The big non-typical buck that John Schmucker took on opening day of bow season in Adams County has been officially scored and will rank among the top whitetails of all time.
After the required 60 day drying period, a panel of scorers from the Buckeye Big Buck Club and Boone & Crockett scored the deer at Schmucker's residence on Friday, Dec. 1, officially releasing the score at a media event held at the Division of Wildlife's District Five office in Xenia that Saturday.
According to the panel, the Schmucker buck scored a whopping 291-2/8 Boone & Crockett points after deductions, with a gross score of 300-6/8 making it the No. 2 whitetail in the state and the largest ever taken with a crossbow in Ohio.
Jason Schrock, an official scorer for the Buckeye Big Buck Club, who green scored the buck a few days after it was taken, said there was less then four inches of shrinkage during the two-month drying period.
The rack was also scored for Buckmasters by Rob Meade on Oct. 30, who scored the Schmucker buck at a composite score of 305-4/8.
Schmucker's buck will in all likelihood be one of the largest, if not the largest whitetail taken in the U.S. during 2006, according to official scorer Ron Perrine.
Duncan Dobie, editor of North American Whitetail Magazine said, "There are very few 300 (point) class whitetails taken in the nation, John Schmucker's buck will rank as one on the top whitetails of all time."
Schmucker's amazing buck were to be featured on the cover and be the primary story in the upcoming issues of North American Whitetail, and Ohio Fish & Game, that were due on newsstands in mid-December.
Biologist and District Five Supervisor Todd Haines said the southwest Ohio counties are among of the top producers of trophy whitetails in the United States, and cited genetics, forage, the abundant acorn crop of the past three years, and wildlife management that has sought to balance the buck/doe ratio as the reasons.
Haines also said Adams County is now the top spot in the state and one of the leading places in the nation to bag a trophy whitetail.
To capitalize on this, the Division of Wildlife has created a large six-foot-tall poster featuring both the Schmucker Buck and the Metzner Buck with words "Adams County" in red between the two giant photos of the deer.
That poster will be on display at the Division of Wildlife booth at the upcoming Cincinnati Sport, Boat, and Travel show and at the Deer and Turkey Expo in Columbus.
The poster will also be at the Adams County Travel and Visitors Bureau booth at the Cincinnati Boat and Travel show in January.
The panel of scorers who officially measured the Schmucker buck was Ron Perrine, Tim Schlater, George Bauer, and Jason Schrock.
The actual scoring took three hours to complete and three days to review all the measurements and tally up the points before a final score was determined.
Gary Trent, president of the Buckeye Big Buck Club, had some friendly words of advice for Mr. Schmucker.
"You won't believe what's about to happen to you, my advice is to sit back, take it easy, and let the manufactures and endorsement offers come to you," Trent said. "Just take it all in, be yourself, and make wise decisions."
