Kansas Youth Hunter Downs 31-Point Buck with a .30-30

Ethan Smith loves to hunt, fish, run cross country, and hang out with his dad, Luke. That’s what the pair had in mind when they headed down to their farm back on September 10, too. It was hot, too hot to hunt, Luke said, but they planned a day of working around the farm and just hanging out together.

An unplanned hunt on a hot Kansas evening led to this youth hunter taking the buck of a lifetime. Image by Luke Niles

But it cooled off as evening approached and, since the Kansas youth season was in, Luke and Ethan decided to give it a go in one of the blinds situated on the property.

“We’re not serious trophy hunters,” Luke said. “We go for the fun of it and for the meat. A good 8-pointer and a few good naps and we are happy.” But just because they weren’t serious about antlers didn’t mean they weren’t aware that there was a monster buck in the area.

They, and all of the other surrounding hunters, had watched the deer grow over the past three years on trail camera. This year, the buck was a true giant, with serious mass and points in every direction.

Every hunter in the area knew about and had been after the local legend buck. Image by Luke Niles

While everyone had trail camera photos, no one had seen the big buck in daylight during hunting season. Every year, Ethan and Luke expected to hear that a neighbor had finally gotten the buck. But every summer, the deer showed back up on camera with an even more impressive rack.

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That afternoon, Ethan and Luke were tucked into an elevated blind they had put up for bowhunting. The cover was thick and any shot they got would be a close one. As the sun fell and the temperatures cooled, Ethan looked up to see a deer moving through the thick cover just 30 yards from the blind. When it passed through a small opening, he and his dad both realized it was the massive buck everyone had been chasing.

As the buck stopped just 24 yards from the blind, Ethan started to raise his Winchester .30-30 rifle. With all of his concentration on the deer, he accidentally bumped the metal blind frame with the barrel of the rifle.

The massive frame sported 31 scorable points. Image by Luke Niles

At the tiny metallic ting, both Ethan and Luke froze. The buck turned to look for the source of the sound. The hunters held their breath as they waited for the deer to look away. When the buck turned and started to walk away, Ethan finished raising his rifle, quickly took aim, and squeezed the trigger.

At the shot, the big buck bolted into cover, then everything got quiet. The hunters sat and stared at each other in disbelief at what had just transpired. After giving the buck some time, they climbed down and started to follow the blood trail.

It was a short track. The massive buck had only gone 60 yards before piling up. “I couldn’t believe it. The closer we got, the bigger the deer got, both his rack and his body. He was the biggest deer I had ever seen,” Ethan said.

Both Ethan and Luke said the buck was the biggest they had ever seen both in rack and in body size. Image by Luke Niles

They quickly got the buck loaded up and to the processor. Word soon spread and Ethan was contacted by Brad Forbus, an official measurer for Buckmasters. The buck was exceptional, with 31 scorable points, 50 inches of mass measurements and more than 101 inches of irregular growth. The final Buckmasters score was 268 3/8 inches, making it the new Kansas record in the BTR Centerfire Velvet Irregular category.

After talking with their taxidermist at Muddy River Taxidermy, Ethan decided that since the buck had already lost at least a third of its velvet, and since what remained was in pretty rough shape after crashing through the thick cover, they would go ahead and strip the remaining velvet so that the buck could also be scored for Boone and Crockett after the drying period.

Luke mentioned that Ethan turned 15 just a few days after taking his buck. We can’t think of a better birthday present.

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