Never Would Have Dreamed

It finally came down to the very last evening I was able to hunt in Kansas. I had just finished eating dinner at the school cafeteria while waiting on a friend that had wanted to go hunting with me all year. We took a short drive outside of town to a piece of property I had hunted twice previously in the last two days. I had hunted on other property owned by this particular person, but had not known about this one until he suggested it to me. As soon as we arrived, we put on our orange, loaded the gun, grabbed the video camera, and were on our way.

We had about a half mile walk back to where we were going to be standing in a fence line because we wanted to avoid the deer’s bedding areas. This piece of property was a huge milo field, with a nice timber line along the north edge, and about 300 acres of CRP to the east. Prior to this night, both times I had been out hunting, I had seen at least one buck, and every time they were in the CRP walking the ridges.

After standing there until sunset, I bent down to grab my jacket to leave and as I bent down I glanced up and saw the head of a deer right on one of the ridges. I glanced up with the scope and saw antlers. I struggled to keep my composure and get the camera rolling. The buck started heading our way and turned broadside at 150 yards. I let the shot go and look up and I dropped him right in his tracks.

After leaving the field in my car, no more than a mile away, I felt the car start to shake; I pulled over and saw that my tire had been shredded. How do you go from having an all-time high for the season to having a flat tire? Well, I was able to gets some friends to help jack the car up and get the donut put on so I could drive to town to replace the tire.

            Four days later I was in Iowa and a blizzard hit. It is never deer season in Iowa unless there is snow. This season was the second shotgun season Iowa had to offer and it is a tradition every year for my dad and I, along with a group of friends to head out and do pushes. After a long day, with the freezing 40 mph wind in my face I peaked around a tree and saw a buck within 30 yards running right at me. I pulled up the shotgun and let one rip and he dropped in his steps.

            Earlier in the season, while still in Kansas, I had the opportunity to take a girl out deer hunting for the first time. She wanted to go out and get her first deer. It had been a slow night and we didn’t see anything until we were walking out a little early. We squatted down and stalked to within 200 yards of the deer and I handed her the gun. The Kansas plains echoed as she dropped her – a beautiful eight pointer. This was also a great memory for the year.
            This season truly could not be any better than it already has. I still have one bow tag to fill in Iowa, but so far it has definitely been one to remember. All of those days I am able to spend in the woods with my dad and family and friends are the most memorable. Now I am spending days in the tree once again, gun seasons have passed and deer are beginning to hit the food sources hard with the cold weather.
            Whenever you get the chance, take a child, a girl, or anyone hunting. Introduce them to the sport and show them the great outdoors and what it really has to offer. No matter if you are successful or not it is truly amazing getting the chance to get out of the house, away from school, and share the great outdoors.

Long Season

The beginning of the season i had gotten several pictures of a great 14 point down in Kansas. no longer had i gotten this picture but then i got a giant typical that blew anything out of the water i had gotten on camera before. I put in the time studying and thought i had atleast the 14 point pretty keyed down to where he is bedding at and when he comes by and checks his scrapes.

I had read somewhere that scrape hunting can be a huge success. Hunting over scrapes in a well covered and secure area can be the key to getting the buck you are after down. Just so happen the scrapes i thought would work great and that the buck would come to during the day i felt were only going to be visited throughout the night. When scrapes are not only in the open but a ways away from the bedding area the buck is smart enough to come out into the open.
As season has been going on i havent been able to get either of these to dandies down. I was hoping taking a trip to iowa would change my luck for the better this year and had a good buddy that offered to film me with his brand new camera. The rut in Kansas this year was really really slow as a matter of fact the slowest rut i have personally ever seen. In Iowa i heard that the rut is doing good but still not the best as it has been.
The last day night in Iowa at my buddies farm i finally had a nice 150 inch 9 point walk out at 40 yards. The last thing i thought that would happen did, I shot at 40 yards and the buck ducked under the arrow.
This year has been the most stressful deer season I have ever had. not only did I not see any shooters this year until Iowa but the one I did see I messed up.

This year I still have hope in and I believe that if you put in the time it will pay off. It is a matter of time and the opportunity will present itself. Not always does the homework go the way you would like but it is always great for future hunts.