The date was November 12, 2016 in Kansas, day number 11 of my two week long Illinois and Kansas trip. I had just harvested a 183″ gross p&y on Nov 7 a few days before on my lease in Illinois, grinding it out for 5 days in a HAWK KickBack and a Helium XL. So me and my camera guy Kyle we’re still on cloud-9.
We were hunting with my good friend Travis Lehman (Cedar Ridge Outfitters ). Travis and some of his previous hunters had located a true giant deer that they nick named Titus! Titus had proven to be a very unpredictable buck thus far and had not given any one a shot opportunity. After a discussion Travis showed me the farm that Titus frequently traveled and was nice enough to let me scout and hunt it a few days.
After getting my Two different sets of HAWK Heliums hung in what we felt was his main travel corridor it was time to hunt. We had to play the wind and access to the stand was key in not tipping Titus off to our new set ups. The very first morning on the new farm we caught Titus slipping back to his bedding area and checking for trails. He wasn’t real responsive to grunts so I backed off and had to watch him walk away, I did not want to over call and spook him. We sat out the whole morning but he never showed back up. We then had to get down at noon and move the sets for the next morning wind switch. The ease of hanging the Hawk stands makes this an easy and quiet task.
We got as close to the trail we felt he would use and got back in super early the next morning under the sound cover of a freight train. It was the coldest morning of the year so far and everything was frosted over. It just felt right! After a hour of daylight I knew we didn’t have much time and I was getting homesick and had planned to leave the next day.
Knowing we were close to his bedding area I decided I would just tickle my rattle bag like two bucks testing each other in Titus’s core! The idea was to just plain upset him not try to heavy rattle and spook him. It wasn’t three minutes later Titus was strolling right down through the timber with frost all over his back heading straight to me. The rest is history!!! 15 yard shot after an epic stare down at full draw and the 215″ 6.5 yr old monarchs reign had come to an end. It was truly a day to remember forever, I was truly blessed! You can watch it all for yourself in summer 2017 on our web show Whitetail Edge – YouTube and Carbon tv.
Score: Gross 215″
Age: 6.5
Date: Novemeber 12, 2016
Location: Kansas
Treestand Model: HAWK Helium XL Hang-On
Other Hawk Gear: 20′ Traction Stick, Xtendible Bow Arm
