PRESIDENT
Ben Henico (2025) Timeless Whitetails 4468 E Sterling Rd Creston, OH .44217 benhenico@yahoo.com 330-73.-0571
VICE PRESIDENT
Paul Troyer Jr (2027) 16444 Huntley Rd Huntsburg Ohio 44046 440-476-5743
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Levi Miller (2023) Sterett Knob Whitetails 2395 Harrison Rd Fredericksburg, OH 44627 wdfomiller@gmail.com 330-231-3359
TREASURER
Gary Maxwell (2026) Double G Whitetails 2021 West Sterling Rd Burbank, OH 44214 330-201-1798
SECRETARY
Emanuel Weaver (2027) 5373 Kansas Rd Apple Creek Ohio 44606 330-698-5504
BOARD MEMBER
Dan E Miller (2026) Outback Whitetails 13250 Clay St Middlefield, OH 44062 440-636 3781
BOARD MEMBER
Jacob Hostetler (2025) 2345 Arbor Rd. Ne Carrollton, OH 44615 740-543-4274
BOARD MEMBER
Joe Johnson (2028) Whiskey River Whitetails 5428 Briggle Ave SW East Sparta, OH 44626 269-209-5835
BOARD MEMBER
Delvy Workman (2027) 1079 CR 2075 Ashland Ohio 44805 419-651-2559
BOARD MEMBER
Caleb Miller (2027) Stone Ridge Whitetails 25963 Township Road 111 Warsaw, OH 43844 740-485-1295
WDFO board meetings are normally held on the third Monday evening of every other month. Past board members are encouraged to attend when possible and serve in an advisory position. Any WDFO member is welcome to attend board meetings. If you would like to attend a meeting please contact any board member.
Any WDFO member is welcome to submit articles or stories they would like to see published. Articles will be screened by the WDFO board before printing. If you are interested in advertising refer to the Magazine Advertising rates sheet included in this issue.
Winter 2025-26
As I sit down to write this letter I would first like to say a big thank you to Andy Nisley, our previous president for all of his hard work and dedication to our organization. I will admit, it was with some reluctance and nervousness that I accepted this position, because I feel that there are so many others that are more capable than me, but I’m confident that it will be okay with such great board members to work with, and so many great people that make up the WDFO.
I trust that everyone had a great Christmas season, and that we all could reflect on the birth of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ, and spend time with family and friends. Our plans to go to Florida over the kids Christmas break were changed when my daughter tore her ACL playing basketball, and had to have knee surgery the week before Christmas. My oldest son and daughter still flew to Florida without us, but we had a very enjoyable time with our younger children and family at home.
If you’re like me, as we start this new year, we have a lot to be thankful for this past year, and a lot of plans and goals that we’re looking forward to. I hope everyone’s deer are staying healthy through all the weather changes this winter, and hopefully everyone’s breeding season was successful. I know we’re all excited to see what we get for fawns this spring. Thanks for everyone’s support, God Bless,
Ben Henico
Winter 2025-26
As I write this, I realize the Good Lord still wants me to hang around. On December 31st I learned a hard lesson about owning a pet buck. Please read the story inside this magazine for all the details. In spite of still recovering from a near fatal incident, I am looking ahead with great anticipation to 2026. Our board was a new excellent President, Ben Henico, a good hard-working man who will lead us onward in a positive direction. We are very glad to have him.
I also sincerely hope everyone had a very nice Christmas. Our calendar sales for 2026 went very well. Please check our website to see if you’re a winner. Remember as our new year unfolds, make sure to renew your farm licenses and mark your calendars for our annual event in Mt. Hope, Ohio. Gun tables featuring Winchester XPR 400’s and booth spaces are going fast and if you want in, please let us know right away! We also need people willing to bring baskets for the basket raffle. And please call Jake Hosteltler if you’d like to donate to the auction Friday night. As usual, we always try to make our event even better than the year before and plan to also bring back popular features such as our community table where anyone is welcome to place business cards, farm pens or other souvenir type materials. For those needing event accommodations, please call the Sleep Inn Motel in Mt. Hope at 1-330-313-1314 and give them the discount code “WDFO.”
