https://www.outdoorlife.com/hu...ching-investigation/

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CJ Alexander, the Hunter Who Killed a Potentially Record-Breaking Buck in Ohio, Is Now Under Investigation


According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, "wildlife officers have seized the antlers, cape, and hunting equipment associated with the alleged unlawful taking of the deer"

By: Hayden Sammak

Posted On December 26, 2023



Amid a recent firestorm of poaching allegations surrounding a deer known as the Alexander Buck — a potentially record-breaking whitetail killed by Christopher “CJ” Alexander — the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has confirmed that they confiscated the deer from Alexander’s possession and have launched an investigation.

According to a DNR press release obtained by Outdoor Life:


Wildlife officers from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife are investigating a potential record deer taken during the archery hunting season in Clinton County, Ohio. The deer was reported to have allegedly been taken by Christopher J. Alexander, 28, of Wilmington, on Nov. 9, 2023.

An investigation was launched by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources after information was provided alleging that Alexander failed to obtain the lawfully required written permission prior to hunting on private property.

While the investigation continues, Ohio wildlife officers have seized the antlers, cape, and hunting equipment associated with the alleged unlawful taking of the deer.

As detailed in an earlier piece published by OL, Alexander claims to have legitimately harvested the potential record breaking buck on Nov. 9, 2023 within the boundaries of a 30-acre property owned by his sister. However, the location of where the buck was killed is now under question.

Some hunting forum posters have pointed out that Alexander says he recovered his buck during the daytime, however all the published photos of the deer were taken at night. Alexander told OL that he and friend Cory Haunert had waited for Haunert’s girlfriend to get off of work before taking pictures, since she had a quality camera.


Ohio’s Buckeye Big Buck Club secretary Mike Rex gave the buck a green score of 206 7 / 8 inches. With that preliminary score, the buck would have the potential to be the number one typical whitetail taken in the state of Ohio, and the number three typical whitetail taken in North America.

However, due to the Boone & Crockett Club’s common base rule, it’s unlikely that the rack would have earned such a high score in the B&C books (the G-2 and G-3 tines on the left antler appear to share a common base). But besides the scoring questions, there are now significant legal issues surrounding the rack and Alexander’s hunt.

According to Section 1531.201 of the Ohio Revised Code, anyone found guilty of illegally taking a deer over 125 inches gross score shall be ordered to pay a special restitution fee in addition to any restitution value established in division rule. This additional fine is calculated using the following formula: ((gross score – 100)² x $1.65). Should DNR officials find the Alexander buck’s widely reported gross score of 235 ⅞ inches to be accurate, Alexander could receive an additional fine of $30,462.33 if convicted.

No idea if he is guilty or not.

Shooting on his sister’s land seems like a non-issue to me. Taking a picture at night of a legally taken deer happens all the time .

Must be more to the story.

there is.
most F&G guys believe if you got lucky you were doing something illegal.


you ever watch that warden show?
those guys will set out a big racked mechanical buck on the night before the hunt and then are absolutely shocked and dismayed when a truck drives past checking it out like anyone would then drives off without shooting.

if they linger too long trying to get a picture or the like they dash down and run them off so the next crim err vehicle has a chance.

If one shoots a record buck expect a anal examine.

I read elsewhere that the hunter admitted to certain things. However, they did not say what he had admitted to doing.


Also, apparently there are trail cam pictures of the deer 22 miles aways 2 or 3 days before the deer was killed.

My guess is that there is some jealously that started all of this. Time will tell.

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
If one shoots a record buck expect a anal examine.

I would tell no one.

https://www.dispatch.com/story...hunting/72111564007/



Court to rule whether potentially record-setting Ohio deer antlers were taken illegally
Dave Golowenski Special to The Columbus Dispatch



A story that had been heading toward a dramatic denouement this month has instead taken an extraordinary turn.

What has spun Christopher J. Alexander’s happy hunting jackpot in an unhappy direction might one day become clear. As for facts, perhaps there were merely mistakes made. Perhaps not.

Time and the courts will tell.

Just about everybody agrees the Clinton County buck Alexander, 28, of Wilmington, took with a crossbow on Nov. 9 was exceptional.

“This really is/was a remarkable animal,” offered an email from a longtime hunter and veteran scorer after viewing pictures of the buck.

Mike Rex, a trophy whitetail hunter, skilled scorer and Buckeye Big Bucks Club officer, measured the antlers and later described them as the “largest ‘typical frame’ I’ve ever held in my hands – freakishly big!”

So big Rex thought the antlers may set a state record in the “typical” category. A typical rack must be symmetrical, that is, the beams and tines on each of the two antlers are required to mirror each other.

An official scoring by a panel of experienced measurers was to take place this month after a mandatory 60-day drying period had elapsed. Rex wasn’t sure the panel would declare the rack symmetrical enough to be considered “typical” and consequently a record.



He promised to be on hand to defend his judgment that it should be.

Here’s what Rex said, though, in a text just after Christmas when much had changed: “Chances are good it will only be scored now for restitution to the state. Very disappointing.”

In question is Alexander’s contention that the deer was taken on property owned by a family member and to which Alexander had access.


Told that the deer had been taken on private property for which Alexander didn’t have written permission to hunt, officers from the Ohio Division of Wildlife began an investigation.

The antlers, cape and hunting tools were seized.

Certain facts about the taking of the deer are in dispute, although not all of them add up to violations of law.

