When Kevin Walsh awoke from a morning nap at 10:30, against a tree in the Missouri woods, the first thing he saw — maybe — was a buck’s rear end going through the timber. Or it could have been the tail-end of a dream.
The 68-year-old retired Minnesota fishing guide (and current walnut syrup producer) was sitting on his turkey hunting cushion in full camo with face mask. Dressed that way, he has experienced moose, elk, and deer coming in very close.
“One time, an elk was five yards away,” Kevin says. “A moose was at seven yards. You can get them to do that when you’re sitting on the ground. I feel deer get as close to me as to people up in stands with a lot less messing around. The trick is, just don’t move.”
Kevin was not moving on Nov. 3, 2025, on an 80-acre patch in Henry Co., MO. Twice a year, he travels to public land near Clinton that comprises a wide stretch of grass and some woods where deer hide.
“The day was sunny (which is why I am squinting in all the photos) and 35 degrees at daylight,” says Kevin. “The south wind was favorable for my chosen spot: a pinch-point deer funnel at the edge of a pond. I found the spot seven years ago. The first time out, I shot a 12-point there.”
Kevin had trekked from Minnesota that specific weekend to take his granddaughter hunting on Youth Saturday. Plus, this was bow season and the start of the rut in Central Missouri.
Two days later, when the wind was right, he went to a way-back corner with a bedding area and sat on his turkey-hunting cushion against an oak.
“It took me 40 minutes to walk in. I like to get in a spot before shooting light. In front of me were three cedar trees about 12 inches in diameter with rubs on all. I knew a big buck was moving in that area.This was the first time I’d been in that spot for a year. I only hunt a spot twice per season.”
“I saw a buck to my 7 o’clock, so I rattled a few times with my antler bag. A big buck came walking in from my left, around 30 yards away and broadside. But his shoulder was blocked by a cedar. I could have shot, but only a gut or neck shot. So I waited.”
After a few minutes, the deer turned to Kevin’s 12 o’clock and moved straight away out of sight. “My son would’ve taken the shot, but I don’t take risky shots,” Kevin shrugs. “So it is what it is. While I waited, I dozed off, and when I woke up, it was 10:30. I maybe saw a buck’s rear end going through the timber.”
At 11 a.m., the big buck came back from wherever it had gone. Kevin raised his crossbow when the buck was at 40 yards. “I knew the buck by its split brow tines,” he says. “It came closer and closer until it turned broadside at nine yards. I have set crosshairs — they’re good from four to 20 yards. I slowly turned my torso from right to left. My shot landed behind his shoulder.”
The buck turned and ran 60 yards before falling. Kevin saw it rise and start walking again.
“I picked up my arrow and saw that only one blade on the broad head had opened. That made me nervous. I didn’t want to go after him and risk spooking him forward onto private land. After 20 minutes I walked back to my truck.”
Kevin’s son Kim came from where he had been hunting 20 miles away, and they met up at a house where they were staying.
“It’s a project to get deer out of state-owned land,” says Kevin. “You can’t drive in there or use any mechanized devices. You have to use a deer cart. I called the owner of the property next to the public land to get permission to drive across his property to get closer to the woodland where my deer had gone. You can’t drag a deer all the way to where the truck was parked. We thought about butchering the deer and bringing the meat and antlers out. But because we got permission to drive close, we could drag it 75 yards.”
Kevin, his son and friend Lance parked and walked to the buck’s last known position. “When we got there, it was lying five yards from where I last saw it. As we walked up to the buck, we were whooping it up pretty good. I have hunted 55 years, and I pass on 30 bucks a year waiting for a really big one. This one was worth the wait.”
Buckmasters scorer Mike Kelly measured Kevin’s 17-pointer at 188 inches.
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