In closing, we are hopeful that this year sees funding for genetic fawn testing return through the Ohio Department of Agriculture, one of our best allies and support systems. We also welcome Clint McCoy as the new Head Biologist for the ODNR. And just one more thing – everyone needs to come to NADeFA in Sandusky, Ohio this spring! For all of us here in Ohio, we can’t wait!! Thank you and God Bless.
• All-Milk Protein from Premium Food-Grade Milk Ingredients
• Essential Vitamins and Complex Minerals
• Balanced Fatty Acids
• Improves Digestion
• Promotes Growth and Performance
• Fawns up to 1 week of age: Feed 16 oz. of formula daily, divided into 4 – 6 feeding.
• Fawns 1 week to 1 month of age: Feed 24 to 30 oz. of formula daily, divided into 4 feedings.
• Fawns 1 month to 2 months of age: Feed 30 to 35 oz. of formula daily, divided into 2 to 3 feedings.
• Fawns 2 months to weaning: Gradually decrease formula and number of feedings to approximately 15 oz. of formula once daily until fawn is fully weaned at 12 to 14 weeks of age. Provide a weaning diet and fresh clean water to the fawn.
For oral use only. These feeding directions are guidelines. As each animal is an individual, the feeding rate may be increased or decreased according to the needs of the neonate.
Feeding directions for other species can be found on our website.
• No Refrigeration Needed
• Easily Palatable
• 18 Month Shelf Life
• Available in 20# & 8# pails
• 24/7 Technical Advice & Support
• Formula for other Exotics and Wildlife Available
Calendars by calling Levi Miller @330-231-3359 or by emailing: WDFOmiller@gmail.com.
(Medetomidine/Ketamine 10/200 mg/mL + 2X Atipamezole 20mg/mL)
e most widely used MK™ kit on the market. is formulation contains higher concentrations of active ingredients than the original MK™ kit, allowing for lower dose volumes and the use of a smaller dart, resulting in improved accuracy during capture.
(Medetomidine/Ketamine/Butorphanol 10/50/25 mg/mL + Atipamezole 20mg/mL + Naltrexone 25mg/mL)
by a zoo veterinarian to allow wildlife handlers to induce a reversible sedation with smooth induction and faster reversal. Recommended for procedures or sedation scenarios under 15-20 minutes.
(Medetomidine/Ketamine/Butorphanol 20/100/50 mg/mL + Atipamezole 40mg/mL + Naltrexone 50mg/mL)
is kit builds on our MKB™ formulation by adding midazolam for superior muscle relaxation and more reliable sedation. Recommended for immobilizing large exotic hoofstock species, including bongo, kudu, gazelle, eland, other African hoofstock and certain domestic wildlife species. MK2™ Kit MKB™ Kit
Contains higher concentrations of active ingredients than the MKB Kit, allowing for lower dose volumes and a smaller dart to improve accuracy during capture. Recommended for super exotics and large cervids that may be more diffi cult to sedate.
Kit PROPRIETARY FORMULA MKBM™ Kit PROPRIETARY FORMULA
(Medetomidine/Ketamine/Butorphanol/Midazolam 20/100/30/20 mg/mL + Atipamezole 40mg/mL + Naltrexone 50mg/mL)
Just in time for semen sales, getting ready for breeding season!
We created this magazine in order for 2025 Breeder and Hunting Preserve advertisers to showcase their most recent photos of their bucks close to the last days of antler growth. We realize establishing a collective deadline for all states Fall magazines to publish on the same date to obtain last-minute photos would be impossible to achieve. With this magazine, advertisers have one more chance to showcase their bucks.
~ Thank you to all that participated!
SCIENTIFICALLY FORMULATED NATURAL SUPPLEMENT TO HELP GROW LARGE, HEALTHY DEER AND BIG ANTLERS!
