Kansas 2022
Just got back from a trip to my lease in Kansas. I have been on this lease for 2 years. I can honestly say this is my favorite place to hunt. It is simply amazing country with crazy big deer. I have seen so many 160+ deer on this place. I was blessed to be asked to join this lease last year and can't wait to go again next year.
I do have a bunch of Krivoman Blinds on towers throughout the lease, but where I ended up hunting is just a tree stand on a Field edge along a wood creek bottom. Been running a trail cam on this spot and had 3 stupid big deer on a very regular basis using this travel area. A 9 with trash around his bases, a big clean 10 and a monster mass 6x4 we call moose. A truly special animal. Moose would usually hit the cameras in the middle of the night, but the other 2 were day walkers. So I figured I had a good chance at seeing them in person.. Problem with this setup is it runs north and south, so based on where they were feeding at night and bedding during the day, I needed a North wind for evening hunts and S wind for mornings. The tree is a big tree about 10 yards in from the corn field edge. The deer parallel the field on 2 trails. One right under my tree and the second is about 30 yards in.
Trail cam pics
On the first evening hunt, I saw a handful of deer, but no bucks. The next day I had truck problems thanks to very lazy employees at the oil change place who decided I did not need the rubber grommet/ gasket on the top of my new fuel filter for my Duramax. They just screwed it on as tight as possible hoping it would seal up. So the truck stopped running in the middle of the ranch and I had to find a guy to come out and work on the truck in the field etc.. But that is another story. But having to skip a full day of hunting really with great wind made me mad. But decided to roll with it and sneak in super early the next morning. Mornings are hard to get in as you have to walk about 1000 yards across a wide open corn field to get to the stand. That means everything can see you. Anyway, I was able to sneak in without much of a problem. Just got lucky nothing was standing in the area. I had several deer filter by my tree. For the people who do not believe in the power of Ozonics, you are missing out on a serious tool in the deer hunters tool box. It is not fail safe, but it has saved hunts so many times when I knew 100% that the deer had me in there nose, but the ozonics just covered enough that they stood there confused. This was one of those days. I had a young buck come directly downwind at about 30 yards. I was watching him pass and knew he was about to hit my wind. Sure enough, he locks up, head down, head up, head down, head up, nose up, head turns right at me. Or at least in my direction, He tried for the better part of 5 plus minutes to get me. He would walk back and forth. He would walk out of my wind, then back in and stop again. I tell people the best I can explain how it works is that the deer smells me, but thinks I am maybe 300 to 400 yards away instead of 30-40 yards. While I am watching this buck try to wind me, I see a deer walk 5 yards from me on the opposite side of my tree. Since I can't move I can't turn to look at him. After a couple minutes the young buck to my left walks behind a tree and I look to my right. What I thought was probably a doe turned out to be the big 9 point with trash. He is all in the 160s and standing at 5 yards. He slowly turns and just walks back out to the field edge and works his way north making scraps. I had told myself I was not going to shoot the 9 based on trail cam pics. Well they were wrong, he was bigger than I thought. But nothing I could do as he walked out of my life. Once he left I looked back to the smaller buck and he finally relaxed and walked on by and headed down into the creek.
About 30 min later I had a button buck walk the trail right under the tree. He stands under me and licks on the trophy rock. I notice his momma coming 30 yards out. She does what the smaller buck did and goes on the downwind side. So once again I know what is about to happen. She gets to my wind funnel and locks up. She does basically the same thing the buck does. Back and forth and head up and down. Same thing though, she can't get enough of me to snort. About 3 or 4 minutes go by and her head yanks up and looks dead north.. Ears forward. I am about 12 foot up and can only see about 80 yards north. She is on the ground and can see much further. She is dead locked on something for a minute or so. I knew something was coming from upwind. I look down at the button Buck at 5 yards and his head looks up and locks in as well. Then the little guy does the slow backwards walk in reverse. It was at this point I knew a big deer was coming. I figured it was probably the big 9 as that is exactly where he went. About that time I see a huge typical frame come around the tree that is on the trail leading directly under me. He is about 60-80 yards out. It is at the moment that my heart made itself known. Large lump in my throat trying to get out. I knew this was the big typical 10. The button buck ran over to his momma and she turned to walk back away from me. This gave me the chance to grab my bow and lock on. When the buck was about 45 yards out he turned to go over where the doe was standing. So panic sets in as I can remember any of the tree yardages, even though I have ranged them all 50 times. Nothing in my brain was working great. So I dug my rangefinder out and shot a couple spots to get range. The buck stopped behind a tree and I ranged his rump at 33 yards. Then I ranged the 2 open spaces in front of him. and put my rangefinder up. By the time I put it away I had already forgotten all the yardages again. Remember, my brain ain't working right. Thankfully he stopped again and I repeated the process. He started walking and I came to fulldraw. At that moment, he turned and headed right in my direction for a bit, then stopped. I am at full draw waiting for him to turn. I stay in this position for about 50 seconds. When I ranged the spot he was in before turning he was 32 yards. I thought he had walked about 4 or 5 yards towards me. So I am looking through my peep thinking he is about 28 yards. I used my 30 yard pin and felt I was holding it low. He turned and gave me a broadside and I sent it. Well it hit him high on the shoulder and rode up and spined him. He dropped like a rock backwards and rolled around a bit. I grabbed another arrow then ranged him and he was 25 yards. So now I know exactly where he is at and let him have it with my number 2 arrow. He stands up kinda and flips over again. I grab my third and final arrow and let it rip. He is now pinned to the ground from every angle. I doubt he would have gone anywhere after arrow number 2, but might as well smoke em if you got em..
