Weapon: Compound (Mathews Solocam SE4 - Z7 Composite Limb System)
I-Phone Video Attachment: Ground Attack (KS made)
Broadhead: Swhacker 2 Blade 125 gr. 2.25" Cut
Hang-on Tree Stands: Millenium M150 Monster Hang-On
Cover Scent: Scent Thief (I get boxes of this stuff from the Owner in Missouri). Not sure if it is even sold in central KS market or not? Would assume so? IMO, works great!
Deer Scent: James Valley "Wall Hanger" Dominant Buck Lure GEL (have incredible history using this scent....will share video of a past encounter later on in the thread).
Let the fun begin!
Stand: "Upper River" Ladder
This ladder stand is located along the edge of a timbered river bottom and a sea of Flinthills prairie. West and beyond the timbered river bottom is AG (recently cut soybeans). The prairie to the east of the stand is higher and falls downhill toward it and the timbered river bottom below which creates a protected funnel/pinch point between the prairie and timbered river bottom. The ladder stand faces east with best shots out into the prairie along multiple deer trails that parallel both sides of paddock fence lines and nearby fence crossings (all part of the properties that I hunt) along with a few select shooting lanes down thru the timbered river corridor behind/below the ladder stand.
The evening of 10/30 was one of the most beautiful and still evenings while hunting that I can remember. While walking in, there was a doe bedded at a nearby spring between me and where I was headed. She saw me but didn't spook as I was down wind of her. I backed out and hiked the long way around to my ladder stand to avoid her spooking and running thru my hunting area beyond her.
About 6pm a double white throat patched momma doe with female and male fawns (see videos below) came down one of the fence line trails. The male fawn crossed under and ate acorns under my oak tree and I saw the start of his buttons. The momma and female fawn crossed under at one of the crossings. At about 6:15PM, I saw a big wide 10ptr. in the timber north of me (that I would have shot) with crab claws on his outer main beam ends that was feeding on acorns all by himself. I decided that I would not call or rattle to him but instead let him do his thang with the hopes he would naturally feed on acorns my direction. Instead of feeding south to me he fed north away from me. Awhile later, it was too dark to see him and I snuck out of there without spooking any deer. He has no idea I was there and hope to see him again during another future hunt!
While hiking out, the nesting pair of Bald Eagles along the nearby river sounded off with their bedtime chirping and that got what sounded like 6-8 gobblers that were roosting near the eagles going for a little bit. Turkeys roosting near eagles...strange?
Stay tuned for the next hunt!
I am banking on the does coming in there to hide from the bucks that will be pestering them and then bring the bucks right along with them as they feed on the bountiful acorns within that timbered portion of acreage where my stand is located.
Will let you know when I get settled into the stand and the Hunt is officially on!
Stand: "Timber Thicket" Hang-on
4pm…just got settled in the stand. Got here later than I’d like but we’ll see what the next few hours brings. Let’s Get Ready To RUMBLE!
And it's been so long ago that I forget why some called it cheese town.
Ray & JT....yes, Sir! All my videos are taken with my lil ole I-Phone 8. Yeah, I know it's ancient but I think it does alright and it fits my attachment/holder A-OK. Hope the quality is good on the viewers end?
Didn't "light the world on fire" during last nights hunt. Never saw the deer that was walking West of me out of view but I hung to hope until last light. Overall, my first sit at the "Timber Thicket" was actually kind of a DUD...but more than thrilled to be out in God's creation! Scrapes and rubs were everywhere. So, that spot is definitely getting lots of action. The scrape near my stand looks like they are digging to China.
See the attached videos of the skittish doe that had come in and a 360 deg. "semi-live" view from the stand. I will be back to that spot sometime in mid-late Nov. as I am going to let my buddies hunt it over the next few weeks. I have some other stands to hunt and excited to climb up in'em. Good Luck to all of you trying to get it done as well!
