I can't wait to follow along. I always enjoy this hunt. Have fun and good luck!!!!
Lenny
Hahahahahahaha! Classic. Mike
Not on Public or WIHA land as of this year...hopefully not at all next year!
Clutch, did you actually get another tag for KS?
I finally got a pair of Cabelas game ear "muffs". These didn't have that great of a review, but my hearing is so poor, I figured what the heck.... so far, I am just painfully aware of many sounds I have been missing in the woods over the past few years. They also keep your ears warm.
That buck is a really tough one to pass up. I'm not sure what I would have done. However, I agree that the hunting from Sunday on should be great. I get to Kansas tomorrow afternoon and am starting to think my timing will be perfect! Good luck!
And good luck on the stalk...definately one of the toughest things to do on a big whitetail...would make a great story...
Nice job on the stalk. Lucky he was facing the other way as you just about stepped on him.
Chris
At least you didn't have to fire up the helicopter to find your buck this year. ;-)
Matt
Now if Jake can put the final piece in the puzzle.
CONGRATS PAT :-)
CONGRATS PAT :-)
Jake, lets have a report. Best of luck!
Curious, now that the hunt is over looking back are you still glad you passed the 5.5 year old spot and stalk buck for the one you took. I'm sure you'll take a lot of big deer in the next 20 years but I don't know if you'll ever have a chance to take a mature deer on the ground in the way you could have the other day.
I was wondering the same thing. There's no bigger thrill than killing a mature buck in a spot and stock situation, in my book.
I can't imagine passing on that opportunity, just because of a few broken tines.
That may not be a popular opinion, here, but it's mine, and I'm not ashamed of it. I'm curious what inspires a different opinion.
Matt
I'd be curious if you have any theories on the buck's reaction to the shot (laying down so quickly and putting his head down)?
I'd guess it is the traumatic pain of a liver hit but that's a unique reaction to a shot that far back for sure....
You got to like a guy when he brings it to you just like it is, no fluff, no promo, just cut and dry. He even admits he didn't like the shot, felt it was bad on release, doesn't like to shoot far distance. This is hunting in its purest form, well done and great hunt, all of it!
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side note: i think chip shots, asside from longer range shots wound the most deer, i speak from experience unfortunately:( My theory is we simply take them for granted thinking there is no way we won't hit where we're aiming and just shoot without picking a hair. i know i have been guilty of that now and then. all you're thinking is, "he is gonna look great on the wall" or "this was a quick hunt" or "man the heater in the truck is gonna feel great".
fine buck Pat
Right on 'Bou. I've never stalked a whitetail. Had one walk by at 10' from the bush I was sitting in. Never been another kill like that one.
Lots of wind in Kansas. Maybe it could happen again. But on a buck like that?
Yesterday morning I hunted Ken's tree stand. It is an outstanding stand in that you are well hidden in some cedar trees. I had a great morning, and with the wind and the cover, I could have done jumping jacks on that stand and not have been detected. I saw several bucks, including some eight pointers, but none that I felt would make P&Y.
Sunday evening, I hunted at the Barbie stand. I knew from speaking with one of last weeks hunters, that there was a VERY large ten point in that general vicinity, as well as a very nice nine point. I saw several small bucks and does, and around 4:45pm I got picked off by a very tall eight point. The tree is a big cottonwood, and I was about 25 feet in the air. How that buck caught me remains a mystery.
With about fifteen minutes of daylight remaining, I watched a doe and nice 8 point buck close within 30 yards of me. Suddenly the buck starts walking directly towards me in the tree....and then I hear it....grunting....BEHIND me. The eight point was closing on another buck behind my back. I ever so slowly turned my head and saw a BIG nine point coming around the tree. This was clearly one of the bucks that I had been told about.
Ordinarily, this is a no brainer for me. A buck of this caliber is a shooter....period. However, this is the very first day that the weather had finally broken, and the activity is just finally starting to show. My hunt isn't even half over, and Nancy and I have already filled my freezer back home with some NY venison.
I kept thinking about how early we seem to be in the rut, as well as that big ten point, and I decided to let this guy walk....at least for today. You can't kill the buck of your dreams, if you kill the first nice buck that walks in front of you. If my freezer had been empty, I would have shot the nine point.
Fast forward to today (Monday, November 12th). I spent the morning at the Maple tree stand. I had a dozen does and several small eights milling around me from 6:45am to 9:00am.
Around 9:15 am, I had a very large bodied eight point walk behind me and check on the scrape line. He was close enough to shoot, but he was behind me and to my right. With the does under the tree, and NO wind, I was afraid that if I tried to stand or twist (in case I wanted to shoot), that I would be busted. Instead, I sat tight, and if the buck veered towards a doe that was watching him approach, I would get a shot. He never checked her out....he just kept following the scrape line. That was the last deer I saw in the morning.
