Trophy Deer

The Ohio Trophy Pursuit Deer Hunting Contest is open to hunters who legally harvest a Whitetail Deer in Ohio during the 2024-25 season. Teams must register and pay the entry fee by September 28, 2024, and follow all state hunting laws. Deer must be hunted fairly, without high fences or professional guides. Each team can submit one deer per person, with required photos and measurements. Top teams will present their antlers at the awards dinner for final scoring by Buckmaster’s scorers, with all fees covered by the contest. Hunters must sign agreements and adhere to contest rules for eligibility.

A dinner will be held in Bainbridge, OH on Saturday March 1st at Iron Sides Social Riders Banquet Hall. Dinner and drinks will be provided for all contestants present. Alcohol and other beverages and additional food will be available for purchase from Iron Sides. Banquet Hall will open at 3:00 for those teams’ bringing antlers to be scored. Those individuals must be there early to allow scorers to officially score their deer. If at least the antlers are not there by 3:15 then those contestants will lose eligibility. Again, both hunters must be there for the dinner, or they will lose eligibility as well. Those teams will be notified in advance soon after the close of the Ohio deer season February 2, 2025. The dinner will begin at 5:30PM. Additional people are all eligible to come to the banquet and other festivities for a fee of $30 but are not eligible for door prizes. Any additional persons coming to banquet must notify Ohio Trophy Pursuit before February 15th. Once dinner is over the event will be moved over to Paxton theatre for the video contest, awarding of prizes, as well as the country contest.

1st Place $1000. Guaranteed Minimum with at least 10 teams participating. Additional places will be subject to the number of teams. Plan to award prizes to top 5 teams which could range from money to merchandise.

1. Must be a Whitetail Deer killed by Legal means in state of Ohio during 2024-25 Deer Hunting season. All applicable laws for the harvest of whitetail deer in Ohio must be strictly followed.
   • Each hunter is responsible for obtaining and paying for his/her own Ohio license, permit, and/or game tag to hunt in the in the state of Ohio
   • Team Entry Fee must be paid, the Team Name must assigned, and the agreement must be signed and received by Ohio Trophy Pursuit prior to Sept 28th, 2024, at the close of business day 5:00PM.
2. Deer must be killed in a manner of fair chase. No high fence hunts or guided hunts by a professional guide are permitted.
3. Any person who is a Professional Hunter is ineligible for the Contest. For the purposes of this Contest, a Professional Hunter is defined as a person who receives any income from the act of hunting whitetail deer in Ohio or any other state.
4. Only one hunter per team may be under the age of 18. If under the age of 18, they must have a signed affidavit from a parent or guardian allowing them to participate in the contest.
5. Each Hunter in the finals will be given a copy of the contest terms, a trophy measuring tape from Wild Game Innovations, and a scoring sheet for preliminary measurement of the deer antlers.
6. Owners and employees and spouses of Ohio Trophy Pursuit are not eligible to participate in the contest.
7. The Hunter gives permission to Ohio Trophy Pursuit for any video or picture used or submitted for the purposes of the Contest to be used for purposes of promotion or advertisement for Ohio Trophy Pursuit and the contest. Ohio Trophy Pursuit agrees that they will not use the video or pictures for any other purpose for financial gain without permission from the hunter.
8. Each hunter or legal guardian must sign and date an agreement stating that they agree to the terms of the contest. If any of the terms are not followed and Ohio Trophy Pursuit becomes aware, the Hunter will be removed from the contest with no refund.
9. Ohio Trophy Pursuit shall have exclusive authority to interpret and enforce the terms of the Agreement. Ohio Trophy Pursuit reserves the right to amend and/or modify this Participation Agreement. It is the sole responsibility of each registered hunter to read and understand the Participation Agreement and the Complete Waiver and Release of Liability Agreement to Hold Harmless and Assumption of Risk (“Waiver”). The Participation Agreement and the Waiver, as well as all updates and changes thereto, shall be available at Ohio Trophy Pursuit.

1. Each team will submit one deer harvested in Ohio per person following all Ohio Laws for the competition. Deer must be scored according to the Buckmaster scoring system plus the antler spread, a picture taken of the entire deer with cape and antlers attached, as well as a picture with at least the shoulder mount area and hunter visible. Also, a picture showing the use of the adhesive tape measure on the antlers showing measurements of each side of the rack and the end of the tape showing total measurement used.
2. It must be submitted within 24 hours of harvest. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Harvest” shall be defined as the actual time of physical recovery of the deer shot by participant. If a deer is unable to be physically recovered by 11:59 p.m. on the day it was shot, participants are required to notify Ohio Trophy Pursuit by 12:00 p.m. (noon) the following day. Once the participant has notified Ohio Trophy Pursuit, the participant has 48 hours to recover, score and submit the deer for it to be accepted. Any deer submitted after the 48 hours have elapsed will not be accepted or considered for official scoring.

1. At least the top 5 teams, by submitted scores, must bring both sets of Antlers intact with no breaks or fixes and both antlers still securely attached to the skull plate for final judging by a panel of Buckmaster’s scorers. Any broken unattached antlers that have been repaired will be disqualified from the competition. The number of teams required to bring antlers for final scoring may change based off the number of teams in the contest. This will be announced once the season has begun and all teams are registered. Both Teams members and their respective antlers must be present at the dinner and awards ceremony, or they forfeit their winnings and will be dropped from the results of the contest. The antlers will be officially scored by a Panel of official Buckmaster Scorers that will give the antlers their official final score used for the results of the contest—period!
2. Each Hunter agrees to have their set of antlers entered in the Buckmaster’s official score books. All Fees associated with the registration will be covered by the contest.