With the archery season winding down in late December, I always get the itch to start calling coyotes. Just before Christmas last year, my neighbor and I went out calling one evening. As soon as I started calling, a big mule deer buck appeared at about 70 yards away. He didn’t act nervous at all; he just walked up the hill and bedded back down again. For the next ten or fifteen minutes, I called some more, but I don’t think I would have seen a coyote if one had come. This was one of the best bucks I had ever seen. At that time I guessed he had about a 180s frame with awesome mass. His right horn had seven points with an unmistakable eight-inch coat hanger kicker off the back split. The left horn had only four points. He didn’t have a front split at that time. His main beam was palmated out about the size of the palm of a hand. He looked as healthy as any post-rut buck I’ve ever seen. I felt that if this buck could make it until next season, he would be a true monster. As we got up to go, he just stood up, stretched and trotted around the hill as if he knew he was in no immediate danger.

A week later, another friend and I were back calling in that same area, and we spotted him again. He was probably a half mile away. There was no mistaking that mass. After that day, we started calling him “Kong”.

I spent the next three months looking for him to give me a better chance to find his shed antlers, with no luck. I found several sheds in April but not the ones I wanted. After several trips glassing in late summer and early fall without any sightings, I was starting to get real discouraged, so I decided to start hunting some whitetail in the same area. I’ve always been a real whitetail nut, and I can think of only two other mule deer I’ve put any effort into at all. They just don’t excite me until they get huge.

Around the first of October, I started to focus on a 150’s whitetail. On the 15th of October I was telling a friend about a 160 6×5 muley I was seeing almost every time I went to my tree stand. He asked if I’d mind if he went after him, and I told him to “go get him”. That night when I got home, he called me and said “If you’re passing that buck up, your nuts!” He told me that the muley buck he saw there was the thickest-horned buck he’d ever seen. He had some video of him, and I said that I’d be there in five minutes. The video was a little fuzzy, but I decided it had to be my long lost friend.

After a sleepless night and world record pace on my route at work, I got there around 2:00 pm. After glassing for three hours, I spotted two bucks bedded in a small depression about two miles away. I couldn’t tell at that distance if one was Kong; I just knew they were big. I was uneasy about trying to get any closer to get a better look because of their vantage point. I decided to go all the way around them and make the best stalk I could make, and if it was him, then great. If it wasn’t, well then just chalk it up to good practice. When I got about 200 yards, I sat down for a few minutes and took off my boots and gathered myself. Something inside of me knew he was there.

The next fifteen minutes were interesting to say the least. The only place I could get a shot from called for a real close encounter. The last twenty feet seemed to take an eternity because of some gravel I had to go over. When I finally peeked over the crest of the hill, there he was, less than ten yards. He was lying there looking straight away. The wind had been perfect, but at that second, the wind must have swirled a little, because he started to get nervous. I knew he smelled me but acted confused as to where I was. I drew my bow as he dropped out of sight. At 20 yards, the other buck walked out and Kong trotted past him, started up the opposite bank, and stopped quartering away. At about 35 yards I shot, and he jumped ahead. I saw my arrow hit in the dirt in the hill above him. At that point, I was sick. I thought I had shot high. I ran over there so I could watch where they were going. When I got to the top of the hill, they were just trotting out across the prairie. Then, to my side, I noticed my arrow shining in the sun. It was covered in blood. The deer were still in sight, so I sat down to steady my binoculars. They probably went a half mile when Kong started to leg behind the other buck and bedded down. He was having a hard time keeping his head up, so I decided to try another stalk. When I got into position for a second shot, the wind was really picking up. It blew my arrow to the left, hitting him through the hams. He ran over the hill and bedded again. I tried to get close again, but it got too dark. I had to leave the buck there. I decided to go home and give him some time. I ended up pacing the floor the whole time I was there and was worried the coyotes would get him. After two hours, my cousin, a friend of mine, and I went back out after him. It was a huge relief to find him there. My first shot had knicked his femoral artery. I guess sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. His official Pope and Young Score is 197 4/8, which is currently the largest non-typical archery mule deer registered in South Dakota.

Lance Verhulst