Stand: "Middle" Hang-on
The "middle" stand as I call it is in the "middle" of the property along a long wide deep draw about 1/2 mile long. The end of the draw to the NW dumps out at a major timbered creek drainage and the other end of the draw (close to where I am located) stops out in the middle of the prairie. The nearest timber is a 1/2 mile away in all directions. Deer love this deep wide draw as it affords them concealment as they move throughout the property. There is really no mast crop trees for them to feed on while in the draw. I feel it is a secure staging area and deer from all directions drop down into it to connect and travel to other areas of the property and to cross paths with deer there or others that have come thru. Also, there is a generational fence crossing here (where 3 paddocks come together) that they have all used since they were babies so they (does and bucks) are indoctrinated into using it as they travel thru this protected draw.
Per the first pic., red "X" is stand location and yellow "circle" is the fence crossing. At the top and bottom of the pic. you can see the rocky ledge that lines the top of the draw and is probably 60'-80' height difference between the bottom of the draw and hilltop above. From the stand, there is timber/brush to the southeast for about 300 yds and timber/brush to the northwest for about 200 yds. The stand is located near a small break or opening between the two segments of cover.
On Sat. I watched the sunrise and sunset from the tree and never left it the entire day. Action was early (8:30am) as a small 6 chased 4 does out of the cover NW of me. Then nothing until Noon. At noon, a spike buck bedded down just NW of the fence crossing and stayed there until 3:30pm. All the while, nothing else came thru the area. Nothing continued except my persistent head nods (quick power naps as the mid-day sun and constant white noise from the wind lulled me to sleep a few times).
Then at 5:30pm, I hear a deer snort in the timber about 80 yds east of me (See second pic. "X"). I didn't hear it running away so assumed it was still in there and possibly coming my way. So, I hopped up and me and the bow were at the ready in case it came down one of the three trails near my stand. Next thing I know, I see a deer heading up the hillside to my NE and by the time it reached the top of the hillside I had the bino's on it to get a better look at what it was. It was no doubt a shooter (13ptr. with extra trash/kickers, etc.), so I decided to put the bow down and grab the horns. Did a light sparring sequence with some grunts thrown in and stopped him in his tracks at the top of the hill (see second pic. "circle") and finished it off with the can call. Then, down the hillside he comes stomping mad. I put the horns down and me and bow were at the ready. He hung up about 60 yds away behind some trees on the backside of a nearby dry creek bed directly across from the stand and stood there for what seemed like at least 1 min. looking for the deer he was going to fight (see second pic. "circle" down by dry creek bed). Then I guess because he didn't see a deer to fight he trotted away up and over the hill out of sight to the north (see second pic. "arrow"). Then darkness set in and the hunt was over. That last 5 min. was worth the whole day of sitting as it can happen at any given time. Close but no cigar!
Last pic. on the way home, "Ole Crusty" hat made a pit stop. Someone on here might recognize the location? Video provided shows 360 degree view from the "middle" stand where you can appreciate the security of this deep, wide and remote prairie draw/funnel.
Stay tuned, Hunt #4 will be coming mid-week from the Grand Osage WA Special Hunt and hoping for light winds and no 70-80 degree windy days! Who knows, I may have a "special" friend joining me on that hunt that should have been with me on this hunt?
Where: Grand Osage WA
Stand: Hunting from ground w/decoy.
Make sure you thank or hug a veteran today! Arrived in Parsons late yesterday which was actually day 2 of the week long hunt. Had enough time to set-up camp and go to headquarters at 4pm for my safety meeting and select my 2 areas to hunt…..”A” & “B” areas.
Area “A” is made up of interconnected wood lots and hay meadows with a few creaks meandering thru. Standing beans to the NW and mostly cut but some standing corn to the SE. This AM I didn’t push too far in and set near the SE corner of hayfield enclosed by timber and a creek along the south side. Just after daylight, I had 3 does come across the field to inspect the deke. They stopped about 10 yds up wind of it and stared at it for probably 5 min. At the same time, I noticed a young “high & tight” 10 ptr (mid-140’s) making a rub and freshening up a scrape at the western edge of the hayfield about 150 yds away. Had to use the binos to see how big he was or wasn’t. Probably too pixelated to see but see pic. with red circle.
I got to watching him so intently that the does apparently wandered off as they were gone when I focused back on them. Then I remembered I have a doe tag in my pocket with intentions of using it on this specific hunt. Does have been personally off limits for me for so long I just got into the same old habit of letting them come and go without a second thought.
