BFO Big Blog Report

Dec. 19, 2019 — A Monster has Returned

So when it's just another day working here at BFO, you can quickly realize, no matter where and when you set foot on one of our amazing properties, dreams can come true, no matter what you've seen on trail cam. A few days back, we hung a camera in a spot that hadn’t had much activity throughout the season. But the location had some decent early season movement, including photos of a giant non-typical … a buck we called "Show-off". Yesterday, we went to check the camera. After swapping cards and driving out, we noticed a deer about 150-200 yards from the camera down in a ravine. This was NOT just any deer, it was a MEGA-GIANT! After admiring this buck for just a minute, I quickly recognized him! It was a buck we'd not seen since velvet … it was Show-off! Some of you will remember the pics! Yet, as he walked away, unspooked by the way, I noticed he was oddly limping. Well, we just reviewed that card and here he is! He has some type of injury, but he seems to still be getting around ok. The hunt now begins, we will try to figure this Ohio monsta out. — Mike

Dec. 6, 2019 — Gun-Opener Starts Strong

75 years young, Vern has set a goal of killing 100 bucks in his lifetime. With 89 whitetails and 6 mulies under his belt, he’s almost there! Today, He dropped a wide BFO 12-pointer! And while it's a little broken up, it still tallied 154” of bone and was over 21” wide! Way to go buddy! A beauty of a buck, and you're now one step closer to your goal! Congrats! — Mike

Dec. 2, 2019 — Gun-Opener Starts Strong

It didn’t take long to get a hoss down here during our gun opener … and course, he was shot within bow range! Eddie and Brandon drove up from South Carolina to celebrate Eddie's 65th birthday! He did it in a big way! Only twenty minutes into his first morning hunt, he took his biggest buck … a stud Ohio 8-point! Way to go Eddie and happy birthday from the BFO crew! — Mike

Nov. 12, 2019 — Freddy 2.0 Down Within Sight

This morning, first time client, Tom, called and said he'd shot a good buck and watched it go down. When I walked to the deer, I knew something special had happened. I instantly recognized the giant. It was none other than Freddy 2.0, a buck we had been after all season. I knew he would be tough to kill where we had been getting photos of him. But this morning, the buck followed a doe in front of Tom, who was hunting over a mile from where we'd had him on camera! Today, Tom killed a deer, hunters dream of. Not realizing quite how big he was until we arrived, Freddy 2.0. will gross Boone & Crockett as a typical 10. Congrats Tom, we couldn’t be happier for you buddy! An amazing animal to say the least! A deer of a life time for sure! You never know when your chance will come here at BFO!! — Mike

Nov. 6, 2019 — A 160-inch Monsta!

The hammer has dropped on yet another STUD!! This big, old war horse, made the wrong move when he chased a doe within 15 yards of our hunter, Brent. In fact, he 10-ringed the buck and watched the him drop only 60 yards away! A pleasant change from the way many of our tracks have gone lately. The photos do not do this brute justice, as it was nearly 250 pounds (live-weight) and had 160” of bone on it's head! What a beauty! Way to get it done Brent on your best buck ever! I hadn’t had this buck on camera in nearly 2 weeks, yet he shot him just 5 feet from the camera! Again, cameras are great, but they don’t tell the entire story! Let’s keep this streak rolling! — Mike

Nov. 5, 2019 — One-Eyed Willie is Grounded

One-Eyed Willie is dead! BFO hunter, Ray, was on stand in a river-bottom that, not only served as a know travel route, but oftentimes as a bedding area. With a couple does bedded behind him, Ray saw the wide, old buck crossing the ridge in front of him, heading towards a corn field. A couple snort-wheezes initially got the bucks attention, yet it continued toward the corn. Another snort-wheeze brought the stud to within range. It had a 25-inch spread! I'm so pumped for Ray, as One-Eyed Willie was my personal #1 target buck I'd hoped to put a client on this season! — Dave

