Rack Magazine

While this Texan was second-guessing his decision to hunt with an outfitter, his taxidermy bill was approaching on four legs.

When Philip Kalmbach of Lincoln, Texas, decided to up his odds of taking a real trophy whitetail in 2015, he turned his attention to Kansas.

The 44-year-old had taken plenty of Texas bucks wearing between 120 and 140 inches of antler, and he sincerely wanted to break that ceiling. He wound up calling a Cabela’s booking agent and applying for his nonresident license and tag.

That’s how he became acquainted with the folks at Central Kansas Whitetails (www.ckwhitetails.com).

Purely on faith, Philip booked a five-day hunt. He knew nothing about the guides, the land he’d hunt or the possibilities of taking a trophy buck. On the last day of the hunt, while sitting in his stand, he began wondering if he’d lost his mind.

“When I talked to the owners of Central Kansas Whitetails, they told me they owned or leased more than 15,000 acres and, regardless of the wind and weather conditions, they could put me in a stand where I might have a chance to take a mature buck,” Philip said.

Philip took his crossbow.

“I’d just bought a new compound bow, but I didn’t feel comfortable enough to hunt with it just yet. I was very confident with the crossbow, however.

“On Wednesday, the first morning of the hunt, I saw a 3-pointer and a spike,” he said. “On Thursday, a major cold front moved in with winds at 50-60 mph, so I didn’t hunt that morning. In the afternoon, I saw a 4-point buck and a couple of does.”

Philip actually spotted a mature buck on Friday morning, but it was 400 yards from his stand. Saturday’s sit wasn’t any better. He counted nine does in the morning and saw a small 6-pointer in the afternoon.

Sunday morning, Nov. 15, was his last, and he says he was pretty discouraged.

He was taken to a ladder stand within a timbered draw between a picked cornfield and some CRP. He was about 100 yards from a road. At one point, after a flock of several hundred turkeys passed his stand, he saw a car coming fast and heard some of the turkeys getting thumped.

“The outfitter had cut some shooting lanes in front of me, expecting bucks to walk down the edge of a nearby creek,” Philip said. He was told deer were more likely to approach from the north.

“About 8:30 a.m., I heard a snap to my left where a bank dropped off into the draw. I looked and saw a doe coming toward me. Behind her was the biggest buck I’d ever seen, and behind it was another 5x6 just as big, though it had only an 18- to 20-inch-wide rack.

“The front buck had what I believed to be a 26- to 27-inch spread. The tines were so long, I was amazed. And there appeared to be an impressive drop tine on one side,” he continued.

When Philip first saw the two bucks, they were about 50 yards away and behind his stand. The first thing he thought was, How am I going to get a shot at either of these bucks? They’re behind me. I’ll have to stand up, turn around and shoot through the branches on the back side of this tree.

To complicate matters, the doe moved behind his tree and spotted Philip. Fortunately for him, she didn’t spook. Also, the bucks were so focused on catching up with her, they weren’t looking up from the path they were following.

Philip’s brain was almost scrambled. He knew standing up with his safety harness attached meant he would have to move the strap out of the way to keep from choking.

“I’d also have to find a hole in the branches that I could get my crossbow into, where the limbs wouldn’t make contact,” Philip said. “All the while, I had to locate a spot where I hoped one of those two bucks might stop, where I could take the shot without any of those three deer seeing me move.”

While Philip was trying to solve all those problems at the same time, the two big bucks continued walking steadily toward him.

He eventually began wondering how to stop them before taking his shot. It was almost too much for the addled hunter to ponder.

“As I stood up, I glanced down at the doe looking at me,” Philip said. “She didn’t seem too concerned, though she watched me stand, turn around and search for a hole in the limbs through which I could shoot my crossbow. I guess my Realtree Xtra camouflage was working.”

Philip’s experience from 20 years of bowhunting deer kicked in, and he found one spot on the ground clear enough to get off a shot as the bucks kept getting closer and closer. The second buck came by his stand, but Philip really wanted to take the wider racked one.

As the target buck approached a clearing 15 yards from the base of his stand, Philip grunted, hoping to stop it. But it didn’t work.

“Finally, I just hollered, ‘Hey, you,’” Philip said.

The buck stopped long enough for Philip to get off a shot with his crossbow. The arrow struck the giant right behind the shoulder.

The deer ran about 100 yards, stopped and went to ground.

Philip remained in his stand until his guide, Trevor Olson, arrived. Together, they recovered the 318-pound buck of Philip’s dreams.

His taxidermist said the buck was older than his jawbone-aging tool could accurately determine. He made an educated guess that it was at least 9 1/2 years old.

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

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