I got a late start to my hunt, the day got away from me as I was trying to conquer some projects before day’s end.
I remember I looked at the clock and it said 415 pm. I checked the closing time for the night and it said 641 pm….oh heck I gotta get going.
Of course, it’s youth hunt in our area, so I had to make sure I had some blaze orange on….so I had to go rummaging through hunting gear to find something. Time is ticking away!
Gotta love those moments flying around the house trying as fast as ever to get ready and sure as heck not forgetting anything…..like arrows.
I was a tad concerned about the weather as it had hit the high 70’s throughout the day. I figured it would be a warm sit so, I only wore a t-shirt, certainly not thinking about mosquitoes or getting colder out. I normally wouldn’t wear a t-shirt, but that was the only blaze orange I could find in a hurry.
I walked in from the back of the property to my blind, normally we have an ATV trail carved out that I would use to walk in, but we haven’t been back in the area with the ATV yet, due to having corn on both sides of the pathway. So, I had to follow the cow path the deer have made and it was quite an impressive trail.
As I am walking in I immediately question my wardrobe choice, as I now have bare skins showing and a few skeeters chomping at the bit. And….of course no thermal cell tonight! The walk-in is peaceful and tiring walking through such tall grass.
Once I get to the blind and settled in, I play around with my set-up adjusting windows. I have only had this enclosed blind for a year. I have not shot anything out of it. So, the windows are a work in progress for me. I am about 5 feet off the ground, so I worry about exposure.
I sat in this blind tonight due to the direction of the wind, I tried to avoid having any scent blowing into the big food plot.
About 5:36 pm I had a Momma and baby in the bean field about 125 yards from my blind. They hung out for a while and meandered on.
I was concerned about heat, but it was not warm and it was quite windy, windier than I expected or like for hunting. At one point I got a little chilly as the sun went down.
I loved the wind tonight…….as I sat enjoying the peace I thought about bottling the wind for another day, as I was enjoying it way too much. The cool breeze on my face and hair. I even caught myself a few times closing my eyes and embracing the feeling.
The large food plot! Look at how beautiful that field is.
I hear a lonely goose above, he is honking away as he flies through the sky all alone, I wonder why it is alone and what he is honking about???? Yes, strange things I ponder in my peace.
At approx. 6:32 pm, I lean forward to look around as it is getting close to quitting time and I spy out of the corner of my eye deer, I think 2 doe, they are far back to my right, like I said I had to lean forward and look almost directly back to see them. I just moved back to my position and let what be….be what it was going to be, never did see those deer again.
Well…my hunt is over, the wind had calmed down. Decide to check 2 trail cameras on the way out.
Of course, only fitting for my life, the SD card I put into the camera, yeah you know how they are spring-loaded, well it jumped out right into the tall grass. So, imagine this, it’s dark, I have my crossbow backpack on and I am down on all fours rummaging through the grass looking for an SD card. Very thankful it took me less than 5 minutes to find, with minimal bites and obscenities.
The walkout was brutal and exhausting. At least I had chicken wings waitin’ for me at home.
We got a new wooden platform for my birthday/engagement gift. The platform is about 5 feet tall.
I have a portable blind that I put on top of the platform. Instead of the normal spring steel blind frame, this frame is metal and folds out like an accordion, we have it drilled into the platform for now. It is a pretty cool blind. I like the magnetic window option as well as the camouflage screen window covering. In case you wanted to check out the blind, it is called the Hawk Down and Out Blind.
It tricky getting into the blind as we have a makeshift ladder set-up, so yeah proceed with caution.
I have the blind set along a tree line/cattail line, along the edge of the bean field. I have all cattails/marshy areas behind me. I have a bean field and food plot in front of me about 25 yards. To my right a long stretch of green grass with a bean field in front of that and then a ditch. To my left is a long stretch of green grass with a bean field in front of that, that then leads to a cattail patch.
View to my left! Old windmill!
Anyways, once I managed to get into the blind and settled, I noticed a friendly wasp walking about. Oh, no you don’t. You best be trying to find a hole to fly out of. So, mind you I have to keep an eye on this lovely wasp( I am not a fan and scared of these bad boys, bad experience) and get settled quietly in the new blind.