Nutrient rich formula contains highly bioavailable ingredients, including our proprietary calcium/phosphorous complex with Antler D TM, that are required to support body and bone growth, especially for fast growing bucks
Contains probiotics and targeted enzymes to support gut health and proper digestion
Available in pellet or powder that can be top dressed or mixed in feed. Great for antler growing season and young bucks, too
PRECISELY FORMULATED TO HELP MAINTAIN A NORMAL AND RELAXED DISPOSITION IN ALL CERVIDS
Provides optimal levels of magnesium, Vitamin B1 and inositol to promote calmness and provide help for restless animals
Contains no herbals, tryptophan or chemicals, eliminating concerns of unwanted side effects
Use PeaceMaker to “keep the peace” during pre-rut, rut, transportation, weaning and anytime destructive behavior may occur
POWERFUL SOLUTION FOR HEALTH & PRODUCTIVITY
Helps maintain digestive health and productivity
Contains micro-encapsulated probiotics, targeted enzymes and a novel fiber complex
Use in does before fawning, during lactation and all cervids during times of environmental stress
HELPS PRODUCE HEALTHY, FAST GROWING FAWNS
Helps maintain normal digestive health
Supports a healthy immune system
Feed powder for 14 days to bottle fed fawns
Paste is ideal for fawns left on does
ROBUST FAST RESPONSE FOR FAWNS & OLDER DEER
Innovative formula delivers max digestive support, especially in newborns
Rapidly delivers help for GI health and a functioning immune system
May also be used post-tranquilization to support healthy recovery
By: Gail Veley • Kentucky Alternative Livestock Association
The last thing any hunter wants is a wounded deer, rather than a quick and clean shot. Any ethical hunter will develop the bow or rifle skill needed to make an ethical shot in the heart or lungs. Yet, simply wounding a deer, rather than having this precise aim, does happen. Losing track of where a wounded deer has retreated to, could turn into a challenge. “There are three ways to track them,” explained Ethan Woosley of Single Creek Whitetails in Litchfield, Kentucky. “There’s the old-fashioned way. Wait 30 minutes and follow the blood trail. Waiting gives the deer time to settle down and expire. If you track them immediately, which most people want to do, they will spook and just keep running. But if you wait, they might have expired by the time you find them.”
Drones are perhaps a more efficient and popular way to track a wounded deer, as drones equipped with thermal imaging can pick up the heat emitted from a blood trail. It could also help guarantee that you won’t lose the deer entirely. “We’ve only had one situation where we thought we lost a deer,” Woosley said. “It was about 15 years ago. “The deer had run down a hill and fell up under some brush, and it was nearly impossible to find him. It took a couple of hours. When we did, he was dead. Having a drone might have saved us a lot of time.”
Using a tracking dog is yet another way to find a wounded deer. For Kenzie Taylor, owner of Kentucky K9 Deer Tracking out of Madisonville, Kentucky, she and her five-yearold Bavarian Mountain Hound, Liebe, track “on lead” an average of 100 times per season which
runs from Labor Day through the second week of January. Her fees are indicative of travel time and whether or not the deer is found. “Deer will emit the stress hormone cortisol through their hooves when they are injured, and dogs can track that,” Taylor said. “The hardest deer to track and find is one that is hit in the intestines during the rut. These bucks are so fueled by testosterone and adrenaline that pain isn’t as prevalent, so they may not emit enough hormone to track them. The dogs are trained to follow specific hoof tracks of the wounded deer, but because of being in the rut, it’s like the deer don’t even know how badly they are hit at times!” Now in their sixth hunting season together, Taylor even further appreciates Liebe’s natural ability to “cold nose track,” meaning for a hunt that is at least 10 hours old.
However, for Patrick Shanley, owner of Twisted Tines Ranch in
Williamstown, Kentucky, he and his clients have never had the misfortune of losing a deer. “We take preventive measures of first making ethical shots,” he shared. “That is the goal. We take clients to our shooting range and spend enough time until they are sufficient with whatever weapon they are using. Any approved shot from our guides is about half of what the client is truly qualified to shoot at, for both firearms and bow hunting. If you shoot from 50 yards, you have a 75 percent or better chance of making it. This applies to hunting from deer blinds, deer stands or from within the woods. Practice is everything. No one wants to take unsuccessful aim and end up with a wounded deer. If a shot is not mortal, we quickly dispatch a drone. This happens less than one percent of the time.”
