Snowy roads on the way home!Snowed on the way home! Had to drive slow at times!Outside Madison! 1 hour left to go. Not snow as much here!Jess with her Kansas buck!Jason and Jess with thier Kansas Buck!
2020 Kansas Gun Hunt Day 10! Drive Home Day!
We made it home.
We were up at by 530 am and rolling out of the driveway by 615
Hugs, kisses and good byes first.
Made it to the 1st big town by 7 for gas and McDonalds and McDonalds sucked.
Stopped at Casey’s in Adair IA ordered a med pizza for the road and filled up with gas.
It just started to rain here and rained all the way to Wisconsin.
Omg so much rain
Once we hit Wisconsin we hit snow, at times it was pretty bad, as we were going 50 mph on the highway.
Saw a lot of dumb drivers out there, most got lucky this time.
We only saw on accident and 1 in the ditch.
We made it through Madison before rush hour, that is my favorite time to go through Madison, NOT!
Once we left Madison it was more of a rain/snow mix.
We made good timing even with our stops and the snow delay
GPS said ETA home at 430 pm.
We pulled into the driveway at 450 pm
So, not bad timing and glad its over!
Deer meat barley fit in cooler to bring home and it barley fit in our freezer when we got home.
Actually barley anything fit in the car on the way home.
Too much deer meat and a huge deer head and the jeep was packed head to toe
Terrible! 🙂
Get a big buck in Kansas they say…….
How you get that shit home???
Glad Marcus drove the all the way home!
Jess ended up shooting a nice buck tonight, of course we were already home by then.
Super happy for her!
Miss you already Kansas! Miss you Mom and Ron! Thank you for having us! It was nice to spend time with you all. Take Care!
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!
In order to get a deer tag for hunting in Kansas, you have to play the lotto! Kansas has a lotto system. Basically, you apply for the tag, cross your fingers and hope you get awarded a tag. There are only so many out of state tags that are awarded. This is a draw only permit. That must be applied for in April of the year you want to hunt!
You can get a tag for special hunt own land relative permit. This is for people who qualify as lineal ascendants or decendants or siblings of resident’s landowners or all tenants. Marcus’s mother lives in Kansas and they own land in Kansas. This is not a lottery draw!
You can also get a nonresident permit; this is down by lottery draw. This is for all nonresidents. A nonresident permit allows you to hunt on public land as well as private land, granted you have permission.
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.
View from the blind!Our view out hunting!Our View while hunting!Our view out hunting!Me and my man!Cool tree!
No I am not sleeping!More Views!
Opening Morning 2020 Kansas Gun Season!
Start time is 7ish. So, getting up at 6ish aint so bad.
I had gotten up earlier during Wisconsin Gun Deer Season.
Forgot to pull my hair back, I am not a happy girl if my hair is not pulled back during hunting.
I have long hair, yes yes I do.
Plus, I found this new pullover hood thing in blaze orange that keeps me toasty, and when my hair is not pulled back , well let’s just say hair in the face and hair on my neck just don’t work for me, I don’t like the feeling!
Anyways, also forgot my Chapstick, oh my gosh yes Chapstick!
The morning was a little brisk, glad I started the jeep early as there is frost covering the windows.
The place we hunt is only a little way down the road.
The walk in not too bad, except for it was a lot colder and windier than expected.
The moon was bright and lite up the earth rather nicely for our walk in.
The chair placement in the blind was not ideal and needs a little tweaking.
It was a rather drab morning with little to no sun, the frost glistened on the ground.
I did not hear one gunshot all morning, which I thought odd for opening day.
Back home that is all you hear for the 1st few hours opening day!
Plus, the wind was really nipping at my nose with an icy cold touch.
We had spotted a rather large buck on the far fence line, unable to get a clear ID on the big fella.
We headed in mid-morning for a rest and breakfast.
So, glad for electric start.
We decided to try some public walk in only land for this evening.
We drove up a big dirt road to get to the top of a hill.
There is no public parking so we parked off the road.
We walked in through this vast area of cedars and tall grass/weeds.
There was sign throughout the area with rubs and scrapes.
