43
Deer season under way: Poland hunter harvests 7-pointer
By Curtis Pulliam
Hubbard
This is not the first time Nick Meris has shot a big buck on opening day.
“My first deer was an eight-point back in seventh or eighth grade,” Meris said. “It was within the first hour of hunting.”
Meris, 18, landed a seven-pointer to open up the week-long deer gun season. The season ends Sunday.
“This one snuck up right on me,” Meris said. “I got him kind of on the run. I didn’t know I killed him until I walked up to him.”
Meris got the buck on property just outside Campbell, but he doesn’t think he was the only one to get lucky.
“I heard a lot of shooting around us,” said Meris, who is from Poland.
Nick Hardesty, a Wildlife Area Technician who was stationed at Butch’r Holl’r in Hubbard liked what he saw coming in Monday.
“I mean, all of Ohio is pretty good for deer,” Hardesty said. “It’s a pretty safe bet this area is, too.”
Hardesty saw a variety of deer throughout the day.
“The biggest one I saw was a 10-pointer,” he said.
Hardesty was also at the shop to check how old the deer were.
“It’s about what I expect,” said Hardesty, who is in his second year with the organization. “We are just trying to look at what is being harvested out there. It is pretty much typical from years past.”
There were more younger deer than older ones being tagged.
“It is a good thing, essentially,” Hardesty said. “It shows good recruitment back into our deer herd. So if they are shooting younger deer, then it means we had a good breeding season last year and we had good survivor rates.”
Meris has been hunting with his father Michael for several years.
“We’ve been doing it since he was 14,” Michael said. “It’s a tradition.”
The younger Meris wasn’t nervous when he saw the deer approach.
“I’ve been here before, I’ve done this a million times,” he said. “It’s a great experience.”
Even though Meris filled his buck tag, he might go back out with his dad later in the week.
“It all depends on what he wants to do,” Meris said. “I know he wants to shoot a deer, so I guess we won’t stop until he gets one. So I will go out and buy a doe tag and hopefully I’ll see one.”
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources typically releases statistics about the first day of the season on its second day.