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'He didn't look like a whitetail'
December 03, 2009 at 12:02 pm
By VIRG RANKIN
Pictured left - Milford Center resident Todd Tomlin kneels behind what will become a unique trophy from the first day of Ohio’s deer gun season. What appeared to be a large whitetail from a distance turned out to be a young adult bull elk.
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Local hunter bags elk; species not native to Ohio
The first week of December is deer gun season in Ohio and with literally thousands of hunters tromping the fields and forests, strange things can happen.
Todd Tomlin, a veteran hunter from Milford Center, found himself involved in an unusual series of events on Monday. In fact, Tomlin unwittingly killed an elk on the first day of gun season.
Since the last elk herds are believed to have migrated out of Ohio in 1838, what happened would seem to be an impossibility. And yet, the fact it happened was verified by Union County Game Warden Chris Rice, as well as Tomlin’s father Paul and brother Randy, who were his hunting partners on that day.
Although Monday was a day of mixed emotions for Tomlin, he was able to laugh about it once he was assured he was not in trouble with the ODNR Division of Wildlife.
“I guess I now hold the Union County record for elk,” he said.
Tomlin said the day began in the same way as just about every other day of his more than 30 years stalking Ohio white-tails.
“I was setting tight in my tree stand about 8:30 in the morning, (in western Union County, near the Logan County Line) when I saw three does pass through the woods,” he said. “About 10 minutes later, I saw a small buck off to one side about 100 yards away, which was out of range. When I turned back around I saw what I thought was a big buck coming toward me.”
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