Got up from my spot at 11 to do some scouting of the area in order to decide where to put up a stand. Found a great looking spot between 2 deer trails that criss-cross a 15 yd wide fire lane that separates two woodlots and near the NW beanfield (see pic.). The distance to both deer trails and (1) newly freshened up and worked scrape from the stand will be 28 yds each.
Will be scouting Area “B” this afternoon to decide where to hang a stand in that area tomorrow. When I sign out tonight I will take a pic of the picture board showing the bucks that have been killed so far.
The afternoon was full of does and dinks. Dinks were following and not really chasing yet. All told, saw about 20 deer today. I have decided I will take a doe near the end of the hunt as fooling with one would take up part of a precious day of buck hunting!
Scouted Area “B” mid-day. Looks dang good and will be hunting it tomorrow. Found the biggest rub I have ever laid my eyes on (see pic. with my bow to give it some scale). I want to see that heavyweight!
Mark…since I was a day late at arriving I picked last….20A & 20B and knew it would be that way and rightly so. Out of the 4 areas I was interested in from aerial pre-scouting 3 of them were still actually available.
For this hunt so far, only (1) doe and (1) buck have been shot and not sure if the buck was found or not?
See pic’s of last week’s Hunt Group 1 success board.
Looking forward to the updates!
Brian...your time is coming next week with Group 3 hunters. You getting ready and excited?
Mark....glad to have you along. Have you had a chance to dig into that Grand Osage WA buck yet. I heard when you take your first bite it is like a BOMB went off...get it?
Where: Grand Osage WA
Stand: Hunting from ground w/decoy.
Some pic's and videos from PM hunt mentioned in post above and the one above that with the upside down pic. Dinks, does and hoes!
Brian....yes, Marvel Park. Good Location and a little less than 10 min. away from the entry gates.
Where: Grand Osage WA (Special Hunt)....cause I'm special?
Stand: Hunting from ground
Hunted Area "B" for the first time this AM. Wind was blowing WNW 25-30 mph, so I set up on the east side of a timbered draw and below some pond dams which helped cut the wind down by 10mph or so (Due to technical difficulties-See Pic. in post below). At 7am, the action started early. To my right, I saw a doe coming down the trail that I was uphill/downwind of and watching. Following behind her, I could see (2) sets of antlers. Glassed'em both and decided they were not shooters. Both bucks came within 10 yds of me. Had to scramble to get video of them because they were all 3 so close....therefore kind of a crazy video (Due to technical difficulties-See video in post below). Then later 9:30 had a doe come down the same trail but opposite direction (Due to technical difficulties-See video in post below).
For PM hunt, I set up within sight of the gigantic rub (see post above). Nadda, Nothing.
Tomorrows conditions (cold and no wind) are setting up to be perfect. Have a feeling a handful of Group 2 hunters will be connecting!
But....the meat is definitely a milder flavor than those in my local that just survive off woody browse.
I feel that 'Monday' is going to be your day! Don't ask me why......
Where: Grand Osage WA
Stand: Hunting from ground…again. Did I tell you that I absolutely hate hanging stands….especially when doing it by myself and the fact I hung (11) sets on my private grounds with my buddies back in early Oct. So, on this hunt I didn’t hang either of the 2 hang-ons that I brought.
Man what a difference a day makes when comparing yesterday to today. A cold and incredibly still morning with little to no wind but had a little S-SW to it. PERFECT for killing a buck!
Strategy: Yesterday, I hunted Area "B" for both AM & PM hunts. This morning, I decided to go back to area “A” and hunt the 2 main trails that criss-cross at the firelane that separates two large blocks of timber with a huge field of standing beans nearby.
So, I sat down on the same downed tree trunk that I sat the other night when seeing just dinks and does and faced south staring intently into the wind and watching the south trail (25 yds away) as that was the trail they seemed to prefer the other night. Therefore, as a result I knew I would be giving up the north trail (30 yds) behind me and over my right shoulder. However, with a windless day I should hear’em if approaching downwind/behind me and maybe have enough time to slowly spin around for a shot. Anyway, still a little concerned about that I reached into my arsenal and took out my small bottle of Wall Hanger buck lure gel and placed it right next to me with the lid off.
