March 06, 2023
By Cameron Coble
As long as the B&C entry score is accepted, Brian Langston’s 2022 Kansas muzzleloader buck will be the state’s new record typical by muzzleloader. Taken in Pawnee County on Sept. 23, 2022, the long-tined mainframe 6x5 is a true trophy.
“We knew about the buck in 2021,” Brian says. “And after studying trail camera photos, we figured he’d go somewhere around 170 as a clean 5x5 typical that year.”
Since Kansas is a legal bait state, Brian fed protein feed on his lease year-round, and he thinks it’s been helping. “I had placed a cell camera in the buck’s area during the summer of 2022,” says Brian. “But when I checked it, the batteries were dead.”
Brian did have pictures of a really good buck on the camera on June 20th. When late August arrived, Brian got a notification on his phone from his cell camera. It was the giant typical from the year before! The buck had put on some serious antler and had morphed into a giant.
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When Brian Langston saw this incredible typical on his trail camera, he knew he had to cancel his upcoming elk hunt and pursue the giant. Luckily for him, he bagged the buck on just his third sit of the season. “I had an elk hunt planned in New Mexico that I immediately cancelled,” says Brian. “I was going all-in after this buck.”
Brian is mostly a bowhunter but wanting to increase his odds of tagging the giant buck he opted to hunt Kansas’ early muzzleloader season. Not being familiar with muzzleloader hunting, he began asking friends what he should purchase. Finally, he settled on a CVA Paramount Pro .50 caliber.
The buck was beginning to be active in daylight hours, and Brian received daylight pictures of the deer on three separate occasions. The hunting was incredibly warm in Kansas with several days reaching 100 °F. Focusing his efforts on this deer only, Brian hunted a few key locations hoping they’d pay off. It wasn’t until the third time he hunted the deer that everything would come together.
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“My trail cams were showing him to be using an area I normally bowhunt,” Brian recalls. “I knew he was over in that area, so I felt I could get a crack at him.”
This enormous deer has a gross score of 213 5/8, making it a true trophy whitetail. Brian arrived at his stand around 4:00 p.m., riding his electric bike to be as cautious and quiet as possible. Around 7:15 Brian happened to look over to the east where the CRP is, and the buck was standing there 30 yards away. It was an easy shot, and Brian dropped the buck in its tracks. Knowing the buck was down, Brian called his son while still in the tree stand to tell him the good news.
“I didn’t even climb down until my son arrived,” Brian says. “And he actually touched the downed deer before I did.”
Brian looked over and saw this huge typical standing at just 30 yards. One shot from his CVA muzzleloader dropped the impressive Kansas whitetail. Brain says he’s killed some really good deer over the years, but this one really got him excited. With an official gross entry score of 213 5/8 and a net score of 190 7/8, Brian’s buck stands to be the new Kansas state record typical by muzzleloader. The buck that the Langston buck will beat is Tom Mosher’s 184 4/8-inch typical taken by muzzleloader in 1984; a record that has stood for nearly 40 years.
