The deer Kyle had been watching for 4 years had now grown up to be a trophy buck. He and his hunting buddies called the big buck “Stumps” and he showed up last summer again on a trail camera in July. With a single picture, Kyle Burch’s deer season’s excitement immediately started. Kyle had competed a couple years earlier but did not place. Kyle knew this deer was special and couldn’t believe the mass the big buck had put on from the previous year. Kyle’s been hunting whitetail since he was in the 7 th grade. His dad had killed a giant buck year’s earlier and after seeing that deer on the wall for years, Kyle’s passion was intensified and couldn’t wait to spend time in the stand with his dad.
He got his first bow for Christmas when he was 15 years old and has now put over 40 years of hunting behind him. His love for bowhunting is a pure addiction. Kyle joins the other 11 million hunters every fall that head to the fields to challenge their skills in the hopes of knocking down a big buck. Stumps continued to show up on cameras throughout the summer and into the fall. Kyle felt he had a good chance at getting in front of the unique buck. This buck had mass, was tall, a drop, and massive bases. From his research, he knew where the buck was bedding down and knew the area he was feeding in. Stumps was living on the property, and Kyle didn’t want to put any negative pressure on him to move onto neighboring property.
Kyle waited for the perfect southeast wind that would give him the advantage. Stand location was perfect for the conditions. Kyle pulled up to the farm on Halloween morning with high hopes. He pulled out his Quietkat electric bike and started down the road that led into the trail to his stand. Kyle is huge fan of his bike, “Deer don’t ever spook when I’m going into my stand. They just watch me drive right by. I think it’s one of the biggest advantages because I don’t get sweaty on the walk in and it doesn’t leave a scent trail. I can get in fast and quiet. I had to cross the trail the Stumps was using in order to get into the stand.” He road all the way to his stand and put a camo covering with a few sticks laying over it. With a lot of hunters moving away from rotten scent due to all their negative experiences with the aroma of ammonia, Kyle is just the opposite. He is a huge fan of Heatwave’s Warm Wick. As he was riding into the stand that day, he hung the thermal attractant, which was a Doe-N-Heat Warm Wick, on a tree branch. Kyle tries to put them out about 30 yards from the stand. Heatwave’s fresh urine and unique wick that warms to the same temperature of deer for 5 hours. By creating a warm urine aroma, it tells the bucks that the hot doe is close.
His strategy with this placement was to attempt to draw the monster buck out of the deep cover and into the open where he thought he could get a good shot. As the hunt played out, it was around 9:45 am and sure enough everything had worked out just as Kyle hoped it would. He picked up the giant buck, moving through the thick timber and was walking upwind when he caught a nose full of the Warm Wick. Stump’s head spun around on a quick dime and stopped in his tracks. Staring right up at the tree where Kyle had hung the attractant, Stumps stood quartering back at 32 yards. With a slight opening for a shot, Kyle pulled back his bow and let an arrow fly. He knew he hit the giant but could not tell how good. The trophy buck ran off through a clearing and then back into the heavy timber. Kyle waited 45 minutes and got out of the stand to track it. There was a good blood trail, and he followed it for around 120 yards. He could see where the buck had laid down and then the blood disappeared. Versus going any further and potentially spooking the giant off of the property, he decided to back out and try to get some recovery help.
His first call was to Don Higgins, who had been a land management consultant on the property, to find out if he knew someone with a thermal drone. Don had coached Kyle on how to grow giant bucks on this property for the past 3 years. Don advised Kyle to get in touch with Jack Huston of Missouri Drone Deer Recovery. Jack immediately picked up the call but advised Kyle that he already had 3 other deer that day that he was already obligated to help recover. He would get to the farm, but it probably wouldn’t be until late evening. Jack met Kyle at the farm at around 9:30 pm after he finished the other recoveries. He unloaded his thermal drone and flew the drone to where the buck was last spotted. Within 10 seconds he said, “There is your deer!”. Kyle couldn’t believe it.
Stumps wasn’t 20 yards from where Kyle last saw it bed down. Drone recovery is absolutely the technology of the future. Not just for deer recovery, but also for heard management. Jack combines state-of-the-art mapping software with the drone imaging so that hunters can survey thousands of acres a day. The big buck that was caught on camera in July was now tagged on October 31st in the same field. It’s a “deer of a lifetime” as most hunters would say with an official score slightly over 206”. All hunters dream of these moments but very few get to experience a hunt like Kyle had. A 200-inch deer in today’s woods is a rarity and most hunters never see a deer that size during their entire hunting years. Drone technology played its coarse during the recovery and ultimately assisted Klye in becoming the 2025 World Champion. The Whitetail World Championship is an “everyday joe” bowhunting competition. It averages between 200-300 deer hunters annually that apply from all over the United States. Over $40,000 in cash and several thousand in prizes have been given away in the last couple of years. Whitetail World’s goal is to grow the competition to a $100,000 Cash Prize.
This year marks the 9 th year for the competition. Bowhunters can find out more about the competition at www.whitetailworldchampionship.com or your local archery shop.