Alexander’s recollection of events is that he happened upon the deer, the existence of which he’d been unaware, toward the end of a long day of hunting while positioned in a stand on property he was free to hunt.

Turns out, however, the deer had been known for a number of years in Wilmington and often frequented a cemetery, a resident of the area related during a phone call. The familiar deer’s killing wasn’t universally acclaimed.

Should the court rule the deer was taken illegally and Alexander be deemed or pleads guilty, the hunter could face fines, loss of hunting privileges and forfeiture of the animal and hunting equipment. And those would be just the most unwelcome consequences, not the only ones.


Restitution, which is determined by a valuation based on antler size, could be set in the neighborhood of $30,000.

Alexander speculated before the legal problems that the rack might fetch $100,000 or more if the official scoring deemed it a state record. During a phone interview early last month, Alexander said he’d already been offered $20,000 for the antlers before they were officially scored.

He said he was planning to hold out until the official determination and hopefully get the highest price, though he understood certain risk was involved. Which in retrospect now seems somehow ironic.

outdoors@dispatch.com

It seems to me that it would take a total idiot to illegally kill a deer then put it on social media.

Time will tell.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
It seems to me that it would take a total idiot to illegally kill a deer then put it on social media.

Time will tell.

Lots of total idiots out there!

quote:

Originally posted by Big Wonderful Wyoming:

quote:

Originally posted by p dog shooter:
If one shoots a record buck expect a anal examine.

I would tell no one.

correct. Especially in Ohio where every Fish and Game guy I ever met was interested in finding you broke some law.

quote:

Originally posted by Bull Sprig:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
It seems to me that it would take a total idiot to illegally kill a deer then put it on social media.

Time will tell.

Lots of total idiots out there!

I agree .

I spoke to a game warden once . They had arrested some people for shooting bears . We have no bear season. Yet, these geniuses posted pictures of them with the bears on Facebook.

https://www.ohioattorneygenera...High-Profile-Poachin



AG Yost Secures Indictment in High-Profile Poaching Case
5/10/2024

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, on behalf of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, announced the indictment of a Wilmington man accused of poaching an 18-point antlered white-tailed deer.

“Blinded by greed, the defendants set their sights on fame and fortune while disregarding basic hunting regulations,” Yost said. “Instead of the cover of Field & Stream, their notoriety will be a booking photo.”

The indictment, returned this afternoon by a Clinton County grand jury, accuses Christopher J. Alexander of unlawfully harvesting the deer on Nov. 9, 2023. He claimed that the animal had been on property owned by his sister, Kristina M. Alexander, when he harvested the deer and presented written permission from his sister to hunt on her land to a wildlife officer.

An investigation by ODNR’s Division of Wildlife, however, revealed incriminating evidence to the contrary.

Wildlife officers discovered through warranted searches of cellphone data that Christopher Alexander had illegally hunted the trophy buck on private property about 10 miles from his sister’s land, and later learned that the written permission from his sister he had presented to wildlife officers had been falsified – after the deer was killed – to mislead authorities. Evidence revealed Christopher Alexander staged the deer taking at his sister’s property with the help of Corey P. Haunert and his brother, Zachary R. Haunert, to conceal the poaching.

The investigation also found that Corey Haunert aided Christopher Alexander in poaching deer on multiple occasions, providing the crossbow used to hunt and assisting in deer retrieval and staging with Zachary Haunert. Kristina Alexander is accused of falsifying the date when the written permission to hunt occurred.

Likewise, wildlife officers learned that Christopher Alexander deceptively profited from the illegal deer taking, selling deer antlers and receiving payments totaling $20,000 from an antler collector, a hunting magazine and a company that sells deer products.

This deer stands out as the largest typical whitetail in Ohio, showcasing remarkable antler uniformity. Additionally, some reports rank it as the third largest typical whitetail in North America.

“This once-in-a-lifetime deer embodies the great natural resources Ohio has to offer,” Yost added. “It is shameful that this deer ended up in an evidence room rather than adorning an ethical hunter’s wall as a prized trophy.”

Christopher Alexander, 28, of Wilmington, faces 23 total charges:

Five counts each of illegally hunting deer without written permission (M3) and taking possession of a deer in violation of a division rule (M3)
Three counts of theft by deception (F4 and F5).
Two counts each of hunting without a license (M4), hunting deer without a valid deer permit (M4) and tampering with evidence (F3)
One count each of jacklighting (M3), theft (M1), falsification (M1) and sale of wildlife parts (M4)
Corey Haunert, 29, of Hillsboro, faces eight charges:
Four counts of aiding a wildlife offender (M3)
Two counts of hunting without written permission (M3)
One count each of tampering with evidence (F3) and falsification (M1)
Kristina Alexander, 37, of Blanchester, faces one count of falsification (M1) and one count of aiding a wildlife offender (M3), and Zachary Haunert, 31, of Lebanon, faces two misdemeanor counts of aiding a wildlife offender (M3).

The white-tailed deer is widely recognized as one of Ohio’s most prominent wildlife species and the state’s only big game animal. Its historical importance to Ohio is evident, with the General Assembly declaring it as Ohio’s state mammal in 1988.

The cases are being prosecuted by attorneys from Yost’s Environmental Enforcement section.
Indictments merely contain allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless proved guilty in a court of law.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Hannah Hundley: 614-906-9113