I open the smaller windows on all sides of me, meaning I also have the screens down. I left the screen up on the longer windows but it is hard to see out of. I never leave the screen all the way up, but these are different screens, I can kind of see out but it’s hard to see in. So, I was trying different setups.
I was excited to see what I might see from the blind. Kind of like Christmas morning opening presents. Sitting in this blind my 1st time, made me get those types of feelings like I couldn’t get the wrapping paper off the gift fast enough. An hour went by and I was thinking hey….maybe I won’t see anything tonight, maybe the present isn’t that exciting tonight!
But…..no, as I was looking to my right through my binocs, down toward the ditch, thought I saw something, a deer head pops into my lens around 5:49 pm, hey where did you come from? You scared me!
A little doe!
A little doe walked out from behind me, to my right. About 20 yards from me, it ate in the green grass before it headed into the bean field. It hung out in the bean field and did a complete half-circle in front of me for the next 45 minutes before it wandered out of my line of sight.
At around 6:50 pm about 50 yards from the blind, I see a small buck walkout from the right side of the blind. The same area the doe came from, the cattails to my right, from behind the blind. I have seen this buck on trail camera before, so I am familiar. Shortly after a large doe walks out from the same area right behind the buck. They both headed to the bean field in front of them and ate for a bit. They both then headed to the north and towards the ditch. I watched as they jumped the ditch, they outta here.
About 7 pm, I have a doe walk out into the food plot. It is just starting to get dark now. She meanders in the food plot along with her youngster. They are way out of shooting range, maybe 100 yards.
It was tough trying to be quiet as all heck, getting packed up and out of the blind without disturbing the deer.
All in all, it was a good sit….I have learned any sit is a good sit. But seeing deer while on a sit is an extra special bonus.
So far, I like the blind! Cant wait to get back out there!
Marcus’s shadow in the sunset about 45 minutes before he shot his BIG BUCK!
2020 Kansas Gun Season Day 4!
Ahh Saturday morning!
The weekend is here.
Jason and Jess left Wisconsin enroute to Kansas around 4pm.
They made great timing by getting in around 1:30 am last night.
Never even heard them come in.
Fresh air does wonders for sleep.
Another 6 am start.
The wind was a little brisk this morning.
There was a lot more wind than I had expected.
As the weather yesterday was in the 60’s.
So, I expected little wind and decent temp for this morning.
I have hunted long enough to know better and dressed for cold.
Glad I did because as we walked to our hunting area.
The wind really pierced my skin.
We decided to hunt in a new location this morning.
We weren’t sure if Jason was going to hunt in the front blind in the morning, depended on what time they got in last night.
So, we went old school and just planned on sitting on the end of a tree line, with no artificial cover.
We were looking at a big tree line, concentrating more on the right side of the tree line and field.
The blind we have set up only has views of the left side of the tree line and field.
On our 1st day Marcus had seen a buck on the other side of this tree line,
So, where we sat this morning we would be able to view the right side of this tree line.
It was a quiet morning with little noise, an owl or hawk screaming in the air.
I took a picture of Marcus silhouette from the back with the sunrise as his backdrop.
Very cool picture, if I do so say so myself.
I was admiring this tree we were sitting by; it was a medium sized thorn like type
It looked so cool with the sun as it background.
About 741 am I spotted a deer walking on the tree line to my left.
I poked Marcus in the back, as I seldom do to let him know I have seen something,
It our code for “LOOK”.
I, of course did not know if it was a buck or doe, as I seldom don’t pay attention right away.
My 1st instinct is to alert Marcus, plus I didn’t want to move too much, we didn’t have much cover and I had already felt this deer had made us.
Marcus slowly looked up and was able to bring his binoculars up, I didn’t move out of fear.
I felt like the deer was looking right at us.
I watch as Marcus slowly brings up the gun.
I wonder to myself, what the heck is he doing that for, clearly he knows something more than I do.
I do know that Marcus would never bring his gun up if he wasn’t going to shot. I know my man!
So, this was some serious stuff right here!
Gun fires….oh ok! We are doing this!
Deer flinches, but I don’t see much reaction.