WDFO Magazine Deadlines 2026
Spring: April 14th
Summer: July 14th
Fall: October 20th
Winter: Jan 19th, ‘27
Northern Top 30 - Jan 14-16, 2026 - Shipshewanna, IN
Whitetails of Oklahoma Annual Fundraiser - Feb 6-7, 2026 - Sallisaw, OK
Illinois Deer Farmers Association Fundraiser - Feb 20-21, 2026 - Altamont, IL
Alabama Deer Association Spring Auction - Feb 21, 2026 - Cullman, AL
Iowa Whitetail Deer Association Winter Banquet - Feb 21, 2026 - Timberghost Ranch Lodge
Pennsylvania Deer Farmers Association Eastern Winter Classic - Feb 27-28 - Morgantown, PA
Kansas Deer & Elk Association Convention - Feb 28, 2026
United Deer Farmes of Michigan Annual Convention - March 6-7, 2026, Bath Township, Michigan
Southeast Trophy Deer Association Spring Fling - March 6-7, 2026 - Orlando, FL
Whitetails of Wisconsin Annual Banquet & Fundraiser - March 13-14, 2026 - Wisconsin Dells, WI
NADeFA Spring Open - March 20, 2026 - Sandusky, OH
KALA Summer Showcase - Aug 8, 2026
Whitetail Deer Farmers of Ohio Convention - Aug 13-14, 2026
Southern Top 30 - Aug 20-21, 2026 - Louisiana
TDA Annual Convention - Aug 28-29, 2026 - San Antonio, TX
Use this QR Code or go online to DeerSites.com for more deadlines and up to date event information!
By: Gail Veley • Whitetail Deer Farmers of Ohio
On December 31st, 2025, Levi Miller held his five-monthold grandson Zachary in his arms and told him softly “grandpa has to go feed the deer. I’ll be right back.” With that said, Miller, a man who raised his first deer at age 14, who has raised deer for a total of 30 years, walked off alone to feed his herd. Reaching the first pen, he felt a sense of contentment in seeing three-year-old Buddy walk towards the gate of his chain link fenced pen, where he lived among doe fawns. Having bottle raised him, Miller had unwittingly convinced him along the way that he wasn’t really a deer. He was merely a family pet who laid outside their front door like a guard dog, waiting for scratches on the head. A pet that never for one second had any desire to hang out with other bucks, not to mention any behavioral acknowledgement that anything like the rut even existed. Therefore, to protect Buddy, he placed in a pen with doe fawns, rather than with other bucks.
Miller opened the gate and slipped in, ready to turn and give expected head scratches to Buddy. “As soon as I latched the gate. I was knocked on the ground,” Miller said. After a powerful force of wham! Miller found himself staring in disbelief at his pet buck who was shaking and snorting from adrenaline. Miller quickly got up to take cover behind a water trough. Wham! He was back on the ground. Although Buddy’s antlers had been cut, he still had stickers on his head which gored into Miller’s legs and hands as he tried to fight him off. Climbing the chain link fence was out of the question. Wham! As he was thrown against the chain link again and again, Miller thought he’d never see his grandson again. Wham! “I grabbed ahold of his stickers in my hands to hold him off, but I was getting exhausted,” Miller said. “I
finally made it out the gate and into the alleyway, but he came with me. I couldn’t yell for help. The wind was knocked out of me.”
