They called the heavy-antlered 14-point buck “Moose.” And the Iwashige family had been after the oversized Kansas whitetail since the youth season opened in September.
“We had been getting trail camera photos of some bucks at one spot, then a new, big buck showed up, and he became our target,” Grant Iwashige tells Outdoor Life. “My 10-year-old son, Wyatt, had already taken a buck in the youth deer season. So, my 7-year-old son, Ryker, was gonna try for Moose with a crossbow.”
Photo courtesy Grant Iwashige
On Nov. 9, Grant and his two sons were hunting from a ground blind on a friend’s 240-acre farm northwest of Wichita. They’d gotten trail cam photos of Moose that day and knew they were in the right spot.
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“We had gotten two trail cam photos, one in the [morning], and the other during the afternoon,” Grant says. “We knew Moose was within 20 yards of the blind when we got into it that Saturday afternoon.”
Eventually, the three hunters saw Moose walk away just 10 yards from them. The buck was upwind, and Grant wanted it to notice the buck decoy they had out in front of the blind, so he rattled.
Photo courtesy Grant Iwashige
“Moose stopped, listened, pinned his tail between his legs, and bolted away,” says Grant. But he believed the buck would come back, and 30 minutes later, he did.
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“He came stomping back out front of our blind, giving the decoy the hairy eyeball,” Grant continues. “I told Ryker to pick a spot on the buck when he stopped in an open shooting lane. Then I grunted to stop Moose, and Ryker aimed and pulled the trigger. The whole blind started shaking when Ryker shot and whacked Moose at 43 yards.”
Photo courtesy Grant Iwashige
The arrow passed completely through Moose, and the 125-grain serrated broadhead did quick work on the oversized buck. Moose ran just 100 yards and the Iwashiges watched the deer fall.
Grant phoned his wife Clarissa, who soon arrived with their youngest son Callahan, 4. The entire family followed the blood trail to claim Moose, and happily celebrated Ryker’s first ever deer. After using harnesses to drag the buck through the mud, they loaded Moose up and drove to a skinning shed.
Photo courtesy Grant Iwashige
They didn’t weigh the buck, but photos show that it was a big-bodied deer. The buck’s rack is tall, wide, and heavy, with 14 scorable points and one irregular point growing off the left main beam. With just over an 18-inch spread, Grant gave the rack an unofficial green score of 193 5/8 inches.
“It’s the biggest deer I’ve ever seen,” says Ryker. “Everyone who sees it says it’s huge.”