David Lecuyer doesn't always take 280-yard shots at deer. But when he does, he shoots twice.
The first two bullets - David's and his buddy Bobby's - probably whizzed underneath the lovestruck buck at the opposite end of the Kansas cornfield they were watching. The third one, from David's .30-06, connected.
The long poke was the exception, not the rule, according to the man who fired twice. Not shooting at a whitetail of such magnitude was out of the question.
"I don't take shots that far unless I have to, and I had to," David said.
The 32-year-old equipment operator and his friend arrived at their lease about 3:30 on Dec. 3, the first Saturday of the Sunflower State's rifle season. The guys sat on the ground next to each other, their backs to trees, beside a cut cornfield.
About 5:15, two does ran out of the timber and into the field 280 yards distant. Behind them were the big buck and a smaller one.
"I told Bobby ‘There he is. That's him!'" David said.
David shouldered his rifle and fired first, but he missed. Then Bobby shot and missed.
David's second shot obviously connected because the animal reacted before rocketing off the field and into the neighboring property.
"I actually hit the deer below its heart, and it didn't react as much as you'd think. Just a little kick," he said.
The next day, as soon as the lady who owned the adjacent property returned home from church, the guys secured her blessing and began searching for the buck. They found it in a grove of cedars.
The guys were able to drive a four-wheeler right up to the thicket and load the beefy deer without having to drag it more than 20 yards. David said he didn't have the means to weigh it, but he's certain the 5- to 6-year-old buck would've tipped the scales at more than 300 pounds.
The deer has a BTR composite score of 213 6/8 inches. It's a new Kansas record among Typicals taken by modern rifle and No. 9 in the world for that category.
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