Mike Heard has hunted and fished all around the country with great success, but a recent Kansas hunting trip turned out to be very memorable as he “tried” to take a Kansas monster sized buck. People that pursue the wily whitetail buck know that Kansas is well known for world class bucks that have massive racks and huge bodies. And the accomplished hunter had his sights set on one of those monster bucks. Little did he know what was in store for him, however?

Heard and friend, Mike Rosensweigh, hunted near Hartner, Kansas along with guide Rod Blunk. Blunk runs cattle on his farm and has become so familiar with the territory and deer that he had even named most of the bucks that he routinely saw during his daily activities. Rosensweigh didn’t take long to find a buck he wanted and he harvested a nice buck on the second day of the hunt.



Elusive buck



Mike Heard had seen “Mega wide” and wanted to get a shot at him. However, that monster buck was always across the road on the next property, or just out of range. If Heard hunted where they had seen the deer one day, he wouldn’t show. Every time they changed locations it seemed as if “Mega wide” knew their plans and vacated the territory.

While he continued to pursue old “Mega wide” and other trophy bucks, he did pass on a few, one a nice deer that had massive antlers, with extremely long brow tines, but not much spread. This deer was nicknamed Funky Brow Tine by Blunk.

On the seventh day of the hunt Heard and Blunk traveled quite a bit while trying to spot a shooter size buck. With snow covering the ground along with 40 mph winds, the conditions were tough at best and deteriorating by the minute.

With the end of the hunt nearing, Heard decided to hunt the edge of a canyon in hopes of catching a glimpse of Mega wide in the snow. And once again he wasn’t disappointed, as old Mega wide showed up, but there was just one problem, he was 500 yards away, much too far for an accurate ethical shot. Strangely, Heard had a feeling to turn around and take a look in the other direction just as old Funky Brow tine showed back up.



Decision time



As the veteran hunter studied the deer he quickly took everything into consideration as he decided whether to take the shot or not. And finally, the massive bases and ten inch brow tines decided it for him. As Heard put the crosshairs on the deer and squeezed off a shot, the deer collapsed in a heap. The excited, yet relieved, hunter called up his host and told him about the buck that he had shot across the canyon.

Once the hunters retrieved the deer they picked up Heard and things got really crazy. “You aren’t going to believe what you shot,” they told him. As he attempted to respond they cut him off again. “No, you don’t understand, you don’t know what you shot. It’s a doe!” Heard could hardly believe what they told him, until he saw firsthand for himself. A quick review of the buck, or deer, revealed that it had no visible male parts. By the looks of the antlers, one would have thought that this was a trophy buck.

And yet the deer was a great deer, even if it turned out to be a doe! The deer’s antlers sported 11 points and had eight inch bases, 10 inch brow tines, 19” main beams and weighed 190 pounds. That’s a pretty good set of antlers for a buck, but a doe, that’s really something else! While Heard and most folks go to Kansas to hunt world class bucks, Heard had instead harvested a truly world class doe!