Boom, Marcus shoots again, deer takes a digger and goes into the woods. I am for certain Marcus made contact. I watched as the deer went into the woods and never come out. We discussed he might come out of the right of the woods. He didn’t!
That’s it folks!
Marcus is worried the 1st shot was not on point, he says: “the buck should have laid where I first shot”. Marcus was worried he may have flinched a little to the right, as he may have rushed it because the deer was ready to bolt at any moment, due to possibly making us. He was confident in the 2nd shot. It was roughly a 100 yard shot! It looked a lot further than that to me, but what do I know! I know I wouldn’t have been ready to shoot the deer; it would have been too far away for my liking and I would have moved to much getting my gun up. So, I am super proud of Marcus!
Literally from start to finish the amount of time Marcus had to acknowledge the deer, look in the binocs, raise the gun and shoot was like less than 30 seconds…it happened that fast. Yup it happened just like that!
We stood and watched for a while and decided to head back to the house, grab some coffee and give the deer some time to expire.
I was confident that it was a successful harvest. Marcus is a good shot and I have a strong faith in what is meant to be, is meant to be! I hope my prayers also worked wonders as I am a strong believer!
We got a plan together, how we will go track the deer. Jason and Jessie helped us with the tracking! Which was much appreciated. Marcus planked the left side of the tree line, Jess was planking the field to the right, Jason down the tree line overlooking the south end of the tree line and fields, and I walked through the tree line.
The tree line I walked through was thick and was nearly impassable. Tons of thorn trees, my hands were scratched up from making my way through, the stocking cap I was wearing had gotten snagged on several branches on my way through, which made for a pretty comical adventure, as I had to go search for my stocking cap hanging from a tree several time. Oh, sure I had to drop my glove!
If the stocking cap wasn’t getting snagged enough it was my long hair, at times my hair looked like Cruella De Vil and I may or may not have said some bad words out loud.
I was having no luck finding a sign of disturbed movement or a blood trail.
I eventually made my way to a grass clearing. This clearing butted up to the rest of the tree line. Marcus has told me to check out the area, as there was a deer trail coming out of some small red willows. As I made my way through the clearing, I was so focused on finding blood, that I had tunnel vision. I had looked up and turned my head to my right and there the BIG Buck laid! H**y S**t! Oh, thank you GOD!
Apparently Marcus saw him right away, as he was planking the tree line and was to the grass clearing before me. I mean you couldn’t miss him. Unbeknownst to me, Marcus was recording my reaction on his cell camera. I believe I may have had a few choice words of excitement.
What a sense of relief! Thanks be to GOD and your generous blessings! I take a moment of pause, to thank this amazing deer for his sacrifice. I remain in a moment of prayer, as I soak in the beauty of this amazing animal, the life that he had lived and the comfort that he brings by providing food for the family.
Oh, I had hugged my honey as tight as I could. How exciting! Jess ran over from the field; she was so excited. Jason raced over from where he was flanking. What an exciting moment. All Marcus’s apprehension/anxiety/nervousness/ 2nd guessing/self-doubt and replaying the situation over and over in his head where lifted off his shoulders and disappeared into the air. You done good!
I am sure his prayers were answered, and undoubtedly a little help from his pops, in the heavens.
Picture time, celebration time, gutting, and loading time, back to the homestead. Jason went back to the house to get the UTV for transport.
What an amazing experience. This is Marcus’s 4th hunt in Kansas and the 1st opportunity to take a shot at a deer. I am so proud of my man! I had no doubt in his ability to shoot and his appreciation for the love of hunting, the outdoors, and deer! Great memoires!
The buck was an older fella maybe a four year old. At one point this feller had 13 points, through survival of the fittest, he is now a ten! He was blind in one eye and infection has started in, no doubt a war wound. Pretty buck, he was a hefty strong guy!
The 1st deer I had seen all trip so far and it was this big buck, and this buck was one of the biggest we had on camera, and in Marcus’s terms a shooter. Of all the odds, it was him that stepped out in the early morning light to grace us with his presence. Life is full of many crazy, unexplainable adventures in a series of unpredictable chaotic events filled with ups and down, soaking in this beautiful ride!
After the BIG day today!
We took a drive this evening. It’s always a good time to take a drive around an hour or so before closing time.