Luckily, the alleyway provided some thing the pen didn’t, woven wire preserve style fencing. Asking the Good Lord for one more burst of strength and for the chance to see his grandson again, Miller started to slowly climb the fence while Buddy tried knocking his feet out from under him. But Miller finally made it to the very top of the fence and collapsed across it, hoping desperately he’d find his phone and call for help. Right at that moment, one of Levi’s son’s Caleb, looked out the window and towards the barn. He immediately spotted Miller and in an instant Caleb and two of Miller’s other sons, Jeremy and Daniel, came charging out. With an urgent force matched by Buddy’s adrenaline, Daniel ripped a two by four off a nearby fence and gave
Buddy a firm whack in the head, sending the buck running. Assisted back to the house safely, Miller was bloody and hurting from head to toe. By Friday morning January 2nd his hands and legs were completely swollen and hosting deep holes. A doctor ordered him to take pain pills and steroids. Miller is expected to make a full recovery. “I got complacent, I guess. I knew better,” Miller said. “My sons said ‘Dad, you taught us better than this.” Buddy is still living at Miller’s farm, however, no one is permitted to go anywhere near him. And that is how it will remain. Permanently. “Don’t ever think you can really tame a buck,” Miller said. “I’m feeling immense gratitude to be alive.”
By: Gail Veley • Whitetail Deer Farmers of Ohio
Mony Weaver can still remember November 14th, 1985 like it was yesterday. It was only 2 p.m. and he had already rattled in nine bucks that day. Out of the nine, he didn’t shot any because they were quite small. But his intuition and discoveries about deer behavior had clearly paid off. “There is one key ingredient to successful buck rattling. The buck has to be in the mood,” explained Weaver of M & M Whitetails in Apple Creek, Ohio, started in 1994. In his 55 years as a hunter, Weaver has spent the better part perfecting the ideal rattling situation. Rattling, or knocking a set of antlers together, is designed to entice a buck in the rut into shooting range, based on making the buck believe that there are does in estrus close by and other bucks are fighting over them.
However, “there’s no way a human can make that much noise,” Weaver said, in reference to the sound of two bucks fighting. This makes a hunter’s strategy very important. After successfully rattling in a 160” buck many years ago, Weaver carefully pinched the rattling antlers he was using between his thighs and silently bent over to pick up his bow and arrow. The moment he stood to take aim, the antlers slipped through his legs and came crashing down onto the tree stand, causing his promising buck to spin around quickly, and take flight.
Weaver, 71, firmly believes in rattling from a tree stand for safety and to remain inconspicuous. “Rattle for 30 seconds, wait 15 minutes and try again,” he said. “If in two hours you haven’t attracted a buck, it’s not the right time.” The practice of rattling, dating back to the late 1800’s, was primarily done by market hunters in Texas and other southwestern parts of the U.S. It wasn’t until Hart Stillwell wrote an article on rattling that was published in Outdoor Life
Magazine in May of 1951, that the concept became popular to a larger audience. Today there are vast products designed to mimic the sounds of two fighting bucks, but Mony feels a good old-fashioned set of antlers, synthetic or natural, works just as well. “When a buck gets close, don’t keep rattling,” he said. “You don’t want them to know where you are. Use medium sized antlers. If they’re too big a buck might stay away thinking the competition might be more than they can handle.”
Weaver recalls rattling in a buck so full of testosterone that all of its hair was standing on end. “He kept going around and around the tree I was in,” he shared. “I didn’t shoot him because he was too small. Regardless of size, you need to watch your safety and respect them. A wild buck is safer overall than a buck in a pen, because of human familiarity. But I still didn’t come down and out of that tree for quite a while.” Weaver has also rattled in bucks from a deer blind, where situated outside was an eight-point decoy, piquing the curiosity of each buck that investigated, if nothing
else. Dragging tree branches across tree trunks can also simulate the sounds of a scuffle. “Once, I had a buck come running just because I climbed up into a tree,” he said. Weaver’s hunting adventures are documented in two books he’s written called Buck Rubs and Turkey Scratches, Part One and Two.
This gives Whitetail Deer Farmers of Ohio members a way to reach out to one another for services and to buy or sell deer! There will be limited pages for these card spreads, first come first serve. The overflow would be placed in the next issue and cards will be rotated each quarter according to space availability.
FREE business card ads for members of the Whitetail
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The rules for sudoku are simple:
A 9x9 square must be filled in with numbers from 1-9 with no repeated numbers in each line, horizontally or vertically.
To challenge you more, there are 3x3 squares marked out in the grid, and each of these squares can’t have any repeat numbers either.
