Ohio Bowhunter tags giant buck with split brow teeth from his friend’s farm

The evening of October 12 marked the third time this season that Taylor Hahnert had hunted from the same tree stand on a private 30-acre parcel in Knox County, Ohio. Hahnert was looking for a huge buck that he had often seen on the farm. It was one he had passed on several times over the years, and a pair of split brown teeth made it easy to spot.

“I had a lot of camera photos of the deer, and when I got photos of him in velvet this summer, I knew this was the year to take him,” says Hahnert. Outdoor living.

Hahnert’s stand was 18 feet high in the canopy of a mature maple tree and located at the edge of a standing bean field. He had scattered some turnip seeds there earlier this summer to attract the deer to the spot, and he kept a close eye on the field as the evening wore on.

A trail camera photo of a buck in Ohio.
A trailcam photo of “Mega Split,” captured in September.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Hahnert

“Around 6:15 p.m., I saw the buck walking toward me, and I tried to find it from a distance,” said Hahnert, 30, who lives in Ostrander. “But my rangefinder gave up, so I had to estimate the distance and make my shot.”

Hahnert estimated the range at 40 yards and let an arrow fly. He later learned that the buck was only 35 yards away and he hit it a little high.

“But the arrow cut through his spine,” said Hahnert, who used a compound bow with a 100-grain mechanical broadhead and three blades. “The buck only went 20 yards and fell into the bean field.”

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After seeing the buck fall, Hahnert called his wife Kaitlyn and friend Cody Gray, who drove to the farm to help recover the giant buck. His wife also brought their three-year-old son Knox with her.

“It was great because I wanted him to help find the deer… and when Knox saw the deer, he said, ‘Oh deer boo, boo.’” Hahnert says. “That moment with him, my wife and friend. I will have that forever.”

An Ohio hunter and his young son with a buck.
Hahnert recovered the goat along with his three-year-old son Knox.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Hahnert

After loading up on the money that Hahnert nicknamed “Mega Split,” they took it to Toby Hughes, an official scorekeeper with the Ohio Buckmasters. The mainframe’s 12-pointer had a heavy mass, and Hughes scored it at 177 inches. They estimated the buck’s age at about 4.5 years old.

Hahnert says he will have a shoulder rest made from the trestle. And looking back on the hunt, he thinks that perhaps a divine force was involved.

“A good friend of mine owned the ranch, and I hunted it for eight years without taking a dollar from it. He was in poor health earlier this year and I told him I was going to take a nice chunk of money from the farm,” says Hahnert. “He died less than two weeks before I shot Mega Split, and I can’t help but believe that my friend smiled and had a hand in my success.”

Bob McNally