Bagging a deer of a lifetime is supposed to be the highlight of any hunter’s life.

After being on top of the world, one man’s fortunes changed in a hurry.

And this hunter bagged a record-setting buck, but his life went to hell for this shocking reason.

Ohio hunter bags a potentially record-setting buck

Wilmington, Ohio, hunter Christopher “C.J.” Alexander achieved the goal of anyone in the midwest who goes out during deer season.

During bow season, he bagged the biggest whitetail in the state’s history.

The Buckeye Big Buck Club awarded the buck a preliminary score under the Boone and Crockett system of 206 7/8 inches typical and 235 7/8 gross non-typical.

Alexander had the biggest typical buck in Ohio history and the number three bagged in North America.

He told Outdoor Life in an interview that he used a crossbow he borrowed from a friend after the one he had bought had broken.

Alexander wasn’t having any luck in a portable climbing stand on his sister’s 30-acre property when he went out.

“I really thought I had wasted my time coming out there,” Alexander recalled.

After nearly 12 hours, he heard the roar of a mammoth buck and managed to hit it with a bad shot.

The buck got away and he planned to track the next day with his friend. 

Alexander and his friend found it lying lifeless in a pond. 

Cj Alexander is under investigation for the alleged unlawful killing of a potentially record-breaking buck in Ohio. He wounded the animal & left him overnight to suffer. So many unethical hunters out there. ????RT@PeterEgan6 @SARA2001NOOR @_Pehicc https://t.co/W2gZMfHvCB. pic.twitter.com/VzxKGzipk7

— Xpose Trophy Hunting (@XposeTrophyHunt) February 20, 2024

Hunter who got record-setting buck busted on poaching and other charges

Everything went wrong for C.J. Alexander after he bagged his potential record-setting white tail.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confiscated the deer and opened a poaching investigation into him.

Alexander was hit with 23 charges after the DNR investigated him.

“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,” the Ohio Attorney General’s office said in a release.

Alexander was accused of staging the record-setting buck’s death on his sister’s property with the help of his brother and a friend.

He was charged with illegal deer hunting without written permission, theft by deception, hunting without a license and without a valid deer permit, tampering with evidence, and several other charges.

His sister, friend, and brother were also charged as part of the investigation. 

Alexander insisted that he did nothing wrong during the Ohio DNR’s nearly five-month investigation into him.

“Blinded by greed, the defendants set their sights on fame and fortune while disregarding basic hunting regulations,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) said in a statement. “This once-in-a-lifetime deer embodies the great natural resources Ohio has to offer. It’s shameful that this deer ended up in an evidence room rather than adorning an ethical hunter’s wall as a prized trophy.”

C.J. Alexander went from the high of a record-setting buck to now facing a fine of more than $30,000.

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