Nov. 5, 2019 — The Black Cloud is Lifted

It’s really been a tough last few days at BFO. But today we have overcome the black clouds once again! Yesterday, Marvin had an epic experience! His hunt was another example of one with no camera intel, just great scouting and solid stand-placement. Again, ya don't always need trail cam pics! Marvin saw at least 15 different bucks, including multiple shooters! He was lucky enough to get one rut-crazed brute to stop long enough to release an arrow. Not being 100% confident on the shot, along with the way things have been going recovering deer, we decided to let him lay over night. Unfortunately rain moved in and washed away any blood we may have had to go by. But luckily, the shot was good and found the buck within 120 yards! Marvin's 10-point buck had a tank of a body! Way to go bud! — Mike

Oct. 28, 2019 — An Unknown BFO Giant

We want to give our clients a little insight. You are hunting in the top counties in Ohio. Trail cameras are not everything. Daylight pictures do not guarantee you will harvest a buck, nor do you need them for success. Yesterday afternoon, one of our hunters set out to hunt a 140-inch buck we had on camera. When he called me and described the buck he'd shot, I knew we had never gotten a picture of this deer. You gotta love the element of surprise when hunting big buck country! Trail cameras don't always tell the whole story, nor capture every buck in the area. We decided to wait a few hours to track it. Once on the trail, we followed 200 yards or so of good blood, yet decided to, once again, back out until this morning. As soon as we picked the trail back up, we found the beast 20 yards from last blood! Today, our client, Jesse, hit the pinnacle of his hunting career! Wrapping his hands around a true BFO giant is an experience most hunters only dream of. Taping out at 173” with some bone broken off, this is a deer of a life time! Congrats Jesse on an amazing whitetail! This Ohio brute will be tough to top! Way to get it done! — Mike

Oct. 13, 2019 — Get'n Close to One-Eyed Willie

We're putting the pieces to our strategy together on this wide-racked, one-eyed buck we call One-Eyed Willie. I hung a new set over a half-mile straight-line from where we were getting pictures of him in a spot I assumed he might be. Sure enough, he showed. Even with one eye this old boy sure makes his way around. Hopefully one of our hunters will be calling checkmate on him soon. — David

Oct. 1, 2019 — The Story of the Freak!

Joey C, from New York, was another hunter with us during the opening week of bow season. Surprising to us all, his opening day vigil produced zero deer sightings. With trail camera photos showing his stand location to be an extremely active spot, we were simply confused by the lack of deer activity. However, after talking it over, we soon realized he'd mistakenly hunted the wrong tree-stand. Fast-forwarding to yesterday evening, Joey had witnessed a lot of action, but the swirling winds played games with his potential success. Several does fed nearby and seemed to be on edge, when the big freak appeared 90 yards away. He was slowly, but surely, closing the distance. Just then Joey felt the wind on the back of his neck. This sent the does bounding away in retreat. Unfortunately, the buck followed suit. Disheartened, Joey thought his hunt was over. Yet just before dark, the non-typical returned to the scene and made the mistake of venturing within 30 yards of the hunter. Joey settled the pin, and released. However, the arrow made some erratic movements, either as it hit the deer, or after it hit. Not sure of what had happened, he called me to come help. Some blood was found at the impact site, but we backed out. Joey was stressed and had a long night. And, we have the pics to prove it! This morning we got followed a pretty steady blood trail, but still, we were not certain about the hit. We had Nya, our tracking dog, with us. The trail got better and better as we noticed the buck had started zig-zaggin. Shortly thereafter, Nya led us to two bloody beds within a few yards of each other, so we believed we the deer wouldn't be far. After covering another 25 yards, we found the freak! Nya put in good work keeping us on the trail! We do what ever it takes to find these deer. The deer's wound proved that the shot was not the best. In fact, we're still not sure how it happened. But it was good enough and we got em! The twist for the story. The Freak was on camera opening night as Joey was sat in the wrong tree-stand, yet died literally under the stand, he'd sat in the first night! Congrats again brother on a super cool buck! With so much character, it needs to be seen in person to be appreciated! BFO laying em down, don’t be scared of 90 degrees! — Mike

Sept. 29, 2019 — A Heckuva Season Opener!

