Rack Magazine

This Kansan is making a name for himself in the record book. Here’s the 2013 buck that stole his heart.

“I could have shot this buck several different times with a rifle, but I was determined to take him with my bow,” said Kansan David Wagler.

David’s heart’s desire spent most of its time in thick CRP, emerging only occasionally into the adjacent strips of timber.

David and his brother, Lester, had been hunting the 500-acre Osage County farm since 2012. The place was perfect habitat for whitetails: 100-yard-wide strips of CRP interspersed with forest land and several agricultural fields. Plus, the eastern, fallow side of the property had grown up in brush, perfect as a bedding area.

“We try to put as little hunting pressure on this property as possible, staying away from it until the rut kicks in,” David explained. “Other hunters also hunt this land, but only seldomly.

“We started hunting here seriously in November 2012. The first afternoon, Lester spotted a big buck out in the CRP strip,” he continued.

From Nov. 12 to 16, the Waglers often spotted the big buck, but it never came close enough for a bow shot, which is why David and Lester continuously moved their ladder stands closer to the buck’s core area. Although David once had the heavy-racked buck at 490 yards, he couldn’t get a clear shot.

Neither man saw the buck long enough in the wide open to determine its body size or how many points the rack carried.

Late in the 2012 season, David had the deer at 30 yards for an easy bow shot, if the cover hadn’t been so thick. He realized he couldn’t thread his arrow through the brush and into the buck’s vitals. Rather than possibly wounding what he felt was a trophy buck, he let the animal walk.

From the road where the Waglers entered the property, the 60 acres where they spotted the big buck had a 100-yard-wide strip of CRP land that continued off the property, as well as a strip of timber.

They recognized that if they didn’t put much hunting pressure on this land, the property should produce some nice trophy bucks.

David preferred to bowhunt his home state because the Kansas rifle season arrives after the rut, and the big bucks don’t move as much.

“In 2013, I bought a Trophy Rock and put it about 250 yards from the road. I left it there for about a month,” David said. “We got a picture of the buck we were hunting in velvet and got very excited. We started hunting earlier in 2013.

“Lester heard hunters rattling antlers while watching bucks and does in one of the grown-up pastures. The rattling caused the deer to spook and run. Based on that, we decided not to rattle unless calling didn’t work,” he said.

On Nov. 7, 2013, David hung a treestand about 10 yards from the edge of the CRP strip. He saw deer moving, and at 3 p.m., does came from the woods below him to the weeds. A big 8-pointer stepped out that would’ve scored about 160 inches.

“I made my mind up that I’d take that 8-pointer if it came by my stand,” he said.

The 8-pointer was 200 yards from him, angling away, when David called to it. He actually lured the buck to within 70 yards, but that’s as close as the big 4x4 would come.

In a last-ditch attempt to seal the deal, David rattled. As he might’ve expected, the buck ran off with the does.

On Nov. 13, David returned to the same stand about 3:20 p.m. with the mercury in the 40s. Realizing the temperature would drop as night approached, he stood to put on his coat. He’d taken his mechanical release off his wrist and was reattaching his safety harness to the tree when he spotted a nice buck moving along the CRP strip’s edge.

“I knew the buck wasn’t a shooter, but hurriedly put on my mechanical release,” he said.

When the buck was even with his stand, David looked back from where the buck had come and spotted the monster buck he’d seen in trail camera pictures. The big buck turned, went into the CRP strip and made a scrape.

David had about a 25-yard shot, but thought the buck might come closer and move along the same trail that the younger buck had taken.

“Immediately, I became concerned about the young buck,” he said. “It might smell me and spook the big one.”

Once the huge deer presented the shot at 12 yards, David had his Mathews Z7 at full draw. He released the arrow and hit the buck. Immediately, the hunter spotted a huge amount of blood pouring from the animal’s side.

He was confident he’d made a good shot.

The buck turned, ran past David and fell 12 yards from his stand.

“I got down out of my tree and saw that my arrow must have hit some brush, because it entered in front of the shoulder and went into the lower part of the neck, cutting the jugular,” he said.

“Walking back to the spot where I’d arrowed the buck, I saw more brush in the opening than I could see from my treestand,” he said.

David called Lester, who brought a four-wheeler, helped him load the big buck and take it out of the woods. Those 60 acres were later sold at auction.

“We still had 440 acres to hunt with more CRP strips, timber and a few green fields,” he added.

This article was published in the April 2017 edition of Rack Magazine. Subscribe today to have Rack Magazine delivered to your home.

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