I had no idea how to navigate this area, but Marcus had a good grasp of where he was going.
Back home we don’t hunt much wooded area, so that is what he wanted to sit in and me to experience.
Well we ended up in a woods on a ravine with a very sharp drop off to a woods below.
This area was sloped so it was hard to find a flat spot to sit. I sat behind Marcus as bit.
The view was magnificent.
I am afraid of height so I don’t sit in tree stands back home.
SO, sitting up on this ravine overlooking the woods below, must be what it’s like for those who sit in tree stands.
The wind up here was blustery and cold.
The owls hooted and hollered throughout the woods.
A few birds flew here and there.
And that was all she wrote.
We saw nothing!
Heard 2 other shots in the distance all evening!
It was a nice sit, one that I won’t forget!
Oh, the shrimp, Ceasar salad, and twice baked potatoes were so yummy!
Our view while hunting!Our view while hunting!Our view while hunting!
Our view while hunting!Our view while hunting!Our view while hunting!Our view while hunting!Selfie, never mind my hat!
2020 Kansas Gun Season Day 2
Another chilly and frosty morning.
A little more prepared this morning than yesterday.
The seating arrangement this morning consisted of an old fashioned pail with a fluffy pillow to sit on.
The accommodation did work, as I was able to sit closer to the windows on flat ground and could easily see out the windows.
Sitting on a pail in your 40’s ain’t as easy as it was in my 20’s!!!!
Ahh girls gotta do what a girls gotta do
Life ain’t perfect all the time but it’s a beautiful ride.
We sat in the same blind as we did yesterday morning.
We are getting plenty of movement of trail camera, with a few potential shooters for sure.
Just a matter of time.
Cool, bland morning with the wind nipping at my cheeks.
The sun didn’t make her presence until 830am
But was not even warm enough to melt the frost off the earth
I like to say we saw nothing, but we did see some
Boone and Crocket fox squirrels😊
The coyotes were very vocal this morning as well.
The bait pile we had in the area of the blind has mostly disappeared.
So, we know there has been movement in the area.
Again, a rather dull morning, but any day in the blind is a better day than at work.
We checked out mid-morning, walking out being serenaded by the coyotes.
The coffee and thick bacon, yummy warm eggs and homemade fresh bread really hit the spot.
Ma Ma Kirchoff is amazing!
The weather tonight was nice and didn’t warrant wearing a heavy coat.
The sun was out and the car temp read 47 degrees and there was little to no wind.
Once the sun went down it got a bit chilly.
I managed to get wind burn on my face with little to no wind.
This evening hunt we headed over to public land again.
We basically sat in the same area as yesterday.
We had a few other places we wanted to try,
But one had cattle nearby so we didn’t want to hunt there for safety reason.
We also ran into 3 other trucks with blaze orange on, not sure if they were pheasant or deer hunting, so we tried to avoid them.
At the end of a dead end road there was a car parked, so we wanted to avoid that area if there was another hunter on public.
We don’t hunt public in Wisconsin. So, we are a tad bit leery hunting public in a different state. Due to the thick wooded areas, wide open fields, and the vast area that public covers, it is hard to see other hunters. The idea: NOT GET SHOT!
We walked across a large hayfield and into a woods. Past the woods there is a large open field. It’s a hidden field with woods along the edges. Pretty secluded area. I had high hopes that we might see something.
There was many signs of deer movement as we walked in the woods to the field. The way we walked in was quite a cow path created by deer. There were several scrapes on our way through the woods.
We settled in the tree line of the field in some brush.
The owls hooted and hollered again tonight. This time there was at least 4 of them. One we basically had right above our heads, it pretty cool to hear an owl that close.
The only wildlife we saw were 5 turkeys making thier way through the field from one side to the other.
I met a new friend, a small rodent of some sorts, below my chair. I could hear it skitter and scattering below my feet. It didn’t scare and I was waiting for it to climb up my leg. I shall call him Elroy and he was my new friend! Stay strong Elroy!
I am not impressed by public land right now. Impressed by the beauty, not impressed with lack the of deer.
Tomorrow we are going to check out some more public land and replenish the bait piles.