The Ohio bow-opener presented a roller coaster of emotions yesterday afternoon. We had multiple shots taken, including a clean miss on a stud buck, along with two others that connected. Chris, from New York, took his best-ever whitetail that sported double droptines. Congrats to him, we couldn’t be happier for ya buddy! Then onto the second one, a special buck. Over the past couple weeks, we have shown you trailcam pictures on our social media pages of a huge, non-typical buck we named King Ranch. It became a major goal to get this beast down. Long-time client, Ryan Noffsinger from Buckmasters, was the lucky hunter literally sitting in the hot seat. It was a blistering afternoon with temperatures in the high-70s. We could only hope the buck held to the early-season feeding pattern our trail-cameras had recently revealed. After settling in the stand, a short rain-shower cooled things off and the deer started moving. Several fed in the soybeans in front of him, including an impressive buck with a split-G3. At 7 p.m., the giant emerged from the timber only 20 yards away. However, the buck fed directly away from Ryan's setup. After several minutes, the deer turned, offering a hard-quartering angle. Confident he could make the shot, Ryan drew his bow, settled his 25-yard pin and released. The arrow found it's mark just in front of the deer's back ham and buried to the fletchings deep in the buck's chest. The buck bolted back into the thick brush, carrying the arrow with it. While Ryan could no longer see the buck's retreat, he thought he'd heard it run down a steep ravine behind him and up the adjacent ridge. Luckily for us, he'd captured the shot on film. But, while not having an arrow in-hand to inspect and with no blood at the impact site, we returned to camp to review the video footage. The hit looked spot-on, but still, we decided to play it safe and pick up the trail this next morning. After a sleepless night, four of us headed out to recover the buck. After an hour or so into what appeared to be a non-productive track, we were all pretty down. We had searched every possible escape route the buck could have taken on that hillside at least twice. We all wondered how a buck could survive such a devastating hit, much less make it our of that deep ravine while leaving no trace of being wounded. Determined, I headed back to the stand to start my search over once again, but only this time, I walked on the stand-side of the hill. Surprisingly, I glanced down and spotted a drop of blood. That drop revealed 2 more, which turned a steady blood trail. Bryan joined me. Looking up the trail, I was in disbelief as I admired one of the biggest bucks I’ve ever seen in person. We'd found KING RANCH! Ryan, who was still searching the opposite hillside, covered about 100 yards in record time! We yelled, we hugged, we celebrated and we took tons of pictures and video! A huge congrats to Ryan taking not only his biggest buck ever, but possibly BFO's biggest buck to date as well! Up to that point, his best was a 170-incher, he'd shot with us a couple years ago. Well, I know he'd easily just topped that! We will find out exactly how much bigger he is when we get a tape on him! Congrats again brother! It’s been a heckuva opening day here at BFO! — Mike

Sept. 21, 2019 — Another Early Season Giant

This 14-point super stud, we've name King Ranch, is still holding his summer feeding patterns. Daily, he's on camera, both at day and night. The great news is that he's showing up super early in the evenings in broad daylight … marching around without a care in the world. If he keeps this up, he’s got something coming to him! I’m gonna be sweat'n bullets til next week's bow opener, Keep it up big guy! — Mike

Sept. 17, 2019 — A HUGE Surprise!

I got a nice little surprise pulling cards today. This buck offered every single angle of his rack to the camera. Thinking about calling him “Show Off.” With a little bit of luck we should have some hard antlered pics of him within a couple days! — Dave

Aug. 6, 2019 — BFO Booner Alert

This giant has it all!! Size, length, mass and trash!!! Absolute UNIT!!!! Let’s goooo!!!! — Dave

July 26, 2019 — Freddy Returns!

This buck carries very similar genetics of a absolute giant taken a couple years back that we'd named Freddy Krueger. It was harvested by long-time BFO client, Hiram Cutter and scored a whopping 191 inches! The similarities are why we've now named this velvet-clad beast, Freddy 2.0. He is still growing and sure to hit B&C standards! These latest pics are from last night! Plus, I just hung a few more cameras on the fringes of what I believe to be his bedding area. Once I confirm his movements, a plan will be put into motion in order to put one of our clients on Freddy 2.0 this October! — Dave