In the Major League Whitetails facility on fisher road in Athens, Ohio a deer with a purple tag reading 221 looks toward a small opening in the wall of a containment room. This deer would be among the first in a process known as artificial insemination.
From left to right: Herb White, Jon Nese, Greg Severance, Russel Ogle, and Brandon White. Herb White, owner of Middle Ground Whitetails, takes the deer's left leg while Jon Nese, formal MLB pitcher for the Mets and owner of Major League Whitetails and Double Play Hunting persevere, secures the right leg to the stretcher as Greg Severance watches; Russel Ogle, manager of Major League whitetails and Double Play Hunting, and Brandon White, co owner of Middle Ground Whitetails, prepare to secure the deer’s front two legs to the stretcher. The lengthy process of artificial insemination begins with placing an unconscious doe on a stretcher where their legs are fastened in order to ensure they remain still during the process. After this they will be prepped and then have buck sperm injected into the ovaries in order to ensure the doe will have fawns that can grow into the most desirable deer for people to hunt. This process brings together deer farmers from around Ohio to help Major League Whitetails complete the process with their deer and in return MLW allows them to bring deer in for AI at their facility.
The next step in the AI process is to prep the deer for the sperm injection. Angel Kenard, a worker for Advanced Deer Genetics, shaves the deer's underside allowing for access to the deer's reproductive organs.
Jason Coe, owner of Advanced Deer Genetics, examines the ovaries before injecting the chosen buck sperm, and completing the Artificial Insemination process.
Russel Ogle awaits a trailer that contains a recently purchased deer from another farm. This occurs every now and then but tends to be more frequent at the end of August because of the yearly Auction at Mt. Hope.
Fence checks are a frequent occurrence on the preserve. These mandatory checks can be for a number of reasons including fallen trees, animals that have gotten out, and sometimes animals that are getting in. Rachel Bahl loads her .22 caliber rifle into the side by side before making her way to the hunting preserve for one of these mandatory perimeter checks.
The newly purchased white tail buck from whiskey river whitetails, a deer farm paid for by whiskey river communications, leaps out of the container into the hunting preserve on Fisher Rd in Athens, Ohio.
At 8 A.M. Rachel Bahl, assistant manager at Major league whitetails, sets out with a side by side full of buckets of a grain, molasses mix to feed the deer held in the farm. This mix allows the deer to get real nutrition which will help them grow into something worth hunting. The deer alone require 490lbs of grain that is distributed through each pen. Rachel pours the mix into feeding troughs, after doing this she also replaces the water for the deer, as the 1 year old bucks watch.
While moving through the bison enclosure the path is briefly blocked by the seven bison that are kept at Double Play Hunting Preserve, located on Fisher rd in Athens, Ohio.
A lone deer stands in the back off the hunting preserve, he most likely smells that the does are in heat. The bucks at MLW are bred specifically for their antlers, those are the appeals, those are what draw customers.