Kenneth Jenkins grew up hunting deer in Northern California. As a young man, he moved to Central Oregon. A confirmed archer, he has hunted with a bow for most of his 78 years.

In fact, the hunt with stick and string has kept him in good health. His home in juniper country is decorated with mementos of days spent with bow in hand.

Jenkins says he doesn’t hunt enough. The four weeks a year Oregon allows bowhunters into the woods does not come close. After a bit of research, he booked a hunt for Javan rusa deer in Australia.

In 2015, he flew to Sydney and took a short flight to Mackay in northeastern Queensland. From Mackay it was two hours to the camp owned by Greg Coyne of Broadsound Hunting Safaris Australia.

Jenkins didn’t think he knew enough about rusa to be able to pick one out of a lineup.

“I hadn’t been there 15 minutes, when the guide said, ‘Grab your bow and come with me.’ He had spotted a pig in a swamp.”

Minutes later, Jenkins stalked and arrowed the pig with his Mathews Phantom compound.

On the way back to camp, Jenkins wanted to learn about the deer. He asked, “What’s a big rusa look like; how do you know?”

“The world record is 175 inches. And the top archery stag is 158 inches,” Coyne said.

“That didn’t mean anything to me,” Jenkins said later.

Rusa are native to the islands of Java, Bali and Timor, but they have been introduced in many places, including Australia and New Caledonia. Their antlers run to three points per side. Secretive and difficult to hunt, they are a close relative of the sambar deer.

The hunter began the next day in a blind. Several stags showed at first light, antlers silhouetted against the sunrise, but none offered a shot.

Back in the truck at midday, the guide and Jenkins spotted five stags resting in the trees.

They all looked good to Jenkins and he was able to close the gap and get close.

Nervous, the biggest one in the group turned broadside, and at the release, the deer spooked and the arrow struck its back leg.

Jenkins and his guide waited a few hours and started in on the trail. They jumped the deer in tall grass, but the animal moved too quickly for Jenkins to lose a second arrow.

That evening was hard for the archer from Oregon, haunted by a shot gone bad.

“We kept looking for the wounded one,” Jenkins said.

Over the course of the next few days, while hunting the wounded deer, Jenkins was able to stalk and close the distance on a smaller Javan rusa deer and a Moluccan rusa.

When he had a chance to take a goat, he did that, too. The thought of the big buck with the bad leg bothered him. Jenkins and Coyne watched the trails where the big buck was thought to feed and go to water.

On the fifth afternoon, when the sun was low, Jenkins and his guide were on the way to camp when they saw the wounded deer headed to a water hole.

Out in front of the animal, Jenkins waited, and when it was close, he tickled the release. This time the arrow arced true and the animal took only a couple of steps more.

Back at camp, Greg Coyne scratched his head and looked at the deer. Then he went in the house and brought out a tape measure, pencil and paper.

“He measured and wrote numbers down and added things up and did it again,” Jenkins said.

“Then he went in the house and checked in a book.”

The overall Safari Club International record was 1753⁄8 inches, Coyne said, and the bowhunting record was 158 inches. As far as Coyne could tell, this one was bigger than 158. But they would have to wait 90 days to find out.

Coyne looked at Jenkins. “I think you just shot the new world record rusa deer.”

After the designated drying period, and with an SCI scorer handling the tape, the stag’s antlers measured 1585⁄8 inches, eclipsing the old bowhunting record by five-eighths of an inch.

All Ken Jenkins asked from his hunt in Australia was the chance to carry a bow and get close to a deer. Australia gave him that and a new bowhunting world record.

Ask Jenkins what a big rusa deer looks like. He can show you a picture.

— Gary Lewis is an outdoors writer and the host of “Frontier Unlimited.” Contact Lewis 
at garylewisoutdoors.com.

Out in front of the animal, Jenkins waited, and when it was close, he tickled the release. This time the arrow arced true and the animal took only a couple of steps more.

No. 1 archery Javan rusa

Species: Rusa deer (Rusa timorensis)

Location: St. Lawrence, Queensland, Australia

Date taken: April 2015

Hunter: Kenneth Jenkins

Outfitter: Broadsound Hunting Safaris Australia

Guide: Greg Coyne

SCI score: 1585⁄8 inches (archery)

Current overall world record: 1753⁄8 inches (rifle)

Previous bowhunting world record: 158 inches