Ohio's Largest Non-Typical Whitetail Harvested With Straight Wall Rifle - Ethan Johnson's Pike County 223" Giant

In 2014 the Ohio Division of Wildlife approved the use of Straight Wall Cartridge rifles during Ohio's traditional firearms season. Although slug guns had come a long way in the previous years this was welcomed by many and each year more and more hunters retire their trusty old slug guns for a new straight wall rifle.

Fast Forward to 2015 and a deer hunting enthusiast named Ethan Johnson from Piketon Ohio. (Pike County) Pike County is ranked #46 out of 88 counties when considering deer harvested per square mile. Ohio Deer Harvest Per Square Mile By County - Where Does Your County Rank?

The Sunday morning before Ohio's normal gun season a buddy sent him a picture of a giant buck that had just shown up on his trail cam. The buck was large enough that the two of them went archery hunting that afternoon. Neither man got a glimpse of the buck.

The following day was firearms season and with high anticipation both men were in the woods early. The day started off slow but at about 3:30 in the afternoon the massive buck finally made his appearance. Ethan who was hunting with a Marlin Lever Action 45-70 did not hesitate and shot the buck at 80 yards.

The buck was officially scored at 222 7/8' and is the current #1 buck killed in Ohio with a Straight Wall Rifle and ranks number 65th in the overall rankings. Below are the top 10 non-typical bucks harvested in Ohio using a straight wall rifle. Stop and think about the fact that at 222 7/8’ this buck ranks 65^th overall. We are blessed to be living in the state of the giants where there is always a possibility of harvesting a world class buck. Now is the time to prepping and updating your equipment for this fall.