This evening, I hunted at the Kill Tree. THIS is the stand where the BIG ten point has been seen. I got into the tree around 1:30pm and it was an absolutely spectacular day. Fourty four degrees, NO wind, and the possibility of a MONSTER buck in the area. I was on cloud nine.
I sat in that stand for two and a half hours, and never saw a deer. Around four PM, I picked up my binoculars and started to glass the approximate area where the ten point had been seen. I eventually spotted a doe, then another doe, and then a third doe....and they kept looking back.
Every couple minutes I kept looking back in that area, and sure enough, after about 10 minutes, I spotted a fourth deer. When I put the glasses on him, I felt justified in passing on the nine point last night.
I have probably done more than my fair share of bowhunting....especially in the past eight years....and with all of the adventures that I have had, when I saw the rack on this bad boy, I was in awe.
He was 1,000 yards away and with binoculars I could clearly tell that he was 3-4 inches outside of his ears and his beam length is staggering. I felt privileged just to have laid eyes on him. What a magnificent animal!! The does and big guy were quartering away, and I eventually lost them in the brush and plum thickets.
Fast forward to thirty minutes before last shooting light.....I now have several does in front of me, and a couple 100" - 110" eight points and a badly busted up ten point in front of me. I look to my right, and here comes a pretty darn good looking buck. As he gets closer, I can tell that it is not the same nine point as last night, because this one has a broken G1 on his right antler, which has also has three very good tines on it. The left side has an eyeguard and two tines plus the main beam. His mass was very respectable, but I would estimate that he was slightly smaller than the one that I saw last night.
When this guy came into the bait, all of the deer scattered. Anytime that a doe got near the corn, he would snort wheeze and chase them away. Forget about romance, this guy wanted food. For the next fifteen minutes I debated about whether to shoot him, especially after seeing that BIG ten quartering away from me.
After fifteen minutes of debate, I got into position to shoot, and I even got to full draw of him....twenty yards away. Then it happened, I was probably 2-3 seconds away from releasing my arrow when my peripheral vision caught movement out in the distance.
RIGHT on the same bearing as where the BIG guy was seen, two or three hours earlier, I spotted three does..... and a buck behind them. I now have my pin on the nine point, but it hasn't "settled in" yet. I let down the bow.
Sure enough, these deer are headed right towards the Kill Tree. When they closed to about 150 yards, the nine point that I had drawn on, spots the buck and heads out towards him. The does continued to close on my position.
Pretty soon, the two bucks are "posturing" with each other, just like bull moose!! Suddenly, it's game on....these guys lock horns and even from 150 yards away, the fighting even SOUNDED vicious. These are big mature deer, and they are throwing each other around with such force that they are leaving their feet. After ten minutes of this absolute battle, the really nice nine point that I had just drawn on, is defeated. He circles the area, and eventually leaves.
The buck is now approaching my stand and I am perfectly set-up and ready for whatever the next few minutes brings. When the buck finally closes to within forty yards, he goes behind a huge limb of the cottonwood that I am sitting in. I can hardly wait to finally get a good look at this guy, especially after he conquered a really decent nine point buck that I was seconds away from shooting.
When the buck cleared the limb, I was astounded..... it was a gnarly, badly broken up eight point that had both eye guards, the G2 on his right antler, and half of his G3 on the left antler!! THIS is the buck that thumped that big nine?!! I had to chuckle. I watched that guy come into the corn, and he was gasping for air. Thirty minutes later, his breathing was STILL labored.
Just like the nine point that he had whooped, he wouldn't let any deer near the corn while he fed. He would wheeze, snort wheeze, chase, and even made clicking sounds at them.... but no one was going near HIS corn. Several young bucks came in started to chase the does around..... and the battler just kept eating corn. He never chased any of the young bucks away, unless they came near the corn, and even then, he tolerated them better than the does.
So, I got to see the buck of a lifetime, got to draw on a great nine point, watched one hell of a fight between two bucks, and while tomorrow may be a little bit windy, I have two days of hunting left and things are JUST getting interesting. I am having a blast!!!
JJ and Connie
Rick M
It wasn't meant to be, though, as I only saw about a dozen does and one badly broken up ten point which I had at twelve yards for about twenty minutes. Tomorrow is my last day of hunting....and I think that tomorrow morning, if the weather permits, I may try to hunt a place called Calvary Creek. Kent saw a nice ten point cross the road in that general vicinity this morning.....crunch time is approaching.
