Long days, short nights, soaring temperatures and roaring axis bucks are indicative of a Texas Hill Country summer, but not necessarily on most people’s summer vacation radar. For Brian Knight, a Florida resident and tarpon fishing guide, his love for hunting brought him to the Lone Star State as soon as the busy season for the silver king tapered down.
Knight’s love for hunting led him to Texas, and this year he was chasing freerange rutting axis bucks with Texas Hunting Resources. Little did he know the magical concoction of timely rains and Mother Nature’s good fortune resulted in one of the best axis seasons on record for the region.
The first afternoon of Knight’s four-day hunt was designed to be more of a scouting session and quickly disclosed to the hunting party what was in store for the week.
“I was completely amazed at the sheer quantity of animals on the landscape, both axis and whitetails,” Knight said.
In the first few hours of the hunt, Knight and his guide, Ky McNett, estimated they saw nearly 30 different bucks. One buck though was at the top of the list.
Knight learned of a buck the landowner had seen, saying it was the biggest axis deer he had ever seen, and Knight wanted to see it in person. The landowner said the hunters would recognize the buck considering it had an exceptionally long extra point near the top of his left main beam.
While on foot after taking a closer look at a group of deer that first afternoon, Knight described an animal catching his eye during their march down an old caliche road back to the hunting rig.
“I noticed something skirting away from us about 150 yards off the road,” he said. “At first, I really wasn’t sure what I was looking at. It was bigger than anything I had ever seen, in life or on TV.” “That’s him! That’s the buck!” McNett exclaimed.
After recognizing the buck, the hunter and guide gave chase. They pursued the buck to a brush thicket, but with fading light and the buck having calmed since their initial sighting, the two decided to leave him for the morning.
That next morning they made their way to the zone where they left the big buck. As daylight broke, a big-bodied, heavy-horned buck became visible in a small meadow across from the hunters, about 300 yards away. The initial excitement was curtailed when they realized it wasn’t “the kicker buck.” Regardless, this buck was big enough the hunters decided he warranted a closer look and slipped within 150 yards. Upon further inspection, the buck’s antler was broken from fighting, and got a pass.
From their new location, Knight and McNett scanned for more deer but only tuned up one other: A different axis buck on the edge of the same meadow, but slightly obstructed by the brush line. After a few minutes the new buck revealed himself as none other than the buck from the evening prior. One broadside shot at 137 yards standing and off shooting sticks from Knight’s Bergara HMR Carbon in 7 PRC and the deed was done.
“As soon as the buck hit the ground Ky’s excitement shot through the roof,” Knight said. “Being a guide myself and watching Ky get as excited as he was, I knew we had just done something really special.”
Knight’s buck measured 36 inches on his typical side and 34 on his nontypical side, with his tell-tale 14-inch extra point protruding off the side of his left main beam. The landowner did get to see the buck in person, and the group agreed to have a replica shoulder mount made to display at the ranch and keep “the kicker buck’s” legacy alive.
