Jon Ickes and Cody Ortolani - 2003 Ohio Deer Hunt 

by Jon Ickes

Cody Ortolani, age 12, is the youngster with the big deer.  He is the son of bowhunter Cynthia Colon. That's me (Jon Ickes) with the little one that walked up 67 seconds later.  These deer were taken with compound bows on the opening day of Ohio bow season in Sandusky County, Ohio.

I was sitting in a hanger stand next to and slightly below (in the same tree) the ladder stand Cody was sitting in.  My intentions were to film him if we got lucky enough to get a shot.  We sat on the edge of a woods facing a corn field along a natural funnel where we see quite a bit of deer activity.  We had scouted the area only to determine if the trees needed any pruning for clear shot lanes.
 
About fifteen minutes before the end of legal shooting light, Cody slowly stood up.  I grabbed the camera that was hanging within arms reach.  

As I turned the camera on I saw the buck.  Unfortunately, I could not get the cover off of the camera lens, but I did get audio.  Cody handled the situation expertly. He quietly drew back and released at twenty-one yards.  The arrow hit the buck dead perfect and the deer took off from our left to right.

Cody asked me if he hit it good and I told him that he did.  He then told me to grab my bow.  I said why and he told me there was another buck right behind it.
 
I handed him the camera and grabbed my bow.  Sixty-seven seconds after he released on his I released on the seven point.  Both deer piled up about sixty yards away, within forty yards of each other.  (Mine actually looks a lot bigger when its not sitting next to his!)