Jason and Jess went out for their 1st evening hunt!
Good Luck guys!
Marcus took me all around a new area. Found ourselves over by Wayne. I got to see my 1st bobcat.
I also got to see my 1st 2 doe’s since I have been here. We checked out a few walk-ins as well.
We got closer to home and I spotted a little buck up in the tall grass, nose to the ground and in a hurry to get somewhere fast.
Down the road from home we had 2 doe in the corn field on Ma/Ron’s property.
As I look over a buck is running across the open cut bean field.
Didn’t really get to make out how big of a buck, but big enough to know he was a good size buck.
Cream of pheasant for supper tonight! Oh, it was good! Jason/Jess didn’t see anything tonight!
This morning was packed with all kinds of goodies!
We saw over 61 deer this morning!
We were back on my favorite road; I now call it Shelly Road.
I have seen a majority of the deer this week on this road.
As we pulled onto this road
Many deer jumped across the road.
As we pull up to a certain area, there are deer everywhere.
I see more white tails; I mean literally the white tails, than you can imagine.
We see a real nice buck who was behind us in a corn field.
I was only able to make out a huge curved rack in my binocs.
There had to be over 40 deer in this area.
So many to count, there were probably more than I could count and missed many.
This entire trip the deer did not stick around.
They were very skittish.
I suppose it’s a combination of things, it seemed if you didn’t stop they paid no attention,
There is very little traffic on these dirt roads in Kansas, so they are not used to that, we pondered the fact that possibly the deer see cars on the road and correlate that with being shot from the road, doubt it though.
There is this story that deer are shot from road in these here parts.
A little while later I am able to see some white up on a big hill about 400 yards off the road.
2 coyotes sunning themselves in the morning hours.
We are able to catch a quick picture.
We drive down into an area very secluded and am able to see some doe way up on the ridge and of course what it is following but a big buck.
It was cool to watch thier shenanigans!
We watch as a deer jump the road ahead of us,
We look in the woods as we drive by and I see a buck, a bunch of deer know run into the open field below. 5 or 6 for sure! They run into the woods and we are not able to identify what they are.
We drove to the other side of the woods and sat at the top of the hill, in hopes they would cross through the woods and come out the other side, they did not.
As we were ending our trip, Marcus says, Big Buck!
Here 200 yards off the road, stands a beast.
He was further away, peaking his body out into an empty field.
He did not have a big rack, but it was thick and his body huge.
We figured he was an older fella!
We have really seen some nice bucks this trip, so much better than at home.
The guys took a blind down and trail camera’s down this afternoon.
We did a few duties to prepare for leaving.
This evening we did not see as much activity as we had in past days, we only saw about 16 deer.
Got to see 2 bobcats at dark.
I have really come to enjoy driving around looking at the beauty Kansas holds.
I love the uniqueness of this area, the laid back feeling, no pressure from the world, the quiet convinces me that I am in some far away land!
I will miss my morning and evening drives in the middle of nowhere, I will miss the alone time with Marcus in the jeep with nothing but the open road and being surrounded by nature! I think we will both miss the laid back feeling that nothing else matters in this world at this exact time in life. I will miss how simple no stress from the chaotic world feels. I find there in no drama out in these here part and that is hard to duplicate when I am back home. I find myself jealous of those that live here, but I am also aware it is hard work in one way or another to live in these here parts.
The time here in Kansas goes just as fast at home. The clock stops for now one! I like this phrase and I say it often. Out here you more so you live on mother nature’s clock of sunup and sundown and the time on the clock does not matter much.
It is now time to fit everything into my small jeep for the drive home. It will be a chore as we are going home with a huge deer head and a cooler full of meat. Ahhh, who needs to see for the 11 hours’ drive home. We hope to out drive the storm , but know that we will hit some weather.
Until next year Kansas…..Don’t change! Take care of my deer and grow some big racks!
Little buck crossing the road!A huge buck……so so far away! Maybe 800 yards!Big buck with 9 doe on a green patch….food plot?
Kansas 2020 Gun Season Day 6!
We worked on capping out the buck this morning!
Jason/Jess headed out a little early for their hunt. Good Luck Guys!
We replenished the bait piles this afternoon and we headed out at our normal time.
