WHERE TO FIND THE BIG BUCKS

Phillips Gets His Buck

EDITOR'S NOTE: This week we'll look at the deer hunter's Valhalla. The state of Kansas has produced some of the biggest bucks in the nation, and this week we'll look at the stories and photos of hunters who've hunted with Brad Harris and Tad Brown, members of the Outland staff, which produces Lohman's and M.A.D.'s game calls.

"This is the worst-looking deer stand I've ever had in my life," I said to myself as I sat down beside a telephone pole next to a pasture. Apart from a little cover on the lower end, the pasture was as clean as a hound's tooth. Harris had said he'd seen a buck enter a pine thicket in the top of that pasture about 150 yards from his stand site, and he felt certain there was more than one buck in the draw about 200-yards away from the stand.

At first light, I saw a massive 12-point buck that would have scored more than 150 on the B&C scale. Although he stood in the pasture where we were hunting, the buck was 1/2- to 3/4-mile away from us. I watched the buck for a good 15 minutes as he walked slowly across the pasture, spooked some does out of a ditch, then walked up a hill on the other side of a pasture and vanished on the other side. About an hour later, I heard a racket off to my right. Five does came running out of a draw with a nice 10-point buck running behind them in hard pursuit. Even quick-draw McGraw couldn't have gotten off a shot at that running buck. About 200-yards away, the buck ran so close to the does that even if you did take a shot, the likelihood of hitting the does was just as good as the possibilities of taking a buck."

The buck and does vanished into the timber on the other side of the pasture, and for about 30 minutes, the pasture was as still and quiet as a cemetery at midnight. I started grunting again on my MAD twist call. In less than 10 minutes, I saw the 10-point coming out of the timber and even walking down toward the bottom of the pasture. I couldn't tell the size of the buck's antlers since he stood 400- to 500-yards away and had his head down. When he got to the bottom of the pasture and crossed the ditch, I could tell he was a shooter. I rested my rifle on the shooting sticks to prepare for the shot.

Brown suggested, "Let's let him come closer. If he's going to go bed, where Harris said he bedded yesterday, you should get about a 100-yard shot." As I studied the buck through his riflescope, the buck did as Brown had predicted. The buck closed the distance to about 175 yards. Then he turned and started drifting away from us. "You better take the shot," Brown said. "I don't think he's going to get any closer. Aim right at the top of his back." I put the crosshairs on my Kahles scope square on the buck's shoulder and then moved the crosshairs straight up to the top of the deer's back. I set the back trigger on my Mannlicher .30-06 and concentrated on the shot. When I touched the hair front trigger, the rifle reported.

"You shot over him, John," Brown said. "Bolt your gun, put another round in the chamber, and I think you'll get another shot." The buck jumped around a little bit, and then turned to walk back in the direction he'd come. "Are you ready to take the shot?" Brown asked. "Yes," I answered. "I'm on him. I've got the back trigger set. When that buck stops, I'll shoot." Brown told me, "Get ready to shoot. I'll stop the buck." Then, Brown hollered, "Hey, deer." The buck stopped, I put the crosshairs in places, and touched the trigger. I saw the buck take the bullet, and as I bolted my gun and put in another round, the buck vanished behind some cover.

"You hit him good John," Brown said. "Let's wait a little while before we go to him." However, after a 10-minute wait, I suggested that, I walk across this hill a little bit and, "see if I can spot the buck behind the brush." I'd moved about 50 yards from the telephone pole where I'd been sitting. When I looked through my Kahles binoculars, I could see a long shaft of white antlers laying flat on the ground and not moving. When Tad and I walked down to the buck, I found the big Kansas whitetail that scored 142 B&C. I had finally taken my long-awaited big buck. I love to hunt in Kansas with the good folks at Lohman's and M.A.D.

For more information about Outland Sports, call (417)451-4438, see the website at www.outlandsports.com.