This is the 1st Friday I have sat out. I don’t normally sit out Friday night as I work until 4:15 pm and by the time I get home and ready it’s getting late.
I worked from home Friday and I just had the itch at the last moment.
My new enclosed blind!
It was a tad bit windy and cool, but the sun was out.
I sat in my new blind, so the wind didn’t blow my scent into the food plot.
The sit was nice and peaceful and of course, I was hungry because I had just got off of work, I was hoping the guys ran to get me a fish fry before I got home.
The hawk I was watching!
I had the privilege of watching a hawk of some sort fly from spot to spot looking for dinner.
I rarely have a night where I don’t see deer(in all the 6 yrs. I have hunted, I can count on less the one hand the times I have not seen a deer while out hunting).
Tonight…… would be one of those nights….not a deer in sight.
I was surprised, but not disappointed I love sitting outside in the fresh air, enjoying GOD’S beauty. Any day in the outdoors is a good day.
Of course, the fish fry was splendid.
Old Wind Mill I am fascinated with!Those are geese in the sky!
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.
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!
Well we made it to Kansas to visit Mom/Ron and participate in Kansas’s Gun Deer season. Marcus says they have really BIG BUCKS here!
To get a grasp of where we are in Kansas, they are dirt roads, all over dirt roads, rolling hills and prairies, the closets gas station or town is 25 minutes away, black cattle all over in the cut corn fields, and long skinny, tall blue water towers. The roads that run east and west are names with alphabetic letters. The roads that run north and south are numbered with number. Between each road is one mile of property, basically like square grid. We are way out here in the middle of nowhere.
Jeep packed full from top to bottom. We pulled into Mom’s/Ron’s place around 8:30 pm Monday night, yes that included a stop at the Bass Pro Shop in Iowa.
It was nice to see Mom/Ron as it has been a awhile and they make me feel right at home.
Not sure if the 2 cats, Tiger and Winnie are happy we are here, maybe Winnie more than Tiger.
Tuesday morning, we were met with homemade biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. This is a favorite of Marcus’s.
Late morning, we went out to replenish 2 bait piles. This is something we are not accustomed to as we are not allowed to bait in Wisconsin!
We set up a blind in a new location that we have never had a blind. The birds were very active and we saw 2 robins. My dad told me once that some robins don’t migrate and stay all year long. Tuesday afternoon was nice and sunny and we found ourselves not even wearing a jacket in December!
In case you are wondering Ma/Ron own private land down here in Kansas. Mostly farm fields, but plenty of options to hunt. They also own some wooded area as well. Mostly thorough ways for deer making there way from one location to another.
Late afternoon we ran to a nearby town, Bellville. They have a little grocery store, we needed snacks for hunting and of course, why wouldn’t we stop at the liquor store!
We drove around the area looking for some public land and of course the later it got in the day the more we looked for deer.
We did see several groups of deer here and there throughout the area.
We saw a group of 50 plus turkeys in a field nearby.
On one of the old dirt roads down here, we caught a coyote laying on a side grassy hill, sunning himself. He did not scare easily, so we were able to get some pictures.
We ended the night with some pork chops and a bit of relaxation and of course a great sleep. Oh, and the pumpkin dump cake with cool whip wasn’t to bad either.