We stopped for our normal soda pop in a small town and headed out.
I am a horrible navigator.
Good thing Marcus is a great navigator and know were he is going. At least he has his bearings.
The sun just glared bight to the blinding eye.
Cruising down the road I turn my head to my right as I am looking at a vehicle stop at the stop sign waiting to get on the highway.
As I am looking over I see a buck a ways off the roadway.
Not sure how big he was, you know how that goes when you are driving by at 70 mph.
I told Marcus that he needed to slow down and turn around, that I saw a buck.
I very well know he will be gone when we get back there and he was.
He stopped and we looked around for a bit.
There the buck was, stepped out from the woods on to the road.
He was a nice 2 year old. He would have been a shooter back home. He crossed the road and into the woods on the other side he goes.
I was able to catch a real blurry picture.
We continued on with our journey, as the clocks stops for no one.
We end up going down some road, I can’t keep track of what roads or where we are on these dirt roads
I am in the middle of nowhere.
We ended up pulling onto a road and at the back end of a dried up bean field, I notice a green patch.
I suppose someone’s food plot, as it was weird seeing that green at the back of the brown field.
There stood a nice 2 year old buck with 9 does. They didn’t move as we pulled to the side of the road.
The group was pretty far back, but I was able to make the antlers out through the binoculars.
The buck had such a pretty white patch and I was surprised the group stayed as long as they did before running off.
As we continue on our adventure we pull up to a large field, a very large field with a woods to the back of the field.
It hard to explain all the land around here. Lots of fields, woods, tree lines, and pastures. And dirt roads!
We made out about 8 deer in the back of this field
I am almost unable to make out what is in the field with my binoculars as they are quite a ways away.
But I did notice a huge buck in the far back field all alone.
His rack was big enough that I could see it that far way thru the binoculars.
We drove up the road to turn around and try to get a better look.
As we were driving up the road, we kick up 4 does, we turn around on the road to come back and the big buck and doe’s were gone, go figure!
We continued on back towards the direction of home and we are met eye to eye by an owl
This owl must have been up in a tree watching a rodent of some type on the side of the road.
This owl flies down hard and swoops to catch whatever he was stalking at the same exact moment we are driving by.
All at the same time Marcus slams on the breaks and I may or may not have screamed a little bit.
I was eye to eye with the beautiful owl.
I couldn’t tell you what type of owl, but a big beautiful owl, none the less.
Oh, my so pretty.
I am pretty sure his wings swiped the side of the jeep.
After pulling my heart out of my stomach we continue on.
There is same property closer to the homestead,
that we have checked every night, it had been hit or miss with seeing deer in these fields, but we know they frequent it.
Well they were here tonight.
We had at least 6 doe’s on one side of the road in the bean field 60 yards off the road and then a short ways up the road they we 9 doe’s on the other side of the road 100 yards away.
So, that concluded the night adventures.
Jason/Jess didn’t see anything, even with hopes that replenishing the bait piles would help.
Ma made scalloped potatoes and ham for supper.
We dropped our buck head off at a friend of Marcus’s, as they are an outfitter and have several freezers.
We plan to bring back the deer head for a deer mount.
We checked out the new roads last night that we had discovered and seen all the deer.
So, we went back this morning! We saw 21 deer this morning. They appear to be in a certain sector of the grid.
We spent most of the afternoon and evening cutting up the buck we harvested.
It was a long day, as cutting up a deer is time consuming.
We got lots of meat off the old big buck!
We didn’t go out for our evening deer scouting as usual, as it took all day and night to cut up and package the deer for its voyage home!
Marcus went over by his friend GB, a cousin of his had shot a buck during bow season.
And it was huge, so Marcus went to green score the big buck.
Marcus is a certified Boone and Crockett scorer. In case you don’t know what this is, he is certified to measure antlers on big bucks or any male animal that has antlers. Such as elk, moose, and antelope.
Buck was chasing this doe who was in heat!Sunset from the homestead in Kansas!
2020 Kansas Gun Hunt Day 5!
Well our hunt is over!
Unless we decided to take a doe towards the end of our stay.
Jason and Jess were up early and headed out for their 1st morning hunt.
