Kyle Chaney hunted a small piece of ground after getting permission to hunt for only couple days before having to catch a flight. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Chaney.)
April 02, 2026
By Clifford Neames
Kyle Chaney has two loves. One pays the bills, the other fuels his soul. Both can be filled with excitement and cause conflicts in his schedule!
As a champion Can Am UTV Off-Road racer Kyle often visits exotic areas, but his view of the scenery is limited as he passes through the landscape exceeding 100 mph. Pretty intense! He’s been doing that for years and explains now that his real passion is chasing mature bucks across the Midwest ---- Sitting in a tree brings balance to his life.
This year, Kyle was after a big buck in Ohio with just a few days to hunt before he had to leave for Morocco! He had spotted one close to his house over the summer, but securing permission to hunt it was an issue. A local farmer was ok with the idea, if Kyle could get the other hunter on the land to agree, and that didn’t go as well!
“He told me NO”, Kyle explains. “Which was disappointing, yet perfectly understandable.” “But the season was about to open, and I only had the first few days to hunt.”
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A short blood trail led Kyle to his heavy horned 198-inch whitetail. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Chaney.) Not to be shut out, Kyle located some recently subdivided land. He got the nod to hunt on two small tracts there with only a few days to spare and the race was on!
“There was a scrape line in there and standing corn nearby. Being so short of time I decided to hunt all day”, he adds. “Then on my first sit a true giant came in and bedded down only 30 yards away.” It appeared his plan was about to pay off, but someone came by mid-morning and bumped the buck.
“After that, I didn’t see him for the next two days, which made me think he might not come back!” “Then the last morning before I was getting on the plane was a bust.”
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Late in his last afternoon on the lock on, Kyle spotted a spike at the closest scrape. It milled around for a minute or two then headed into the corn.
“A few minutes later, I saw a big body moving the corn, and the spike popped back out ten yards away”, he recalls.
“Then the corn parted and I began shaking.” “It was him, and he was headed right to me!”
For nearly ten minutes the giant edged closer without presenting a shot opportunity. “He was scent checking the whole time, and I was worried that at any instant a subtle swirl in the wind would give me away.”
Kyle used his Can Am UTV to recover his buck and race back to the truck to catch his flight. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Chaney.) When he spied a small opening at 25 yards, Kyle knew he had to shoot. The broadhead disappeared behind the shoulder and the buck stumbled into the corn.
On the initial recovery mission, Kyle and his friend, John, found a bed, but no buck… They returned at 2 AM, and Kyle got his hands on the incredible mainframe 6 x 6 198 7/8ths inch rack, just four hours before his international flight. You can’t finish any closer than that!
