Persistence Pays Off with 164-Inch 11-Point Bow Kill

Ricky Young and his son, Kayden, were hunting a new farm in Kentucky. They’d been there a few times last year, but this was their first full season on the place. In early July, trail camera photos revealed a big typical 11-pointer was living in the area, too. The father-son team began putting out minerals and Ultimate Whitetail feed starting in August, and making a plan to hunt the buck during the September opener.

Young had been watching the big buck on trail camera all summer. Image by Ricky Young

Kayden was after a different buck on a different farm, but that deer had gone absent for several days as season neared. Ricky encouraged Kayden to hunt the buck on the new farm. After studying trail camera photos, they set up a ground blind an area that they thought would offer a good shot at the deer.

But the buck didn’t follow the script. On opening day, Ricky and Kayden watched as the big deer did exactly opposite of his usual pattern. He appeared some 200 yards out in the field at last light. Ricky and Kayden had to walk a big loop around to get back to their truck without spooking the buck out of the field.

After that first evening, the big deer seemed to disappear. While they waited for him to return, Ricky and Kayden shifted their focus to a different buck, the second deer on their hit list. Kayden ended up connecting on that deer the very next day.

After his son tagged a nice 142” buck, Ricky went back to chasing the big deer he had been after. Image by Ricky Young

With his son’s tag punched, it was up to Ricky to again go after the big typical. He hunted the next Thursday without seeing the buck. On the following Sunday, he returned to the blind by himself. He decided to walk into the blind from a different direction, skirting around a huge pond from where they had previously approached the blind.

Around 6:15, a few does and small bucks started coming down through a gulley in the woods alongside the blind, and they eventually ambled out in front of it. A few minutes later, Ricky looked up to see the big buck, already close and getting closer.

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Ricky watched the deer work his way into range, willing himself to calm down so that he could make a good shot. When the buck stopped, nearly broadside but slightly quartering to at just 25 yards, Ricky drew his bow and released the arrow, watching his lighted nock disappear into the buck’s shoulder.

The big buck spun and quickly disappeared from sight but seconds later it reappeared 80 yards away, with the arrow still in him. Ricky watched as the big buck went over the hillside and out of view.

While all of this was going on, Kayden had been glued to the cell camera photos on his phone. He watched the big buck walk out in front of the blind, then the next photo that came through was his dad searching for a blood trail a short time later. “When I saw that, I came unglued,” Kayden said.

While trail cameras had helped pattern the buck, it seemed the deer knew each time the hunters were in the blind and would alter his pattern to avoid them. Image by Ricky Young

Ricky decided to back out and give the buck some time. He called Kayden to discuss the shot, then called another buddy, Jason Davis. The three hunters gave the buck two hours and then went back in. There was no blood. Ricky was devastated. “To watch that arrow hit where I thought it hit and to not find any blood was gut wrenching,” he said.

The three continued to search in the direction the buck had gone, eventually seeing the lighted nock on the ground, leading them to the arrow. It had lung and liver blood along with flesh. They decided to back out and call On Track K9 and Drone Recovery, and tracker Allen Bullman arrived in the wee hours of the morning. He started the search by flying his drone, looking for a heat signature that might lead them to the deer. It didn’t turn up much at first but after widening circles, Allen could see a deer laying under a blow down. It was Ricky’s buck.

With almost no blood trail, Ricky called in a drone search service to locate the deer and was finally able to put his hands on his best whitetail yet. Image by Ricky Young

When they walked up to the buck, Ricky couldn’t believe it. The big 6x5 featured 24” main beams and scored a whopping 163 1/8 inches. When they went back in the next day to pick up Ricky’s arrow, they finally discovered some blood. The big buck had jumped a fence and went back to his bedding area, standing next to a tree while they searched the area before entering the thicket and laying down. Where he’d stood was the only blood they found.

It didn’t take long for Ricky and Kayden to figure out what had happened on the earlier hunts. The big buck was bedding right next to the trail they were using to enter the blind. As soon as they would start down the trail, the buck would escape out the back side. By entering the area from the opposite direction, Ricky had finally fooled the buck.

Ricky finished with this. “I give all the credit to my wife, Sharla, and son. My wife takes care of things at the house so that I can get out here and do what I love. I’m even prouder of Kayden’s buck that ended up scoring 142 than I am of mine. It has been a special season.”

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