Meet your Ohio Hunting Outfitter
Thank you for your interest in Rut Chasers, LLC. My name is Travis Holbrook. I am the owner and operator.
I grew up hunting with my dad and grandfather. We mostly ran rabbit dogs and coon dogs together. My dad and grandpa have always had a huge impact on my life and were a huge part of why I became as crazy about the outdoors as I am. My biggest passion in the outdoors has always been whitetail deer. My dad deer hunted during the shotgun season when I was younger, but that was all. Just to fill the freezer and to take care of the family. He never was crazy about chasing big, mature whitetails. Coon dogs were his main passion. I begged and begged to take my hunter safety course so I could hunt during the youth season.
When I was old enough my dad took my sister and me to take the test. Then the deal was if we passed, we could do the youth hunt that weekend. We both did and enjoyed our first deer hunt the following weekend. Although we didn’t kill a deer during that first hunt, I was still hooked after day one. I’ve never been more passionate about hunting anything besides whitetail and turkey. The following year, my dad took me that same weekend, and I was able to harvest my first deer, which happened to be a 130’s 9 point. Talk about making a kid's day! I couldn’t wait to go show my grandpa. He was so excited for me that he sent it to his town newspaper, and they wrote an article about it. After that, there was no turning back. It’s all I thought about. By the time I was 12, we had moved out to the country, where I spent all my time in the woods chasing coon dogs or building forts, or fishing in the neighbor’s pond. The house we had moved into was on a 400-acre farm of deer paradise in Coshocton County. I had no clue at the age of 12 what was surrounding me. I was fine with a doe, button buck, 6-point, or a 190. I didn’t care. I just wanted to hunt. So, my dad bought me my first crossbow. He told me that if I could do my chores and keep my grades up, I could hunt alone.
Well, deer season rolled around. It was opening day, and he gave me the green light. I took off up the road to the spot we called the graveyard. It was about 1 mile up the road from my house. I hauled up there and would sit in the field that night. I got up in gym shorts, a red shirt, and Nike shock tennis shoes. Tucked into a brush pile. It started getting close to dark, and the deer were piling into the field. I was in shock at how many. This was my first ever hunt on this farm. I had no clue what to expect. Then, a doe came out about 15 yards away. I raised up my Horton crossbow with my Walmart broadheads on her and let it fly. She was smoked. She died in the field. I took off running home to my dad. He was super excited we got back up there and enjoyed a moment I’ll never forget. The very next night I got off the school bus and seen deer in the field below the house. I ran in and asked Mom if I could go and sneak up on them. She said yeah, that’s fine. I grabbed the bow and hauled down the road to where I could crawl the hayfield to get a shot. I crawled and crawled. To finally get close enough. There were two deer there. One was a 6-point, and the other I couldn’t tell. I was game on first buck with a bow I’m shooting first buck I see I’m only 12 at the time. Sure enough that 6 point puts it head down I sit up and shoot. He was smoked. I looked over at the deer to the right, and there was a mid-150 buck looking at me as I watched the 6-point drop in the edge of the hayfield right behind him. It's a time I’ll never forget.
I could go on and on with stories from this farm. I have 15 deer in my man cave that all came from it growing up. So many awesome stories. I lived for it growing up and still do to this day. I’ve been blessed to harvest many whitetail deer. One is over 200 inches, a few in the 170-180 inch range, and then multiple 130 to 160. Ohio has always been good to me. I live to run cameras and pattern big mature whitetails. I'm not an Ohio hunting outfitter for the money. I guide hunters because I absolutely love it! I love being involved. I simply love putting guys on deer.
I also love to travel for deer hunts myself. So I offer a hunt here that I would expect to get if I was traveling to hunt. I have a few leases in Kentucky that I hunt every year. I’ve killed 4 deer in full velvet. It’s an absolute blast down there. It comes in about a month earlier than Ohio, so I can hunt there before getting busy here. The one I killed was over 200 inches (named Goliath), and I also killed a mid 170's buck, Pretty Boy. These two bucks here are the highlight of my hunting career. They, by far, are my two favorite deer/ stories of how they both came together. Anyway, I started doing this because of how much enjoyment I get from it.
I also have a family now, and I don’t travel to 4 or 5 states a year anymore, so it’s a way for me to stay involved with deer all year long and still be close to home here in Ohio. My favorite thing about it is the friendships I developed while doing it. I’ve made so many lifelong friendships. I look forward to many, many more. If you want that hunt of a lifetime in a state with some big, mature whitetail deer in Ohio, call me, and let’s talk about deer hunting or turkey hunting. Let’s get you on the books so you can experience what I’ve been blessed to experience my entire life. Thanks for reading.
