In the world of second lightning strikes, it might happen a little more frequently among deer hunters who live and play in Kansas. If you shoot one good one, chances are pretty good you'll get another.
Lightning WILL strike the same spot twice, as they say.
David Wagler won't argue. Not only did he arrow a gorgeous centerfold-caliber buck in 2013, but he also tagged one in 2015. Both deer will be featured in Rack magazine early next year. (Incidentally, the 160-inch buck he shot in 2014 was no slouch either.)
"I never thought I'd see another buck as big as the one I shot in 2013," David told John E. Phillips, who's writing his stories. But it happened; he got the bookend.
There's only a quarter-inch difference in the two whitetails' BTR scores.
"My heart was broken when the landowner sold the 60-acre tract where I took my 2013 buck. However, my brother, Lester, and I still had about 440 acres of that same farm left to hunt. It had some 100-yard-wide CRP, divided by timberland," he said.
Because he didn't retrieve any trail cam photos of decent bucks from the 440, David decided to hunt behind his own home in 2015. He has 35, and his neighbor has 200 acres there.
On Nov. 25, a south wind was blowing fairly hard, and the temperature was 60 degrees. The weatherman had predicted a late afternoon or a nighttime storm.
David arrived at his field-side stand at 4 p.m., hoping to catch deer afoot before the storm. An hour into his vigil, he looked over his shoulder and spotted a huge buck at 50 yards.
Minutes later, he double-lunged the giant whitetail.
"I called Lester afterward and said, 'Will you come and help me retrieve my buck?' Lester asked, 'How big is it?' I replied, 'I don't think its tines are very long; it's probably in the 140 class,'" David answered.
He was wrong because he didn't notice the myriad sticker points between the burrs and brow tines. The deer's composite score is 192 1/8 inches - 2/8 inch bigger than his 2013 buck.
— Read Recent Blog! Boy's Call Ends with Trophy for Dad: Brody Young / BTR Composite Score: 208 7/8