Teen Hunter Tags Escaped Monster Buck

On the last Saturday of Ohio’s shotgun season, 17-year-old Alex Wright killed a 30-point monster that had escaped from a nearby high-fence hunting outfitter. Wright had heard rumors about the escape, and after seeing a trail camera image of this buck wandering the property he hunts, the Ulrichsville teen took down the non-typical that would have cost him more than $19,900 to shoot behind Stillwater Trophy Outfitters’ fence.

Wright set up in the rain that afternoon, thinking that deer would move as the storm let up, according to the Times Reporter. Late in the day, he heard the deer behind him, then saw it walk 20 yards from his stand. “I knew the deer had been there from the trail cam pictures, but when I actually saw him it was really exciting,” he told the Times, adding that he got a little rattled by the buck’s size. “I was shocked.”

“I knew it was one of the deer that escaped from the pen, but I figured that wasn’t my fault. I hunted like I would have any other deer that would have been there. I shot him in the heart, he went about 30 yards and dropped.” Wright plans to mount the buck, and he says he will leave the tag in its ear that marks it as one of the escaped Stillwater deer.

Stillwater offers high-fence hunts for trophy deer, and hunters pay a fee according to the trophy’s score. Wright’s buck has an estimated score of 200 to 260 Boone & Crockett points. The Stillwater website lists the price of a 200+ point B&C deer as starting at $19,900.