Hunting Journal

It was 28 degrees when I left the tent this morning. When I returned at noon it was just shy of 70. I sat near the tube today. At first light I had a small doe and spikehorn go past me. They made their way up the hill. Shortly after three does went down the hill toward the brook. At 7:15 two does and a small buck came flying off the hill to my left. A half hour later a big/borderline 8-pointer came on the same trail grunting like a pig. I also saw fawn on the road above me at 10am. When I got back to the truck at 11:30 a nice 8-pointer crossed the pasture in front of me as I was loading my stuff into the backseat. He hopped the fence and headed up the hill. I saw one doe this evening. The wind was howling. I saw in the timber below what my buddies call the Grunt Stand. You basically have to grunt and groan as you climb a cliff to get to it. Therefore the name fits it perfectly.

Dad sat in the bowl this morning. He saw a nice 8-pointer and four does. Tonight he saw two 6-pointers in the big timber plot which is a mixture of different feed this year. It has turnips, clover and winter wheat.

There’s supposed to be a cold front moving through tonight. Hopefully the deer will be on the move tomorrow. I’ve attached a picture of what it looks like in the bowl where dad sat this morning. It’s one of my favorite places to sit on this piece of property. It’s about a hundred yard strip of timber in between a bean field and a cornfield. I’ve also attached a picture of a couple of water tanks in the farmer’s yard where I parked this morning.

This picture sums up how dad and I feel about being able to hunt this property in KS.

A view from the bottom of the bowl. I've seen a lot of bucks here.

It was a cool morning at 37 degrees with a northwest wind. It quickly warmed up to 70 degrees though. I sat near the tube. I saw a raccoon and a coyote, but no deer. Dad sat in the bottom this morning. He saw a basketrack buck, two does and a pretty good 8-pointer. He took a lot of video of that buck. When we were scouting around in the bottom we found a HUGE sycamore tree. It was awe-inspiring to look at. It’s one of those rare finds that the more you look at it the more amazing it is.

This evening I saw a doe and fawn. I also rattled in a really good 8-pointer that wouldn’t cross the brook in the bottom and another spike who thought he ruled the kingdom. I got a lot of video of the little bugger. He thought he was something else. It was fun to watch. Rattling has never worked for me so it was pretty cool when the 8-pointer came charging down the hill right after I finished the sequence.

Dad used a bleat in heat can and bleated in three bucks. He had a doe near him that the does were interested in. It has been a lot of fun so far. I really enjoy being out here even though it’s so far away from home. It’s unlike anyplace I’ve ever hunted for whitetails. I’d live here if I could. If you love big whitetails this is definitely one of the places you should go.

The huge sycamore in the bottom.

Dad stands in front of the sycamore.

An up-close view.

The badass spike that came into the rattling sequence.

Note the time between this photo and the next with Mr. Big.

A big mature buck.

The 13th of November has treated me well in the past. I’ve killed some really good Adirondack bucks on the 13th. I sat in the bowl again this morning. I saw a nice 8 pointer a few hours into my sit. Around 10:30am I had a small double main-beam buck chase a doe past me. A also saw 2 does go across the cornfield at first light. Dad saw many of the same deer out of the stand in the Christmas tree down below me a little ways.

This afternoon I went over to check out the big timber food plot. I saw 2 bucks on my way in. I couldn’t tell how big either of them were. I also saw two 8-pointers, does does and a borderline 10-pointer which never came close enough to offer a shot. I had a problem with my blood when it was time to get out of the tree. It took a few minutes to recover, but everything was ok. Dad sat in the bottom tonight. He saw 2 does, a spikehorn and a nice 8-pointer.

My buddies Doug and Steve connected on a nice, husky Adirondack 4-pointer today back home. Here’s a picture of a nice buck I killed on November 13 in 2002.

A nice buck on the trailcam.

Trailcam 8-pointer

One of the 8-pointers I saw in the evening.

The 8-pointer I passed in the morning.

Another shot of him.

Small 8-pointer