Longtime bowman Danny Williams of Galva, Kansas has taken plenty of giant bucks – including four over 170.
But one buck he’d been watching via remote cameras for several years was special. The 250-pound deer had a massive non-typical rack and was regularly visiting a 160-acre family property in McPherson County, located in central Kansas.
“I started watching him three years ago, about the time I started having shoulder problems and couldn’t draw my compound bow like I’ve done since age 14,” Williams tells Outdoor Life. “I was frustrated about my shoulders and my love for archery, and kind of gave up bowhunting last year – until I saw that buck this year.
“Last year he had a kind of funky rack and I didn’t even bowhunt him. But this year when that buck showed, he’d grown 40 more inches of antlers. I knew I had to try for him, but I needed to use a crossbow, not my compound because of my shoulder issues.”
Hunting conditions were not ideal the afternoon of October 21 when Williams, 69, got into a box blind with his Ravin crossbow. The spot was an open pasture with rolling hills and cedar trees, but no big timber, says Williams.
“The wind was from the wrong direction, so when a doe and fawn came near my blind and started acting nervous, I closed some of the windows,” Williams says. “Soon an 8-point buck came out near the blind and chased the doe and fawn away. I looked back and there was the giant buck I wanted standing just 18 yards away.”
Williams had to open one of the blind windows carefully and quietly to get a shot at the massive buck. Luckily the whitetail stepped behind a cedar tree, giving the hunter a chance to open the blind, ready his crossbow, and take the buck as it stepped out from behind the tree at 15 yards.
“I saw his back legs kick up after I shot, and he ran straight away through some very thick cover,” Williams explained. “He jumped a fence and disappeared.”
He phoned family members and a friend who recommended they call in a tracking dog just in case. Williams thought he made a good shot on the buck, but he didn’t want to risk it.
“I decided to drive home and wait for a good while before heading after the deer,” Williams says. “Six hours later we all went back to where I’d shot the buck that night. Lenny and Shaden Swaim were there with their tracking beagle Scout. The dog took up the trail, and we followed him.”
The blood trail was poor, and no arrow was found until they reached the fence that Willimas saw the buck leap over. They found the arrow there, which had passed through the buck. The 100-grain 2-blade Rage broadhead had done its job well, as the blood trail was heavy. Scout had no trouble locating the animal.
“The deer only traveled about 80 yards from where I shot it,” Williams says. “But having Lenny, Shaden, and Scout was good insurance [with] such an incredible deer.”
They estimated the giant buck was 5 years old. The got to work field dressing and dragging out the deer and hung it to air cool in 40-degree temperatures that night. The next day it went to a meat processor.
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Williams says the buck has 21 points with seven on one side and 14 on the opposite side. It has been green scored at about 221 inches.
“It has an inside spread of only 19.5 inches,” Williams says. “But the antler base circumferences are massive – 8.25 and 7.5 inches. The skull and antlers weigh 9 pounds.”
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