Hunting Journal

Today was our first full day of hunting in Kansas. It surpassed all expectations since I came without any. About an hour after daylight I saw two does, but nothing followed. An hour after that at 8:30 I saw a really good, but immature 10-pointer. He passed right underneath my stand and I took a short video clip of him. Shortly after he passed by a 6-pointer came into the woods from the corn-field behind me. A coyote followed a short time later but he didn’t offer a shot. At 10 o’clock I saw a big 7-pointer cruising along the top of the ridge. At 11:00 I saw a giant 10-pointer with a split brow. The guys have a bunch of trail-cam photos of him. He wasn’t interested in my grunt call cand kept going on his way. Dad saw the same small 6-point and 10-point. He also had a shooter 10-pointer at 12 yards. Since it was the first day he elected not to shoot him. He regrets that decision already. He thinks the deer scored in the 140’s, but it didn’t look mature.

This evening dad saw a small buck and a doe. I didn’t see anything. This is one of the bucks I passed the first day.

Immature buck. I passed him the first day in Kansas.

This has always been one of my best days for killing big bucks. I killed “The Ice Buck” on the 13th many years ago.

We spent most of the day on the road. Our goal was to arrive in Northeast Kansas in time to sit for a few hours in the evening. We will be hunting for a week with a couple of my friends who live there.

We got there in time to sit for a couple of hours. I saw 12 deer. Three or four of them were button bucks which is a good thing for next year. Dad went on the knob behind camp and saw three does and a small 4-pointer. I miss my mom and my dog Theo. I hope they’re keeping each other company. I saw a falling star tonight and wished that dad would kill a giant while we’re out here. We’ll see what happens.

I think my buddies Doug and Steve got a 10-pointer today back home. Since I’m updating this after returning I’m not sure if it was today or tomorrow, but it was one of these days. They killed him a little ways from where I got the pictures of Tank. I’m glad Doug got him. He’s having a great year in many ways. He went to the doctor recently and lost over a hundred pounds after his operation. Way to go Doug. I’m glad you got a good one.

The Tent we'll spend the week in while in Kansas

I killed the Ice Buck on 11/13 many years ago

My buddies Steve and Doug with Doug's buck that he killed in the Adirondacks

Today was our last day in Ohio. It was 35 degrees this morning and calm with a crystal clear blue sky. I saw a giant 10-pointer chasing a doe at 8:30 this morning. Unfortunately I had low blood sugar and my monitor was in my lap when the doe raced by my stand. I jammed it into my pocket when I heard the buck in pursuit. As he went behind my stand at 10 yards I attempted to draw my bow but the string hit the stand which caused the bow to misfire and launch the arrow into a tree about 40 yards away. It was disheartening, but you can’t do anything about health issues like that. After the episode I checked my blood and it was 31. I know that sounds pretty low to everyone and it is, but I can run really low numbers without even knowing it. I guess in some ways that’s good and in others it’s not so good.

Two hours later I shot over the back of a 13-140 10-pointer as he was feeding up the hill toward me. I thought I shot over the back of him, but I later found out that I hit him in the back. Ten minutes later Doug killed him after I wounded him. I guess you could say we had a great team effort to get him in the ground. By the time I got out of stand to get my arrow Doug finished the buck off. He was sitting on the other side of a ridge from me.

It was an ok year in Ohio. It was depressing to deal with all of the guys from my hometown in the beginning of the week. It all boils down to respect. Some people don’t have respect for others and that’s all it amounts to. Although I would never do the same thing I have to realize that others aren’t like me. Some people are solely in it for themselves and don’t see any wrong in their actions. Although they weren’t hunting the same property we were that’s not even the issue at hand. It’s deflating to think that your friends think so little of you, especially after you brought them someplace special to you and welcomed them into your world. Sad, very sad.

I’m not sure what we will do in the future. The number of non-residents keeps on climbing. I’m not sure if there’s an end in sight. It’s discouraging.

Here’s the picture of our tag team buck.

