Sometimes the right kind of thing happens to the right kind of person. November 8, 2001 one of those things happened to Mike Beatty of Xenia. That was the day he shot a huge non-typical whitetail buck that has been scored by the Buckeye Big Buck Club at 304 6/8, making it the biggest non-typical buck ever killed by a hunter.
Mike Beatty is 31 years old, a devoted husband and father of two; a working man who just happens to be an avid bowhunter. Today his name is known all over the country, and he spends many of his weekends speaking about bowhunting and exhibiting the antlers of the record-book buck.
His adventure began while bowhunting near his southwestern Ohio hometown. It was an afternoon hunt and Mike knew the timing was good and the bucks should be moving. "I still can't believe it. I saw a few does on the way in to my stand, so once I was in I started using a bleat call and rattling antlers, " said Mike. At one point a buck came to within 15 yards but wasn't in a good position for a shot. That buck left the area and Mike began grunting and calling again, hoping to lure him back. "About five minutes later, a different buck came in -- it was him," Mike said.
Tracking the buck was difficult and Mike had to give it up until the next morning. He worried all night that he wouldn't be able to find the deer and hated the idea that it might be wounded but not recovered. At first light the next morning, he and his (then) nine-year old son Andrew, headed out to get back on the trail. It had rained during the night and Mike was really worried.
"We kept moving along, watching each way. I was so intent on tracking that at first I didn't realize why Andrew was tugging on my shirt tail. It finally sunk in as Andrew repeated --there he is."
Mike's life has been pretty exciting since that day. It was obvious that his buck was phenomenal but even Mike didn't realize just how well the deer would score after the required 60-day drying period. First to do a preliminary scoring on the antlers was Ron Perrine, Sr. of Xenia. Perrine is an official scorer for the Buckeye Big Buck Club, Boone and Crockett Club, and Pope and Young Club. Perrine said he green scored the antlers very conservatively because he knew he was dealing with a world class animal and didn't want Beatty to be disappointed later when the official scoring was done. Even so, Perrine said the antlers would score a minimum of 291 3/8.
Butch Todd, scoring supervisor for the Buckeye Big Buck Club, organized a panel of four judges, including Perrine, to measure the antlers after the drying time was completed. At the end of the session, Beatty's buck came away with the score of 304 6/8. Beatty's delight was obvious. "It's just unbelievable, a buck like this so close to home. You'll never convince me that there's better deer hunting anywhere than here in Ohio," he said.
The score sheet produced by the panel is official with the Buckeye Big Buck Club, and has been submitted to the Boone and Crockett Club for future inclusion. Currently, only two non-typical bucks in the United States score higher than Beatty's buck. Number One is called the "Missouri Monarch" and scores 333 7/8. It was found dead near St. Louis in 1981. Number two is Ohio's "Hole-In-The-Horn" at 328 2/8, found dead by a railroad track near Ravenna in 1940. Beatty's buck should end up listed as number three in the record books, but is the largest non-typical ever taken by a hunter.
Asked if November 8 was the most exciting hunt of his life, the somewhat shy family man replied with a smile, "Not quite, the most exciting day so far was during Ohio's gun season last year, when Andrew got his first deer -- a three-pointer." It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
www.mikebeattybuck.com to see the pics.
