The great buck circled the thicket once and crashed, just out of sight. He ran about 25 yards and got tangled up in the brush. His struggle was over in less than 10 seconds.

The arrow had struck him on the right side just behind his ribs at a steep angle. The mechanical broadhead did its job on the diaphragm, right lung and the arteries where the lungs meet above the heart.

I field-dressed the deer, transported it back to the house and, with some help from a neighbor, had him hanging in my garage before 9:30 a.m. I had no idea that I had just taken the new state-record typical whitetail, or that the deer would be the world's largest typical buck ever taken with a crossbow, a contender for the No. 10 spot in the Boone and Crockett record book.

After the 60-day waiting period, the buck was scored by a panel composed of members and officers of the Buckeye Big Buck Club. The deer's primary scores are 208 7/8 gross and 201 1/8 net. It has a 24 1/8-inch inside spread and circumferences that average 5 inches.

I was proud to be able to meet Mike Beatty, who shot the state-record non-typical buck a few years ago, at the celebration held at the Ohio Division of Wildlife District Five office. It was awesome to see the state's largest typical and the state's largest non-typical together in one room.

Beatty's 304 6/8 Greene County buck, which is the biggest whitetail ever taken with a compound bow, Dave Ross' state-record non-typical crossbow buck scoring 233 3/8 (also from Greene County), Heather Martin's Butler County deer (at 204 1/8, the record for the world's largest deer taken by a woman) and David Lovin's Butler County buck, which was the state's muzzleloading non-typical record at 222 until it was surpassed last year by Virgil Laxton of Lucasville, who killed a buck scoring 226 6/8 non-typical, were all taken since 2000, thus proving that southwestern Ohio is hard to ignore when it comes to big bucks.

While I plan on returning to Wayne National Forest year after year, I will also be seeking out new opportunities in District Five. The region's mix of urban areas, minimal hunting pressure, and abundant nutrition in the form of fields of soybeans and corn -- along with some awesome whitetail genes -- means that more world-class deer should be on the way in coming seasons.

I feel very fortunate to call Ohio my home, and am glad that my favorite hunting spots in Warren County lie directly between Ohio's established "big deer" counties. I also think that it is interesting that the state's typical record buck has come from an area sandwiched between places known for producing large non-typical deer. It just goes to show: You never know.

For trophy deer, I'll pick Ohio any time!