LAST UPDATED: February 18th, 2020
Another giant Kansas buck has fallen and appears to be finding its place at the top among the records for the biggest bucks taken by a bowhunter in the state. Kansas bowhunter, Brian Butcher, 38, killed the whitetail buck in Chase County last October. Butcher knew he had killed a really unique buck, but didn’t realized just how good of a deer it was until the buck’s rack was measured by the Boone and Crockett Club on Friday, Jan. 3. Butcher’s whitetail earned an unofficial net non-typical score of 321 3/8 inches.
The Brian Butcher buck was on display at the 2020 ATA show in Indianapolis, IN.
If accepted and verified by the Boone and Crockett Club, the deer Butcher harvested would rank fourth in the world for non-typical whitetail deer, and will be the largest non-typical whitetail ever taken in the state of Kansas, knocking off the current state record for a non-typical whitetail harvested with archery equipment by 57 2/8 inches.
Butcher with the beast of a buck killed in Kansas. (Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism)
Butcher made the shot when the buck came by his treestand at 25 yards. The shot was good and the buck only went 50 yards before going down.
“When I first saw it, I thought it had some branches or grass tangled up in its antlers,” said Butcher. “But when I looked at him with binoculars, I realized it was all antlers.”
It’s a mess of antlers, but it stacks up really well in the best of the best in non-typical antlers. (Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism)
The current Kansas state record firearm non-typical whitetail was taken in 1987 by Joseph Waters in Shawnee County and scored 280 4/8 inches. The current Kansas state record archery non-typical whitetail was shot by Dale Larson in 1998 in Pottawatomie County and scored 264 1/8 inches.
