Kansas whitetail monsters: Here are the Top 10 record typical bucks in the state
The Eagle has compiled a list of the Top 10 typical whitetail bucks ever killed in Kansas. The list includes the Top 2 typical deer killed in the U.S. since 2007.
Deer racks are considered typical or non-typical, depending on whether they are symmetrical or resemble a plate of spaghetti.
Here is the list:
No. 1
Albert J. Daniels, 67, of Ottawa would not have gone down in the record books if not for his son’s effort 20-plus years later to find the owner of the buck mount. The buck is around No. 20 typical whitetail shot in the U.S., according to Boone and Crockett Club. (The buck has not yet been submitted to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to be included in the state record books.)
Daniels was hunting in overgrown thicket on private land, sitting on a large limb of a cedar tree he had climbed into. He had a rule of always holding his bow, never putting it down, and that’s the only reason he says he even got a shot off.
Score: 200 inches
Weapon: Compound bow
Date: October 1995
Approx. time: Evening hunt
Location: Franklin County
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No. 2
Dennis P. Finger, 81, of Kearneysville, West Virginia, has held the Kansas state record for typical whitetail buck for 50 years but will likely be unseated by the Daniels buck if it is submitted to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks. The antlers on his buck had a larger “gross” score than Daniels’ buck by nearly 2 inches (214 2/8 for Finger to 212 3/8 for Daniels) but his net score, which includes deductions for lack of symmetry and additional kickers on some times, is lower than Daniels’. Finger shot his record buck, which he said was aged at 3 1/2 years old by state biologists, on private ground in Nemaha County while hunting with a friend.
Score: 198 2/8
Weapon: .25-06 caliber rifle
Date: November 1974
Approx. time: Afternoon
Location: Nemaha County
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Tied No. 3
Hunter: William Mikijanis of McLouth
Score: 194 7/8
Weapon: Gun
Date: 1985
Location: Leavenworth County
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Tied No. 3
Brad Henry’s first archery buck ended up being a dandy. Based on the preliminary measurement at the time, it was thought the buck could be the new state record, although it didn’t end up taking the top spot.
Henry, who was hunting with friends on one of their family’s 500 acres in Wabaunsee County, liked to use a climbing stand and set up next to fresh buck sign. He set up near the edge of a cornfield, near big scrapes and rubs and a well-beaten trail, and grunted and rattled before the buck appeared about 100 yards away out in the field. The deer came in fast and gave him a 15 yard shot. He and a friend found it that night about 400 yards away.
Score: 193 7/8
Weapon: Bow
Date: Nov. 19, 2001
Approx. time: Evening hunt
Location: Private land in Wabaunsee County
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Tied No. 5
Keith Manca’s buck was the largest typical killed by a hunter in the U.S. during the 2007 season. The second-largest was also killed in Kansas.
The Connecticut man, who hunts with his brother on private land in southern Kansas, hung a stand in the middle of two fingers of “small-growth cottonwoods” that extended out into a conservation reserve program field, North American Whitetail magazine reported.
He let out a short grunt when the buck was about 100 yards away in the tall CRP to coax him into his stand before the buck turned sideways and gave him a 15 yard shot, the magazine reported.
Score: 193 2/8
Weapon: Compound bow
Date: Nov. 7 (according to North American Whitetail) 2007
Approx. time: Morning
Location: Harper County
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Tied No. 5
Dr. Stephen Weilert, a chiropractor in Humboldt, shot the buck on Nov. 17, 1994, but didn’t have it scored until January 1996. Weilert, who had his eyes set on different buck that year, set up in his stand in a cedar tree on a ridge. The cedar, he previously told The Eagle, helped cover his scent and sheltered him when the winds were strong.
The buck was approaching the top of the ridge when it stopped. Weilert grunted. The buck continued his way until stopping again about 30 yards out. The buck started to turn when Weilert grunted two more times, causing the buck to turn and head back toward Weilert’s stand. The buck, at between 12-15 yards, picked up the doe scent that Weilert put in the area to cover his scent and offered a broadside shot. Weilert was late for work, so he headed in, adjusted his patients, and then went back after lunch and found the deer.
Score: 193 2/8
Weapon: Compound bow
Date: Nov. 17, 1994
Location: Woodson County
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No. 7
David L’Ecuyer of northeast Kansas was hunting the afternoon of Dec. 3, 2016, the first Saturday of rifle season, with a friend on leased land when he took a 280-yard shot at the deer, according to an article in Buckmasters.
He missed, then his friend missed, before he connected on a second shot with his .30-06, the article says, adding that it was around 5:15 p.m.
“I don’t take shots that far unless I have to, and I had to,” he told Buckmasters.
They found the buck the next day in a grove of cedars after securing the neighbor’s blessing to search for the deer, the article says.
Score: 193 1/8
Weapon: .30-06
Date: Dec. 3, 2016
Approx. time: 5:15 p.m.
Location: Private land in Douglas County
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No. 8
William Fickling Sr., of Texas, shot a buck in Lyon County during the 2007 firearm season that ended up being the second-biggest non-typical killed that year in the U.S.
Score: 192
Date: 2007
Location: Lyon County
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No. 9
Hunter: Samuel L. Schuetz
Score: 191 6/8
Weapon: Gun
Date: 2006
Location: Brown County
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No. 10
Hunter: Michael A. Young
Score: 191 4/8
Weapon: Gun
Date: 1973
Location: Chautauqua County
The Top 10 are based both on Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks and the Boone and Crockett Club records.