10-pointer: Me and Doug

Doug: The Final Shot

Me: The First Shot

It was 29 degrees this morning and warmed up to 70 by noon. Nobody saw a deer today except Doug. He saw a half-rack 8-pointer this morning and 3 does tonight. When dad and I came out of the woods at noon we saw a small 8-pointer and a dandy shooter 8-pointer in a wide open field chasing a doe. We’re going to sit until 10am in the morning, pack up and head for Kansas. This week has been tough hunting. The heat during the day has been tough as well as all of the non-resident hunters that are all over the place. We’ve seen less deer this year than any other year that we’ve hunted here. The only exception might be the year that blue tongue disease ravaged the area in 2007.

Through the course of the week we have adopted a cat and named it Bob. We named it Bob because it’s tail is bobbed. It sleeps with Brett and Dad depending on the night. The cat looks like its in good shape, but it’s in no hurry to leave. I think Brett would take it home if he had room.

The cat we named Bob. It will be sad to leave him behind.

Today was an interesting day. It was 29 degrees this morning and warmed up to around 70 by mid-afternoon. I saw a small 8-pointer and 7 does this morning. The buck was chasing some does around. He was young and stupid.

Around 8am dad came on the radio and told me that he shot a buck. He was somewhat disappointed because he passed it before electing to shoot it. He shot it because it was limping. Although it wasn’t dying or anything the deer looked uncomfortable. Since it was a decent deer he decided to take him.

He didn’t want to take him at first because he saw 8 bucks and 5 does. Of course one of the does was hot which is why all of the bucks were in the area. Two of the bucks were much larger than the one he shot.

When we got the deer on the ground we discovered why the deer looked uncomfortable. He had been shot head on and it was a really recent wound. The shot hit on the righ of the brisket and came out the arm-pit. It wasn’t anything more than a flesh wound and the deer would have easily recovered.

I called Brett and Doug to help us get the deer out. We dragged the deer to a place where it would be easy to cart him out. As we were latching the deer onto the cart three guys from Florida were on the ridge above us. They quickly made their way down to where we were. A taller thin guy, probably 10 years younger than me said “Hey, you got my deer there.” Confused we all said “What?”

He said “That’s my deer I shot him this morning and you stole him.” For a few minutes it was a little tense. After he learned that dad had shot him he said “What did you shoot him with?” We couldn’t figure out why he was asking. Ticked off at this point dad said “I shot him with a shotgun! What do you think I shot him with?” I jumped in and said “He shot him with a field-point.”

The guy got testy and asked to see the hole in it. Well, dad smoked him when he was quartering away so he hit every vital organ inside. Doug showed him the hole as well as the flesh wound that this guy had created.

After a few minutes of discussion we headed out. These guys were not happy, but we weren’t either. It was very easy to see that the deer wasn’t going to die from the wound that they had inflicted. The amazing part is that they were tracking the deer in short-sleeve shirts and no weapons at all.

I was glad when the episode ended. I hope we’re never in that situation again. I could understand the guy’s frustration, but it’s his responsibility to own up to the fact that he didn’t make a good shot. Actually I couldn’t figure out why he even would have shot at a deer head-on.

Here’s dad’s buck.

Dad's 8-pointer 11/10/2010

It’s getting hotter. The morning was a nice sit. It was 35 degrees but the temperature quickly made its way into the 70s. We get this heat every year. It’s amazing because it’s early November. Sometimes it’s easy to forget how far south we are which is part of the reason for the high temperatures.

I saw a really big 10-pointer this morning at 8am. I got him to come closer with a few grunt and can calls. He was behind a doe and never offered a shot before heading back up the hill. I could have smoked the doe, but he was still fairly alert. The rut hasn’t taken over his survival sense yet.

I saw another small buck at 10am. On my way out of the woods I saw a buck chasing a doe across a ridge. Today is a day I should have stayed in my stand, but I didn’t pack a lunch. This evening I hunted the same stand. I saw a 4-pointer and three does.

