My first trip to Kansas turned out to be a very successful hunt. Not only did I have great hunting partners and good friends, Shane Howell and Robert Sterett, but I also was able to take a nice Kansas buck. This was actually my second trip, we went up to Jewel County at the end of October in order to do some scouting, hang a few stands and tried to mix in a little hunting. We did not see any good bucks on that first trip, but we did see a lot of does and buck sign. Our real hunting was going to be November 10 through November 16. We were really excited since this trip would fall right in the middle of the rut.
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The first 2 days of the trip were very cold and rainy. We hunted as much as we could stand, but being from Texas where it does not get that cold we could only stand 3 or 4 hours at a time. Those first 2 days we did not see very much activity, probably due to the rain, but we did see some signs of rutting behavior.
On Wednesday the rain finally moved out, that morning I saw my first shooter buck. I was hunting in the same stand that I had hunted the first 2 days of the trip as well as every day of our October trip. The stand was set up over looking a wash between a soy bean field and a wheat field. At about 7:30 a very nice buck came out of the wheat field down into the wash. I never put my field glasses on him, because it was obvious that he was a shooter. He turned and started walking to the east away from my stand. I grunted many times, but could not get him to pay attention to me. He had something else on his mind and after about a minute he was gone. I saw a couple of more does that morning, but no more bucks.
That afternoon I sat in the same location, but did not see much activity. I saw one small buck and several does, but no shooter bucks showed up. Both my friend Robert and Shane saw one really nice buck that they estimated would score in the 160’s. Robert saw him just after he climbed into the stand that we called death trap. He had the buck somewhere between 30 and 40 yards behind him, but was unable to maneuver to get a clear shot. The buck left his area and went into the soy bean field. Shane saw the same buck walk all the way across the soy bean field and into the creek bottom where his stand was set up. Shane grunted, bleated and rattled, but the buck kept steady rolling and never got any closer than 80 yards from him.
After Shane saw the big buck jump the creek behind him and vanish, he turned around to find that a nice 10 point was in the CRP grass in front of him about 40 yards away. Shane figures that the 10 point had come in as a result of all of his calling. Shane decided to take the shot on this buck at 40 yards. Unfortunately he hit the buck high and back and watched him disappear with the arrow sticking out of both sides of the buck. Shane had been having all kinds of trouble with the site on his bow all week, which probably was the cause of the poor shot placement.
About 30 minutes later Robert had a nice 10 point enter his stand location from Shane’s direction. He stood and prepared for the shot. He had the buck at about 20 yards and drew back. That is when the voice inside Robert’s head reminded him of the bigger buck he had seen just 30 minutes ago and he decided not to take the shot. After he had let his draw down, the buck turned and he saw an arrow hanging out of his side. Robert figured that I had shot the buck and hit it poorly. By this time the buck was about 40 yards from him, and he drew his bow again and released the arrow. Unfortunately the arrow sailed right over the bucks back and Robert watched him run away toward the north end of the property we were hunting.
After dark when the 3 of us got together and explained the events that had unfolded, we all decided that the buck was definitely not hit very good due to the distance that he had traveled. We all thought that it would be best to not push the deer and wait until the morning to try to recover it. I know that it was a restless night for Shane, as if I were in that situation I would want to be out in the woods looking for that deer.
The next morning, November 13, I went back to the same stand that I had been hunting. Even though I had only seen one mature buck after many hours in that stand, I knew that if I was patient and persistent, something good would come my way. At about 6:45 I had a small 2 ½ year old 8 point walk right beneath my stand. Even though the buck was small, I got pretty fired up thinking about what more the morning may have to offer.
