Dallas Birk spent three years hunting this buck. He made the most of his first opportunity, and it landed him at No. 8 all-time among Kansas bow kills.
January 21, 2025
By Cam Coble
Kansas has long been known for producing giant non-typical whitetails, and it’s every hunters dream to someday harvest one of those rare magnificent trophies. Dallas Birk of Burlington, Kansas was one such fortunate bowhunter.
The quest for the buck began three years ago in 2022 when the buck was around 160 inches.
"My sister was actually rifle hunting one evening and passed up a shot at him," Birk said. "He was just out of her comfortable range."
Wondering if the deer had made it through the previous season, Dallas placed several trail cameras in various locations where he thought the deer might be. Eventually capturing images of the buck, the bowhunter was ecstatic while looking at several images of the deer.
“I figured he was over 200 inches," he stated. "But he was also beginning to daylight more and I wasn’t the only one who knew about the buck in the area he was running."
In 2023, Dallas thought he had the bucks core area nailed down and felt pretty confident about it. After gaining permission on some land in proximity of where he believed the buck to be using, Dallas hunted hard but came empty.
In the spring of 2024, a neighbor picked up sheds off the buck, and a rough score of those sheds put him at 209 inches. While out doing some summer scouting in late July, Dallas saw the deer over a mile and a half from where he had originally thought the buck was calling home. After re-evaluating, Dallas placed some cell cams to try and get a better look at the buck.
In August — not long after placing the cameras — the buck showed up.
“He blew into a giant," Dallas said. "I figured he was at least in the 230s range."
The buck remained a regular coming to the mineral site through late summer.
"For nearly two weeks straight, the farmers cattle had gotten out and were on my cell cam daily," Dallas said. "The farmer had even driven through the bucks main bedding area and I thought he’d run the deer out of the county."
It wasn’t until September 29th that he reappeared. Getting new pictures of the buck returning to the farm lit the bowhunters fire again.
As if lightning had struck twice, just one day after getting pictures of the buck, the farmer once again drove through the bucks bedding area while checking his fence.
"The buck disappeared once again," Dallas explained. "But this time for only five days."
The buck reappeared on Dallas' camera on October 3rd, but it was in the early morning hours well before legal shooting hours.
"Each passing day the buck was getting closer and closer to daylighting," Dallas said. "It was just a matter off time before it was time to go in after him."
The farm Dallas was hunting had very few trees on it, but a few scattered cedar trees interspersed in through a sea off CRP grass. With no trees present to place a stand, the bowhunter had been practicing with his bow in his yard out to 40 yards from a pop-up blind. With increased activity of the buck in the area, Dallas began getting more aggressive.
“I went to the farm on the 7th of October and brushed in my blind best I could, and stayed to hunt but nothing showed," he said.
This same pattern persisted for the next several hunts.
Using data from the previous year, Dallas remembered that the buck had daylighted on October 17th. Taking this information, Dallas hunted that evening but again the buck didn’t show up.
Deciding he needed to give a morning sit a try, Dallas was back in his ground blind the next morning.
"It was just beginning to get light when a few does came in to my mineral lick," Dallas said.
They didn't stay long, however, which he found odd. Not long after the does left, the hunter was scanning his surroundings when he noticed a deer rack rubbing on a few small hedge trees. Catching a few glimpses of the rack, it was easy to identify the buck.
It was him.
Remaining calm, Dallas patiently waited for the giant buck to come into range and offer a good shot. The buck continued on his way, but dipped back behind some cedar trees. Deciding it was a good time to draw his bow, Dallas made his move. When the buck reemerged, he was facing head on at 17 yards.
"I was at full draw on a buck of a lifetime with no possible shot," Dallas explained.
What seemed like a hour of holding his 65-pound bow, and muscles beginning to fatigue, the buck finally turned and give the archer time to let his bow down.
After a 30-second "cool down," Dallas once again came to full draw on the giant buck as it walked over to work a mock scrape he’d made just a few days earlier.
With the buck now standing perfectly broadside, Dallas took careful aim and released.
“As soon as I hit the trigger on my release I closed my eyes," he said.
The ensuing sound told Dallas that he’d hit the buck hard.
The deer whirled around and took off. Initially, Dallas thought the shot looked good, but upon further investigation found it to be a bit further back than the bowhunter would like. After finding stomach matter on the blood trail, Dallas decided to back out.
Returning around noon with his friend Dylan, the two men tracked the buck for awhile before the blood dried up a bit.
"I made a few calls and brought in a tracking dog," Dallas said.
Arriving around 5 PM, the tracking dog and team quickly picked up the trail where it was lost. Within an hour, Dallas' buck was found on the levee off an old pond, though coyotes had already devoured most of the buck. Dallas, who was off looking for the buck himself, had his phone on silent and had no idea they'd found his buck. Everyone met up at dark, and by that time they'd already loaded his buck onto a flatbed truck as he walked over.
He was speechless. Dallas was finally able to claim the giant buck he'd been hunting for three years.
With 30 scoreable points, Dallas' buck officially grossed an impressive 252 0/8” and netted 245 0/8” — a score good enough to place him 8th among all-time Kansas bow kills. It also was the biggest non-typical bow kill taken in North America with a compound bow for the 2024 season.