Dad saw a 4-pointer this morning and Doug saw a 3-pointer. Brett was pumped up when he got back to camp. He saw a giant 8-pointer behind a doe. He said it was the biggest 8-pointer he has seen dead or alive. He has seen some good ones come through his father’s taxidermy shop so I can only imagine how big this buck was. Hopefully he’ll get another look at him later in the week.

It was 28 degrees when we headed out this morning. The wind was calm. When we came out of the woods at 1pm for lunch it was up to 65 degrees. It eventually topped out in the low to mid 70s.

Brett and I didn’t see anything. Doug saw a 6-pointer and a doe tonight and dad saw a 3-pointer this evening. It was a pretty slow day.

It was 20 degrees when we headed out this morning. It topped out at 45 later in the day. There was a steady south wind most of the day. I saw seven does and a six-pointer this morning and nothing the rest of the day. Doug saw a 10-pointer chasing a doe this morning, but it was too far away for a shot. He saw a small 4-pointer tonight. Dad saw a few does today and Brett didn’t see anything except some turkeys. A warm front is moving in. We’re not seeing many deer between all of us but I have a feeling someone is going to connect on a good one.

It was 25 degrees when we headed out this morning with a west wind.

I saw a nice 10-pointer following 2 does this morning. He was a few minutes behind them and made his way to within 20 yards of my stand. I was going to shoot if a shot presented itself. As he was getting closer he bolted forward to chase one of the does. He never offered a shot and eventually wandered off after he pestered the does. The rest of the morning I only saw one button-horn. I saw the 10-pointer at 9:30am.

Dad didn’t see anything this morning. This evening he saw a spike, three does and a button-horn. Doug saw a good buck chasing a doe tonight but it was too far away for a shot. Brett saw a 4-pointer and six does this morning. Tonight he saw a 6-pointer and a doe.

One of the guys from my hometown shot an 11-pointer last night a few miles down the road and another one of them wounded a buck. In the last few days they’ve killed 2 bucks and wounded one…….that I know of.

One of the local guys that we know stopped to see us. From what he says many local people are not happy at all. They couldn’t figure out why a few of them were in an area next to the highway (as they call it, a main road back home). They later determined that a deer was in the small piece of land and a few guys from my hometown were trying to chase it out onto some land they could hunt on. Of course I’m hearing this third-hand so I really have no idea what really happened. Some other locals are ticked off because they’ve had permission to hunt a few pieces of land and the person granting permission also granted it to these guys.  From what I gather there’s some tension floating around town, but it’s quiet tension. I can fully understand it and as sad as it is I feel somewhat responsible. At least the gang is leaving tomorrow so it should clear the air.

We arrived in Ohio around noon today. It stayed around 40 degrees all day and it was breezy. We saw a few good bucks that were out cruising while we were on the road.

When we arrived in our camping spot it was really disheartening to learn that a buddy of mine that I brought to this place a few years ago and introduced to a few local people was staying across the road at one of the local’s houses. It wouldn’t have stung so bad if he was alone. Instead, he had 8 people including himself.

Here we are ten hours from home with a bunch of people from our hometown across the road. The state is very large and there are many other towns to hunt in. I don’t understand why people have to be unethical in a sense in return to places that they never would have known about if they hadn’t been brought there by someone else. It all boils doin to ethics and the way you were brought up.

We were able to sneak into the woods for a few hours before dark. For the week I will be hunting with dad, Doug Vaughn and Brett Dufour.

Dad saw a big 8-pointer tonight but it was traveling in the opposite direction from him while searching for some does. He also saw some big rubs in the area that he hunted.

Brett and I didn’t see anything other than a few scrapes here and there. Doug saw a couple of does.

It appears that there is going to be a lot of non-residents in the area this year besides the 8 guys from my hometown. We saw two vehicles full of guys from South Carolina as well as a few vehicles with plates from Michigan, Georgia, Florida and New Jersey.

Eight years ago we very rarely saw a non-resident. Now, everyone thinks they can go to Ohio and shoot a huge buck without doing any work. It’s sad because they end up killing year and a half old bucks or 2 1/2 year old bucks which in the long term will destroy the deer herd in the state. Hunting TV has created this monster and I anticipate it will only get worse.