If you ask Terry Kyle's wife, Jennifer, about her husband she'll tell you he's a pretty busy guy. His calendar has three seasons: snowmobile drag racing on grass, deer hunting and bowling. Terry, 58, has been hunting since he was 14 and is the father of three grown children and five grandchildren living in different parts of the country, who account for the remainder of his year.
Terry found enough free time this summer to get a jump on this year's archery season, setting a Wildview trail camera up on his father-in-law's farm. Terry knew, if Mother Nature was kind, he would see a magnum typical whitetail that had eluded him a number of times last season. The last time he saw the buck was near the end of the year and Terry was hoping he'd made it through the winter.
The trail cam photos showed the buck was definitely still hanging around the farm and had put on a lot of mass since he'd been spotted last, along with several new points. Last year the buck was a 12-pointer with forked G-2's. This year he was sporting 17 scoreable points and a 21-inch inside spread and a lot more body mass.
The buck had been spotted on the neighbor's property in July and August with a full rack of velvet. Terry's neighbor shared the trail cam photos with him, both hunters knowing the buck could easily roam between the farms and both hoping for a shot.
The terrain on the retired farm consists of gentle rolling hills with ancient oak trees and various hardwoods. Having not been farmed, the fields had grown over with scrub brush and thorn bushes; the remainder of the open ground filled with lush grass. There was a homemade treestand and ladder from years past still attached to a large oak tree in a piece of brush separate from the main tree line. Terry didn't want to disrupt the area or change its appearance with a new stand and risk warding the buck away.
When he felt the buck would most likely be bedded, Terry worked to sturdy up the treestand and ladder so it would be safe to use when the season opened. The natural tangle of the oak tree provided enough cover to help conceal him with the trunk being large enough to provide cover from the rear.
The Wisconsin archery season had been open for a couple of weeks before the wind became favorable for Terry to use the stand and he didn't want to miss his first opportunity at the buck. He was concerned the buck would start travelling to neighboring properties as the days got shorter and the autumn temperatures began to drop. The temperature on the evening he mounted the ramshackle stand was an unseasonably warm 60 degrees and the buck didn't make an appearance during hunting hours so he changed out the card in his trail cam on his way out of the woods. Later that evening, the photos showed that the buck was indeed hanging around his treestand. He knew he was in the right place; he just needed to be there at the right time
The wind again turned in Terry's favor on October 20 and he headed to the stand after work. Having been shucked by the buck the year before, Terry took no chances when it came to scent control using a generous amount of Dead Down Wind before entering the field and took the long route to his stand, putting the least scent on the buck's most likely path.
Terry was in his stand at around 4:45 p.m. and had settled in when the wind began to pick up and shift. He wasn't happy about the direction the evening was going, but decided to wait a little longer to see if nightfall brought any activity.
With about a hour of shooting time left, Terry decided the wind had picked up too much and the evening was a bust. As a last ditch effort, he took his Madd grunt call and gave it a couple of stern blasts before clicking his rattling antlers a few times followed by a solid clash to simulate sparring. Terry waited about twenty minutes and decided to he was going to get down and call it a night. He had just tied a rope on his bow when he noticed movement at the edge of the woods. Terry could see it was a large-bodied deer, but couldn't get a clear look at it's rack. He quickly untied his bow and put an arrow on the rest just before the buck cleared the tree line.
Terry had just put his release on his string when he saw the buck make a turn and start walking in his direction. He could see the buck had a large rack but couldn't see much else yet. The buck was walking in the tall grass and thorns that had fingers leading to different areas of the field. Terry was in perfect position to shoot when the buck turned and revealed himself. There was no doubt in is mind that he'd be taking a shot when it presented itself.
The buck was walking toward the stand and in a few more yards he would be down wind. Terry stopped him with a soft grunt at 23 yards and released the arrow from his Bow Tec Bow sending a Rage Broadhead behind the buck's shoulder. He bolted over a small rise and out of Terry's view. After walking to his truck and calling a friend to help him track the deer, the pair returned to the farm after about an hour and easily picked up the trail. The deer had traveled roughly 50 yards before falling and then appeared to have gotten up and tried to make it up a small hill before falling and coming to rest in the tall brush at the base of a large tree. When Terry first saw his trophy in the light he knew it was the monster buck he had been sharing pictures of with his neighbor earlier this summer. Larry helped Terry get his trophy out of the woods and they returned to the house to show it to his wife and some friends. Because of a camera problem, they lost all the pictures of the trophy from the field and didn't realize it until they had returned from the meat processor the following day with only the head.
Terry asked Boone and Crockett Club scorer, Steve Ashley, to give them an approximate green score on his buck, wanting to be as honest as possible, since early green score estimates were already attracting some attention.
Here is the score Steve provided: 17 score able points
21" Inside Spread
9 ½" G1's
24" Main Beams
5"+ Circumcises
8 Non-typical points adding 20" to the score 195"+ Gross Green Score
Terry's buck had a dressed weight of 225 Pounds Jeff Kaczsmarski with J&J Taxidermy of Deer Park, Wisconsin will be doing the mount for Terry's buck. It looks like Terry will be ready for bowling season a little early this year.
