arrow striking behind the shoulder. “The buck ran to the wood line and stopped for a bit, and he looked wobbly,” Cermeans said. “Then he ran off into the timber, where I thought I heard him crash.” Cermeans waited 30 minutes before climbing down from the stand; he recovered his arrow, but then left the area to wait for his step brother, who arrived 90 minutes later. The two followed a short blood trail that led to the buck, and Cermeans’ quest for the giant Buckeye State buck was over.
Longtime Buckmasters scorer Toby Hughes measured Cermeans' buck and assigned a score of 201-⅜ inches. The heavy-racked, main-frame 10-point carried its mass well, measuring 6-2/8 inches at the base and 5-⅝ inches at the 4th circumference measurement. With 26-⅜-inch beams, an 18-2/8-inch inside spread, and 18-⅞ inches of irregular points, the Ross County giant will be tough for Cermeans to top.
“It was pretty amazing to finally get my hands on him after three years of history,” he said. “And it was rewarding to have the chance to hunt a buck like that on a 120-acre farm. We have some nice up-and-comers, but the woods will be different, knowing he’s not around any more.”