At 7:00 I heard a buck grunt over my right shoulder. I could tell that he was on the ridge above me. I hit my grunt tube a couple of times and then silently waited. Less than a minute later I hear a couple of deer come crashing down the steep hill to my right and into the wash. It was a doe and a fawn. They made their way in front of me at about 20 yards and continued on a steady pace toward the bean field to the west. A couple of minutes later, I heard another deer come crashing down the steep hill to my right. When he finally appeared from the cedars I immediately recognized him as a shooter. I attached my release to my string loop and tried to calm my nerves. The buck went to the first tree that he came to and began thrashing it with his antlers, trying to get the does attention. He then walked to a tree that was about 30 yards in front of me and treated it the same way as he had the previous tree. By this time the doe and fawn were a good 50 to 60 yards away from me and I realized that the buck was not going to take the same path that they had which would have brought him to within 15 or 20 yards of my stand. I decide that I must make the shot pretty quick or he was going to get away. As I told you in an earlier post I shoot an adjustable single pin sight. I adjusted it from 20 yards to 30 yards and waited for the buck to move from behind the tree and present a shot.
The buck finally looked up at the doe, who by this time had made her way up another steep hill, and he began to walk at brisk pace toward her. I grunted with my hands free grunt tube, but he did not stop. I spit the grunt tube out and made a loud grunt with my mouth and the buck stopped and looked directly at me. Within a split second I lowered my pin behind his shoulder and let the arrow fly. The Easton Full Metal Jacket tipped with a 100 grain Grim Reaper broadhead hit its mark with a loud THWAk ! The buck kicked and then ran away from me hunched over. I grunted at him a couple of more times, and was able to get him to stop about 80 yards from me. He stood there for a few seconds and then slowly walked around a corner and out of my view. I sat down in the stand and again began trying to calm my breathing. I was not sure exactly what I had shot, but I knew that it was a mature Kansas buck.
I was sure that I hit him good and decided to get out of my stand after about 30 minutes. As many of you know, that is the longest 30 minutes you will ever spend, it feels more like 3 hours. I went to the spot where the buck had been standing when I shot. I found some white hair with a tiny bit of blood on it. I searched all over for my arrow, but the grass was so high I never found it. I briefly searched the area for blood, but could not find any. Since I knew where I he went I decided to move forward without a blood trail. I went around the corner where the buck walked out of my site. The trail narrowed along a 6 or 7 foot wide creek. The trail was so narrow that only one deer would have been able to walk it at a time. About 10 yards ahead of me I saw a big pool of blood. I went to the spot and bent down, looking ahead of me for the next sign. I did not see anything. I could not figure out where he went. As I was contemplating my next move I glanced over to my right in the creek, and to my surprise there he was laying right in the middle of it with his head under water. It was by far the biggest bodied deer I had ever shot. I jumped down in the creek and grabbed his massive antlers. To my surprise he was only a seven point, but he was a BIG seven point. I tried to get him out of the creek, but I could not do it by myself, I had to wait a couple of hours for Shane and Robert to get done hunting to give me a hand.
Finally at about 9:00 Shane radioed me and I told him the good news. I went and picked him up, and then we made our way to the creek where the buck was laying. Shane and I managed to get the buck out of the creek and up on the bank. Shane congratulated me on the buck as we both stood and admired the massive seven point frame. We took a couple of pictures while waiting for Robert to show up with the Polaris Ranger to get the deer out of the area.
Looking back on it now, that was one of my most memorable hunting experiences. I was not expecting much, having never been to Kansas. It was very rewarding knowing that I went to an unfamiliar area and managed to take a mature buck. Unfortunately we never found Shane’s buck. We looked for it for hours and covered a lot of ground. We never found any blood, so it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. I am convinced that the deer survived the shot and will be fine, perhaps one of us will get another opportunity at him next year.
All three of us had opportunities and saw some good deer. Hopefully we will all draw a tag next year and have the opportunity to go back and do it again. Now that we have more knowledge of the area and the type of hunting, I expect us to have even more success next year.
As always, taking a trophy deer was just icing on the cake. The real experience and enjoyment of the hunt comes from the companionship and time shared with good friends. The memories and experiences of this trip will last a lifetime. I look forward to many more enjoyable trips with these guys in the years to come.
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