One minute, 37 seconds, from the magnificent buck’s surefooted arrival to its hasty and wobbly departure.
That’s how much video footage a pair of teenagers recorded of the biggest whitetail to come out of Knox County, Ohio, in seven years. Brothers a year apart, one filmed while the other shot it with his bow.
The excellent clip, which was posted on YouTube three days later, pretty much tells the story in pictures, since there’s no speaking. The only sound is the thwunk of Perry Kise’s bow a split-second before the giant buck — already ill at ease — puts pedal to the metal.
Even without a camera rolling, 17-year-old Perry is short on words. Brother Ryan, 18, is a little more talkative. It’s clear the harvest was a team effort.
When Perry tells how he drilled the 19-pointer last season, not once does he use the word “I.” He says “we” from start to finish, referring both to himself and his sibling, who was beside him the whole time. Same with Ryan.
The brothers were hunting the family’s 45 acres.
“We acquired our land around 2001,” Perry said. “We really started managing our property in 2007, when we first planted food plots. We’ve put in countless hours working in the off-season and scouting during the season.”
Perry was behind the bow, Ryan behind a video camera. They’d agreed early on that Ryan would do the filming until Perry shot a deer, and then they’d switch roles.
They first spotted the distinctive buck on Wednesday, Oct. 26, while hunting the piney side of their property. It was at 100 yards and heading away from them, probably en route to a fruit orchard about 200 yards into the neighboring Amish farmer’s land.
About three hours before dark the next evening, the Kises set up on the other side of the farm, closer to where they’d seen the buck and where their father had built a box blind in the brush.
The star of their most excellent adventure appeared about 5:45, just as they’d hoped, but it never offered a shot before melting back into the timber.
About 6:15, however, it re-emerged with a trio of does and rejoined several other deer feeding in the CRP the boys were watching. They got some great footage of the buck’s approach, some of the best eye-level shots of a free-ranging giant to be found on the Internet.
Ten minutes later, however, the bruiser sensed something was amiss. It stared and stomped its foot, while the rest of the deer seemed oblivious to any threat.
Ryan was urging his brother to shoot, while Perry was trying to concentrate on the bubble of his bow sight’s level.
When the deer finally turned to leave, offering a 22-yard broadside instead of a frontal target, Perry put an arrow through it while the camera was rolling. It ran between 80 and 100 yards, and the Kises saw it fall.
“It was rough waiting,” said Perry, who started hunting when he was just 5 years old. “After 10 minutes, we couldn’t stand sitting there anymore.”
Editor’s Note: Click here to view the boys’ video.
Hunter: Perry Kise
BTR Official Score: 172 3/8
BTR Composite Score: 190 4/8
Compound Bow
Irregular
— Photos Courtesy of Perry Kise
This article was published in the October 2012 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.
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