We rolled into Kansas around midnight last night. We got up at sun-up and headed into the woods. The wind was ungodly and at times gusted up to 45mph. I sat in a stand for an hour, but couldn’t handle it any longer. After I climbed down I decided to sit in some heavy brush just to get out of the wind. I didn’t wander too far as I was still adjusting to the new place and new surroundings from the last week.
As I sat in the thicket on the edge of a cornfield I imagined big bucks walking by me as I remained hidden amongst all of the small trees. Suddenly I could see a doe running along the edge of the field below me. I knew something was chasing her. A few seconds later a giant buck ran her up the hill across the ravine from me. I sat there in amazement. It was a really cool experience and I sat back and let it sink in.
A few seconds later I spotted the doe headed right toward me and he was right on her tail. When she cut to the left I could almost touch her with my elbow when she stopped. She was extremely nervous and I could see her eye twitching. At full draw I waited patiently for the big buck to take the same path. Instead of following in her footsteps he took a different route and stopped about 10 yards in front of me. There was a lot of brush, but I decided I would shoot if I could. Although the doe was so close I extended lower body beyond the tree in front of me and tried to find the sight pin to center on the buck’s chest. As soon as I moved he started doing the notorious head-bob that is usually associated with younger deer back home. I knew it was now or never so I released the arrow. It was quite disheartening to hear it rattling out through the bushes as he bounded up the hill and disappeared.
A few minutes after he disappeared a small 8-pointer came by on the doe’s trail. He wasn’t anything I was interested in shooting so I watched him as he continued past me in pursuit of the hot doe.
Dad saw a really nice 8-pointer this morning. It was similar to the one he killed in Ohio last year, but for the first day he decided it wasn’t what he wanted. This evening I didn’t see anything and dad saw three does. The wind is absolutely horrible. Hopefully it calms down a little bit.