Published: October 06, 2007 06:16 pm      

Local archer harvests huge, non-typical buck

Kyle Wilkins had been practicing a 70-yard shot with his bow for several months in anticipation of deer season, which opened state wide Oct. 1st.

Thursday evening all the hours of practice paid huge dividends as the Krebs resident bagged a beautiful non-typical buck with a 67-yard shot.

The buck has a monstrous 45-point rack and weighed 147 pounds field dressed.

“This is definitely the biggest deer that I have ever killed,” Wilkins said.

Evening was approaching when Wilkins and his brother Brandon decided to go hunting.

The brothers moved cautiously toward their tree stands and spooked a really nice 10-point buck on the way.

Both figured the day was a total loss.

In an effort to salvage the evening, they decided not to go to their stands, but instead still-hunt a clearing that bordered heavy wooded cover.

Brandon was in the lead and saw the huge buck first. Knowing it was too long a shot for him to make, he turned and motioned his brother forward.

“It was getting late, darkness was approaching fast when I moved up to where my brother was. I could see the buck and did a quick range check. It was 67-yards,” Kyle said. “I could tell it was a nice buck, maybe a 10-point. I aimed a little above my 60-yard pin, and let my arrow fly.

“I waited a few minutes and when I walked up, I could see my arrow.”

Thinking he had missed at first, Wilkins then noticed that the arrow was covered with blood.

“When I saw the blood trail, I immediately backed off and waited an hour before going to find him,” Wilkins added.

The deer had traveled 80 yards.

“It was probably a good thing that I didn’t see quite how many points the buck had. If I had known he was this big, I bet I wouldn’t have been able to make this shot. My adrenaline would have been too high.

“When I checked him, the station said this deer could be in top five bucks taken in the state with archery equipment,” Wilkins said. “I sure hope he measures out that big.”

There is a mandatory 60 days drying time before he can have the rack officially scored.

Wilkins graduated from McAlester High School last year, where he was a stand out baseball player.

He is currently enrolled at Eastern Oklahoma State College and is majoring in forestry.

“This is my life, I love hunting. I couldn’t wait for the season to open,” said Wilkins.

Contact Glen Eller at geller@mcalesternews.com