On A Roll In Kansas
By Mark Melotik
Still not convinced you can consistently bag top-end whitetails on small tracts of land? You might change your tune after learning about the incredible streak of success currently being posted by Richard McIntyre, 60, of Kansas.
McIntyre moved out to Kansas 15 years ago from New Jersey, where he’d struggled to find good hunting opportunities. Quality deer hunting was a huge piece of his decision to move west, and it’s one the avid whitetailer would likely consider among the best of his life — and there is proof aplenty.
McIntyre recently had three of his most-impressive Kansas bucks officially scored for inclusion in the BTR recordbook. Their scores? 202 3/8, 190 3/8, and 191 4/8. And those are just the bucks the avid whitetailer has had officially scored.
“15 years ago, I came out here and ended up buying a place, and it’s worked out pretty good,” McIntyre said.
Beginning in late winter through early spring, one of McIntyre’s favorite pursuits is shed hunting. For this he typically targets huge tracts of public land. However, to bag the vast majority of his top-end bucks he leans on much smaller tracts, a great example being the haunt of his best buck, taken back in 2019 on a 20-acre public tract in northeast Kansas.
McIntyre currently hunts with a crossbow; a farm accident several years ago resulted in tears to his rotator cuff and bicep that, even after years of recovery, prevents holding at full draw with his favorite compound.
“l knew that property held a good travel corridor,” he said. “I had some trail cameras down there, and when I checked one I saw this big buck and ended up hunting it that day.”
He would see nothing on stand that first day.
The following morning, Nov. 1, 2019, McIntyre was back in the stand and sat until 11:00 with no sightings. At that point he texted a buddy that he was getting down — but his buddy convinced him otherwise.
“He texted back: ‘Take a nap or shoot a 200,’” McIntyre recalled. The text proved eerily prophetic; the nap plan was shelved.
At about 2:00, a true Kansas giant strolled leisurely in to McIntyre’s mock scrapes, doctored with a Wildlife Research Center scrape dripper and WRC scent. After the 20-yard shot with his crossbow, the buck went just 9 yards before toppling in sight.
The jaw-dropping 16-pointer that features a 25-inch outside spread, 20 3/8 inside spread and longest tines of 12 and 11 3/8 inches, scores 202 3/8 In BTR’s Crossbow Irregular category.
Back in 2022, McIntyre was hunting another small tract — his own 9.5-acre northeast Kansas parcel, used exclusively for hunting — when he would topple another Kansas brute, this one featuring double drops and incredible mass.
“We had a few trail cam photos of him now and then, the year before only one in late December,” McIntyre recalled.
It was late that previous year when McIntyre believes the buck changed its core area to include his quaint 9.5-acre parcel. As proof, 2022 would see the buck appear regularly on trail camera photos throughout the summer and early fall, but never in daylight.
On Nov. 22, 2022, McIntyre was waiting in his Redneck box blind when the buck suddenly appeared at 7:30 a.m.
“I knew right away it was him; I could see the big drop on his left side. I grabbed my crossbow and shot — he was at 25 yards.”
The perfectly placed arrow dropped the buck quickly. When he walked up to the buck, McIntyre was amazed.
“I just couldn’t believe it; he had double drops with a flyer,” he said. “You only see those types bucks in photos or magazine covers. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deer.”
With 14 total scorable points and five irregular points totaling nearly 30 inches, the unique buck scores 190 3/8 in BTR’s Crossbow Irregular category.
Last fall, McIntyre was again hunting his 9.5-acre parcel when another target buck appeared, a buck he had known for several years, with trail camera photos dating back to 2020.
“I called this one the Wall,” he said. “You look at the side of him — it was just a wall of tines. He was very narrow, only about 13 inches wide, but he had a lot of tines, and nice ones.”
McIntyre explained that, for several years he’d get photos of the buck from September until mid-October, when it would disappear. Then the buck would suddenly reappear at the very end of December.
“Because he would change his core area, last fall I decided to start hunting him early on opening day. I figured I needed to get out early if I wanted a shot at this deer.”
McIntyre had hunted eight days for the buck when he got his fateful encounter in late September.
The Wall had been traveling with another mature buck, a solid 150s deer, and on Sept. 22, 2023, McIntyre watched as that buck appeared and lingered in front of his blind for nearly 30 minutes. The 150 left and then reappeared an hour later off to the right.
“As I watched that buck, here comes The Wall down the trail to my blind,” McIntyre recalled. He stopped right behind a big branch and wouldn’t move, then finally gave me a good shot at 20 yards.”
The buck ran maybe 50 yards and piled up. As McIntyre approached, he was stunned once again.
“I was like, ‘Wow.’ I knew he would score well, but I couldn’t believe it,” McIntyre recalled. “I tried adding his tines and stuff in my head and figured maybe in the 180s, but not bigger. His official score was a nice surprise.”
Later, McIntyre would self-score the 17-point buck with 13 3/8 inside spread at 192 inches. The official BTR score would tally a nearly identical 191 4/8 in BTR’s Crossbow Irregular category.