One Photo. One Chance. A 191-Inch Kansas Giant.
Sometimes the best hunting stories are the ones you never could have planned. Earlier that fall, we traveled to Kansas with our 10-year-old, who had a Kansas deer tag. At the time, we had no idea that trip was going to lead to something much bigger for our family. While we were there, we happened to drive past a house that immediately caught our attention. We fell in love with the place, made an offer and suddenly realized Kansas was going to become a much bigger part of our lives. We've always loved hunting Kansas, but now we had a place to call home there. And we knew we were going to be spending a LOT more time in one of our favorite whitetail states. What we didn't know was that only a short time later, a buck we'd never seen before would show up—and send Pat racing back to Kansas for one of the most memorable whitetail hunts of his life.
Watch the Full Kansas Whitetail Hunt
Getting Ready for Kansas Bow Season
Once we knew we'd be spending more time in Kansas, Pat and I got to work. We spent a ton of time preparing for the upcoming deer season—putting out our Boss Buck feeders, getting our Stealth cellular cameras in place and starting to inventory the deer using the different areas we planned to hunt. Trail cameras have become an incredibly important part of how we hunt mature whitetails helping us to keep track of what deer are in the area and when they are there. As bow season got underway, Pat was making trips back and forth between Kansas and Minnesota, trying to stay on top of what was happening in both places. There were shooter bucks we knew about. There were deer we were hoping to encounter. But the buck that would eventually change Pat's season?
We didn't even know he existed.
A Giant We'd Never Seen Before
Pat had been down in Kansas hunting for several days before deciding to head back home to Minnesota.
He left Kansas early that morning, drove all the way back to Minnesota and climbed into a treestand that evening hoping one of his shooter bucks back home would make an appearance. It didn't happen. Pat came home that night without filling his Minnesota tag and, like we do so many nights during deer season, checked the Command app to see what was on our cameras from that evening. That's when everything changed. He opened the app and couldn't believe what he was looking at.
There he was.
An absolute giant.
No history.
No season's worth of pictures.
No carefully planned strategy around this particular deer.
Just one picture of a giant Kansas whitetail that seemingly showed up out of nowhere.
And Pat immediately had a pretty good idea why he was there.
When a Hot Doe Changes Everything
Anyone who has hunted mature whitetails during the rut knows how quickly things can change when a hot doe comes through. A buck you've never seen before can suddenly show up. And just as quickly, he can disappear. Pat knew this buck likely wasn't a regular in the area. Chances were good that a hot doe had brought him through, which meant there was absolutely no guarantee he'd still be there tomorrow—or even a few hours later. There wasn't much time to think about it. Pat called one of our cameramen. They packed the truck. And at 4:00 the next morning, Pat was headed right back to Kansas. He had just driven home from Kansas that morning before. Now he was turning around and doing it all over again in less than 24 hours. Because when a buck like that suddenly appears during the rut, sometimes you have to go when the opportunity presents itself. When we finally got our hands on this buck, we knew he was special. He ended up measuring an incredible 191 inches. But what makes this deer so memorable isn't simply the number. It's everything that happened in the hours leading up to it. Pat had literally just driven home from Kansas. He hunted Minnesota that night. He didn't fill his tag. A giant buck showed up on our Stealth Cameras out of nowhere. And a few hours later, Pat was back in the truck driving to Kansas because he knew the window of opportunity could close just as quickly as it had opened. By that afternoon, he was sitting in a tree watching that same buck cautiously make his way toward him. That's whitetail hunting. You can plan all year. You can scout. You can prepare your property. You can run cameras and pattern deer. But sometimes the biggest opportunity of the season comes completely out of nowhere. And when it does, you have to be willing to go.
We've hunted Kansas many times over the years, but this season was different.
What started as a trip to take our 10-year-old hunting unexpectedly turned into finding a house and creating a new home base for our family in a state we've always loved. We had no idea what would come from that decision. We certainly didn't know a 191-inch buck we'd never seen before would suddenly walk into our lives. But that's part of what we love about hunting. Some of the best memories aren't planned. Sometimes they require setting the alarm, loading the truck and leaving Minnesota at 4:00 AM because you know you might only get one chance. This was one of those chances. And it's a Kansas hunt we'll never forget.
Stay Driven,
Pat & Nicole
