The Forgotten Fence Row

by Luke Kontras
(Madison County OH)

Luke Kontras Forgotten Fencerow Buck

The Forgotten Fencerow Buck

It was October 30th and I was frustrated. I had worked all summer hanging trail cameras and treestands in an effort to bag an Ohio trophy buck.

Bowhunting whitetails runs in my family. My dad, William D. Kontras, killed the Ohio State Record Typical Buck (201 1/8) in 1986 with a recurve.

Bill Kontras Ohio Buck

He told me time and time again to use 80% of my time scouting and 20% of my time hunting.

I got to thinking while sitting one of the eight stands I had hung over the summer, and I finally decided to take his advice.

I got down out of my stand on this windy and rainy day and decided to spend the entire day scouting.

After about 3 hours of walking, I came to a fence row with prairie grass running on along one side and a plowed field running along the other.

I found monster tracks, rubs, and scrapes everywhere.

I knew this fence row was not pressured because its location was hard to get to, and it would easily be overlooked with all of the large tracts of woods, creek bottoms, and farm fields that surrounded it.

I hung a Lone Wolf Alpha Assault treestand in a small tree on the fence row.

I waited for a North wind, which came 2 days later on November 1, 2009 to approach the stand.

I shot this buck from 5 yards with my Hoyt KateraXL and a Trophy Ridge Undertaker broadhead on my first hunt from the stand.

He went 45 yards on the double lung pass through and died in the prairie grass in which he probably enjoyed a long and unpressured life.

Although not a giant by many people’s standards, I could not be happier.

The buck weighed roughly 260 lbs. and scores 136 7/8 P & Y Typical points.

I realized that when you truly listen to the advice of someone who has been there and done that so many times, it can really pay off.

My dad killed his state record buck 75 yards from one of the largest freeways in America, in an area overlooked by so many hunters, and this buck was taken by me 23 years later about 200 yards from the same freeway.

Luke Kontras

Comments for The Forgotten Fence Row

Dec 17, 2013 Fence
by: bills8091 I have never seen this site before but I really like it. You have a lot here I can use. I’m excited to try some of these recipes on the deer I got. Thanks again. http://www.cityfence.ca/about/about-us

Nov 08, 2011 Photo of Kontras buck
by: Bill Thompson Luke,I lived down the street on South Fostoria near your dad. I never saw the deer or a photo of it. Do you have a picture you could post or even send me? My email is bthompson@3g-graphics.comCongrats on your deer.Bill Thompson

Dec 18, 2009 True what they say about those “Buckeye Bucks!”
by: Anonymous Hey Luke,Holiday Greetings from Northern MI. ” GO BUCKEYES!” to all the great fans in OH. Nice story and nice buck….amazing what can happen when you plan purposefully and execute thoughtfully. I’ll be seeing your grandparents in The Keys on Spring Break ’10…..I’ll mention this piece on your fine bow harvest. Hope to run into yourself and your father someday. Though I’ve known your grandparents for most of my life, I’ve never had the opportunity to meet your immediate family.Happy Holidays and great hunting in the future. Merry Christmas Luke !!!”…….. pick a spot…,”Brian Feeney

Dec 10, 2009 12 hour nights and three pots of joe
by: kuhndog Luke, before you began your scouting adventure to get the old buck of the forgotten fence row. Did you use the old proven tactic of staying up all night and drinking three pots of coffee to make sure you had a keen eye to scout the beast in the morning?

Dec 05, 2009 nice buck luke
by: Bo Troyer Nice kill Luke. Just ran into your dad down at Walmart this morning in London. Hadn’t talked to him in awhile and was good to see him again. My grandson was along and when I told him about Bill’s monster buck he was very impressed that he just met the man that holds the state record! Anyway, he wanted to see it so we were searching the net for a pic of your dads buck, (with no luck but I understand why) and ran across your recent kill. Keep finding those forgotten and overlooked spots and you will continue to kill nice deer like that. Congrats!

Nov 03, 2009 Great Story!
by: John@deerhuntingguide.net Great story Luke! I am leaving for Ohio on Thursday and can’t wait to get in a tree in the Buckeye State!
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