Big Buck 411 Blog

Chess, Not Checkers

Chess, Not Checkers

By Patrick Dunning

Forty-four year-old Jared Kenner hunts whitetails like he conducts business – diligently. He's killed three deer (all bucks) since he first started hunting at 26 years old, but not for lack of opportunity. He sets his mind on a particular deer and doesn't waver until it's in the bed of his pickup truck.

Between owning and operating five companies, being a husband and father to two boys, hunting to Jared was a chance to put the phone down and enjoy some peace and quiet for a few hours.

This 13-pointer changed Jared's perspective on chasing white-tailed deer as it tested his patience and intellect for five seasons to the point where he and his wife were convinced the buck could hear his diesel truck coming down the gravel road.

"My wife said she thought the deer knew when I was coming and going. I thought, all right, I'm doing things different in 2022. I hunted the deer three times last year and never once drove my vehicle."

The mental gymnastics the buck pulled on Jared are worthy of an Olympic gold medal, and would have made another hunter consider swapping weapons inventory for a rifle or crossbow. But not Jared. He was determined to harvest this deer on his terms with a compound bow.

Chess, Not CheckersOn his third sit of Kentucky's 2022 archery season, during a north wind on his late grandmother's first birthday in heaven, Jared had the buck at 13 yards with an opening the size of a five-gallon bucket. He connected through both lungs.

The Logan County stud is Kentucky's third largest compound-felled buck in BTR's Perfect category, missing the state's top spot by 3 5/8 inches. Buckmasters scorer Hunter Schmittou measured the rack at 184 4/8 inches.

"This deer had a different genetic line to him. He just carried a presence about him that was infectious," Jared said. "He was amazing to watch and got smarter every year."

You can read the full story of Jared's five-year game of chess with this buck in the Winter 2023 issue of Rack Magazine.

— Read Recent Blog! Shoot Happens: Brett Petitt's Tennessee Stud measured 198 3/8 inches for Buckmasters Trophy Records.

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