We were up and at it, shortly after them and decided that we would check out the area during the
morning light as we have hunted most mornings since we got here.
The drive started out rather dull.
But I find that I quite enjoy Marcus taking me on drives scouting. Well its great bonding time, yes I said “bonding” for one thing, but he knows how much I enjoy the outdoors and all its glory. We have a lot in common and share an appreciation for the simple things in life.
Great sunset this morning! The 1st part of the drive was deerless. I joked with Marcus that deer in Kansas are overrated.
We were driving in a certain area and I spotted roughly 4 deer up on a hill, a field further over there was at least 10 deer in a corn field. They were a ways off the road, through the thicket. Kansas is hilling, most of the roads are depressed into the earth, lots of fences, the old wooden post kind, and lots of Cedar trees.
A little up the dirt road a buck jumped across the road. All I could see was the sun glaring off his rack. A second or two later a doe crosses the road.
A half mile up the road we see another buck, maybe a 2 year old.
A sporadic deer here and there.
We eventually ended up down a road and we spot a huge buck. About 40 yards of the road. The buck was chasing/quarrying a doe. Oh, she must have really hot. It was so cool to watch this buck chase this doe. I have seen a little of this back at home, but nothing to this caliber. The doe must have gotten sick and tired being chased, that she finally bedded down. He just stood there. Occasionally he would stomp is foot. All I know, he was not leaving this chick. And no other buck will have her. Poor Women! Down here in Kansas there is little traffic on the old dirt roads. So, we just parked in the middle of the road and watch this beautiful studdly buck stand and wait. If he can’t have her nobody can. We watched this buck for over 15 minutes, before he bedded down. Once we started the jeep and moved we figured the doe would get up and we were right. The chase was on. He chased her here and there and everywhere. At one time he was chasing her right towards us. That’s the stuff you see on hunting shows!
I was concerned that this buck was too close to the road, and I aver heard stories about people shooting deer from the road around here. So, I hope we chased them off the road enough when we left.
A little way up the road 5 doe ran across the road.
Anyways, this was the coolest thing to watch, you know those things engrained in your memory that you will never forget. This was one of those moments!
This evening we just wondered the countryside enjoying the scenery! We took a quick little ride to town, well not quick 25 minutes as it’s the closest town with fast food restaurant. We stopped at Dairy Queen for a Root beer!
We didn’t hunt this morning as we decided to shower and bask in a morning light, with a nice cup of coffee.
While we are pretty die -hard hunters, we do recognize that life needs balance. What is right for one, is not right for another. You gotta have a little bit of this, to appreciate a little bit of that. We sat around, relaxed, and visited with Mom and Ron most of the morning.
About afternoon we drove all over the county looking for the public walking ground.
Gotta keep our options open.
The scenery out here is beautiful. The rolling hills catch my eye and I am a sucker for old homesteads. They bring me a wonderment of lives past lived and the stories they hold.
The lands we were checking out didn’t pan out to our liking. Cattle were either in the field, the landscape unappealing or the razor wire fence deterring me from injury.
We headed back over to some public we had hunted on the last 2 nights. We may have found some other area but the clock stop for no one, and daylight was fading.
We parked on the side of the road and walked the edge of a green hay field. We decided to walk into the woods, we found ourselves on a shelf or isthmus type island with steep deep water ways on both sides. We were pretty high and had a look out point throughout the woods. The woods were so peaceful, except for that damn squirrel perched up in the tree was becoming quite annoying. Was it really necessary to make such noise.
The ground in the woods was dry. So, it would be easy to hear anything walking through the woods, as the leaves we dry, I would be able to hear movement.
The weather was decent as I did not even have my whole proper attire on for hunting. There was plenty of deer sign. The island we were sitting on actually had a deer tail right down the middle of it. The field we walked through had hoof prints all over it.
Well, we saw nothing tonight! The location we sat was amazing scenery, nothing like it is a home. Just the scenery itself makes the whole trip worth it.
The opportunity to hunt or harvest a deer is just a bonus.
However, I am pretty much done with this piece of public, as I feel it is over pressured all too much and I am starting to believe that possibly ghost deer live here. You could also tell the weekend was insight as more traffics had picked up and a tad bit orange could be seen.