The Hunt: Action started at 6:30, when 2 small 120-130 class bucks where hot on the tail of a single doe. Then 3 more buck groups came thru my woodlot either bumping or chasing does. Then it got quiet for a while. Quiet long enough that my mind started to wander and I started strategizing where I might hunt this evening. The sound of crunching leaves “behind/downwind” of me had me concerned. Hoping it was a squirrel but knowing it was a heavier sound than what a squirrel makes, I slowly turned my head to my right shoulder and in my peripheral vision saw the doe. Then a smaller 10 ptr. paralleling her. I could just make out another buck further behind them. So, I grabbed the bow locked in and quickly spun around. When I did, the doe and small 10pt. stopped dead in their tracks…but the other deer further back didn’t catch my movement and in he came crashing to get himself in position to use his larger body to essentially block the small 10 pt from the doe. He soon noticed that they were on alert and so he too stood still staring daggers into me like the other two were already doing. So here I am, on the ground at the same level as them with doe on my left, buck in the middle (straight in front of me) and small 10pt on my right. They can’t figure out what I am…I don’t look like a buck to them but I smell like one by golly. So, they creep and creep closer to either get a better look or a better whiff.
Small 10 pt. decides he’s not gonna get any closer and starts moving further to my right in an attempt to circle me. As he does this, the buck in the middle follows his movements to keep him blocked from the doe. Well, the middle "bigger" buck stopped broadside and lingered a bit too long in a narrow space between tree trucks and I let’er fly. He took off to my right and saw him go down after a short 30 yd sprint. Then he raised up 1/2 way and tipped over for good. All within sight and all on video. Need to edit the video to make it smaller size and will do that once back in Wichita with better/constant service. Look for the videos of the shot and blood trail to be uploaded to this thread soon.
At the time of this post, Group 2 has only killed 2 bucks (5 days into a 7 day hunt). Of the 20 hunters in Group 2, majority are KS residents and (2) OK, (1) MO, (1) MN, (1) FL. Me and one of the other “Okies” are the only two on the board. Good bunch of guys and I have confidence they will drop some bruisers in the few hunt days that remain.
Almost forgot to mention, while kneeled over gutting my buck with both hands, both arms and knife way up in his chest cavity a dad gum 10 ptr a little bigger than mine runs right by me chasing a doe (20 yds away). At that point I thought I was dreaming but it was real…real as warm blood on a cold, calm GRAND Nov. morning in KS!
Secondly, I’m personally glad to see someone hunting from the ground. Very overlooked tactic... in my opinion.
Grand Osage is a unique opportunity. Never hunted it, but toured it... what an experience for you!
Also, when their is a task at hand (gutting) you forget rope you improvise by using the rope on the rattling horns.
Also, if space is limited due to hauling a travel trailer and all (I know how that can be) they have 2 or 3 deer carts sitting at the check-in for people to use when they need’em. They look pretty old and abused but assume they work or they wouldn’t have them there for hunters to use. Good Luck on Wed…..can you believe your hunt is almost here?
Also, if you pause the video right before I shoot, you can see doe on left edge of screen, obviously my buck in middle and smaller buck along right edge of screen. A little disappointed that the Lumenok didn't show up better but oh well. There are worse things that could have happened like a miss or wounding the big guy. Enjoy!
Stay tuned for the Blood Trailing video next!
I think your success was noteworthy not just because he is a great buck; or that you took him on the ground; but because you drew dead last; didn’t arrive until the second day and was hunting an unfamiliar area. Congrats again for taken us in the ride and the superlative harvest!
I still have a doe tag in my pocket and trail cam video's to check on my private ground. Stay tuned for more hunting journal entries to come! Keep'on a Huntin! -CB-
I have a GoPro Hero 3 that I plan to incorporate along with my I-Phone attachment. Will be practicing with the use and operation of the GoPro on my upcoming doe hunts. If on my body, I expect it can provide a different and clearer perspective of the shot without the bow vibration.