It wasn't meant to be, though, as I only saw about a dozen does and one badly broken up ten point which I had at twelve yards for about twenty minutes. Tomorrow is my last day of hunting....and I think that tomorrow morning, if the weather permits, I may try to hunt a place called Calvary Creek. Kent saw a nice ten point cross the road in that general vicinity this morning.....crunch time is approaching.
Great decision to throw one at him in a difficult situation.
I probably saw twelve to fifteen does and five or six small or half racked hucks. I also saw six turkeys, fifteen quail, one male pheasant and his two hens, several fox squirrels, and around ten AM, a coyote.
Since the action had died diwn by the time he came in, I took a shot at him. He was preoccupied with a squirrel that was about eight feet up a tree scolding him. His head was left, and his hutt was to the right.
When I released the arrow, at first I thought that I had hammered him. A second or two later, I realized that my shot was high. I an guessing that I clipped the top of the near side shoulder and exited through the center of the far side shoulder.
He ran about two uundred yards (and I don't kkow how) and when he turned to his right, I could see a pretty significant exit hole and most of the front shoulder was bloody. I tried to locate him to finish him off, when I got out of the tree, but I could not find him.
That leaves tonight as my final chance at a Kansas whitetail. I am hunting the Barbie stand. It was dead xalm from 12:30 until 3 pm. Now there is a good breeze from the south. I just got a photo of Lonny Travis's buck....what a dandy. I hope he left one over here for me
ave between two and two and a half hours of daylight remaining.....I will keep you posted.
I probably saw twelve to fifteen does and five or six small or half racked hucks. I also saw six turkeys, fifteen quail, one male pheasant and his two hens, several fox squirrels, and around ten AM, a coyote.
Since the action had died diwn by the time he came in, I took a shot at him. He was preoccupied with a squirrel that was about eight feet up a tree scolding him. His head was left, and his hutt was to the right.
When I released the arrow, at first I thought that I had hammered him. A second or two later, I realized that my shot was high. I an guessing that I clipped the top of the near side shoulder and exited through the center of the far side shoulder.
He ran about two uundred yards (and I don't kkow how) and when he turned to his right, I could see a pretty significant exit hole and most of the front shoulder was bloody. I tried to locate him to finish him off, when I got out of the tree, but I could not find him.
That leaves tonight as my final chance at a Kansas whitetail. I am hunting the Barbie stand. It was dead xalm from 12:30 until 3 pm. Now there is a good breeze from the south. I just got a photo of Lonny Travis's buck....what a dandy. I hope he left one over here for me
ave between two and two and a half hours of daylight remaining.....I will keep you posted.
In many parts of my life i have put the process ahead of the outcome when it comes to determining success.
Good work on the 100 yd + shot though, that's just plain cool (for a follow up shot of course)
A mature, massive bodied 5.5 yr. old, with a few broken tines, from the ground in a spot and stalk situation...
vs.
A 3.5 yr. old, with a nice rack, killed over a bait pile.
Hmm...I know which one I would choose. But as you said, everyone hunts for his own reasons.
Matt
I am fairly sure Pat has two camera's. One small camera that is always focused on him and one to film the deer (the one he dropped.)
Pat and Ron, Congratulations to both of you. Great looking deer.
I'm not even sure I can see 100 yds! LOL
Larv
Jake, as with many things in this world, several deer don't know what they owe others for their earlier sacrifice to your freezer. =D
Good fun. Many thanks for bringin' us along.
Ain't it the truth. I wonder if those older bucks break a few off intentionally, every year. ;-)
The bucks in Pat's area do seem to suffer from an abnormally high rate of broken antlers. Even the young buck Pat shot had a broken G2.
There must be some sort of deficiency in their diet. I wonder if a straight diet of corn has anything to do with that. I've hunted KS, further east of Pat's spot, for nearly 20 years. We've never baited....ever. We don't see nearly as many busted racks as Pat does.
Matt
Told by who?
Colorado was hit by the same drought. I haven't noticed any more broken antlers than normal around here. In fact, Its rather rare to see a busted rack in these parts.
I am concerned about the winter, however. In general, the deer don't seem to be carrying the body fat they normally would.
I hope they bulk up a little before the cold weather hits.
Matt
Both time it came from a band of lesser bucks getting a doe away from the stud.
Don't know if that is what happened here but the chases is consistent to what I have seen.
First time the little guys got the doe run off from him. The second time was last winter and the last I saw of it he had her away from them and was headed over the hill while they were trying to figure out what was going on
Pretty darn amazing when it happens, and a great video...
From what I gather thats how most outfits run things. Pat had permission from the outfitter to go after that buck, in fact he was filming the stalk for him.
Broken racks in ks...what's new? The answer is nothing. I'm a taxidermists and believe me finding the perfect rack in ks after the rut has started is tough..