After the shot I fell apart. Shaking uncontrollable. I really did not notice how bad it was until I watched my cell phone video back. The tree I was in had no branches around me that I could have attached my camera to, so unfortunately no video of the shot. As soon as my third arrow was launched I picked up my cell phone and started recording. I did not notice at the time, but he was still moving a little when I was talking. When I zoom in on him the first time you can see the arrow move as well as his front leg. It was a crazy hunt and my first out of Texas buck. And from a Tree no less. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video as it is really all I have to show besides the LDPs.
****** Video---- ******
Just got back from a trip to my lease in Kansas. I have been on this lease for 2 years. I can honestly say this is my favorite place to hunt. It is simply amazing country with crazy big deer. I have seen so many 160+ deer on this place. I was blessed to be asked to join this lease last year and can't wait to go again next year.
I do have a bunch of Krivoman Blinds on towers throughout the lease, but where I ended up hunting is just a tree stand on a Field edge along a wood creek bottom. Been running a trail cam on this spot and had 3 stupid big deer on a very regular basis using this travel area. A 9 with trash around his bases, a big clean 10 and a monster mass 6x4 we call moose. A truly special animal. Moose would usually hit the cameras in the middle of the night, but the other 2 were day walkers. So I figured I had a good chance at seeing them in person.. Problem with this setup is it runs north and south, so based on where they were feeding at night and bedding during the day, I needed a North wind for evening hunts and S wind for mornings. The tree is a big tree about 10 yards in from the corn field edge. The deer parallel the field on 2 trails. One right under my tree and the second is about 30 yards in.
Trail cam pics
On the first evening hunt, I saw a handful of deer, but no bucks. The next day I had truck problems thanks to very lazy employees at the oil change place who decided I did not need the rubber grommet/ gasket on the top of my new fuel filter for my Duramax. They just screwed it on as tight as possible hoping it would seal up. So the truck stopped running in the middle of the ranch and I had to find a guy to come out and work on the truck in the field etc.. But that is another story. But having to skip a full day of hunting really with great wind made me mad. But decided to roll with it and sneak in super early the next morning. Mornings are hard to get in as you have to walk about 1000 yards across a wide open corn field to get to the stand. That means everything can see you. Anyway, I was able to sneak in without much of a problem. Just got lucky nothing was standing in the area. I had several deer filter by my tree. For the people who do not believe in the power of Ozonics, you are missing out on a serious tool in the deer hunters tool box. It is not fail safe, but it has saved hunts so many times when I knew 100% that the deer had me in there nose, but the ozonics just covered enough that they stood there confused. This was one of those days. I had a young buck come directly downwind at about 30 yards. I was watching him pass and knew he was about to hit my wind. Sure enough, he locks up, head down, head up, head down, head up, nose up, head turns right at me. Or at least in my direction, He tried for the better part of 5 plus minutes to get me. He would walk back and forth. He would walk out of my wind, then back in and stop again. I tell people the best I can explain how it works is that the deer smells me, but thinks I am maybe 300 to 400 yards away instead of 30-40 yards. While I am watching this buck try to wind me, I see a deer walk 5 yards from me on the opposite side of my tree. Since I can't move I can't turn to look at him. After a couple minutes the young buck to my left walks behind a tree and I look to my right. What I thought was probably a doe turned out to be the big 9 point with trash. He is all in the 160s and standing at 5 yards. He slowly turns and just walks back out to the field edge and works his way north making scraps. I had told myself I was not going to shoot the 9 based on trail cam pics. Well they were wrong, he was bigger than I thought. But nothing I could do as he walked out of my life. Once he left I looked back to the smaller buck and he finally relaxed and walked on by and headed down into the creek.
About 30 min later I had a button buck walk the trail right under the tree. He stands under me and licks on the trophy rock. I notice his momma coming 30 yards out. She does what the smaller buck did and goes on the downwind side. So once again I know what is about to happen. She gets to my wind funnel and locks up. She does basically the same thing the buck does. Back and forth and head up and down. Same thing though, she can't get enough of me to snort. About 3 or 4 minutes go by and her head yanks up and looks dead north.. Ears forward. I am about 12 foot up and can only see about 80 yards north. She is on the ground and can see much further. She is dead locked on something for a minute or so. I knew something was coming from upwind. I look down at the button Buck at 5 yards and his head looks up and locks in as well. Then the little guy does the slow backwards walk in reverse. It was at this point I knew a big deer was coming. I figured it was probably the big 9 as that is exactly where he went. About that time I see a huge typical frame come around the tree that is on the trail leading directly under me. He is about 60-80 yards out. It is at the moment that my heart made itself known. Large lump in my throat trying to get out. I knew this was the big typical 10. The button buck ran over to his momma and she turned to walk back away from me. This gave me the chance to grab my bow and lock on. When the buck was about 45 yards out he turned to go over where the doe was standing. So panic sets in as I can remember any of the tree yardages, even though I have ranged them all 50 times. Nothing in my brain was working great. So I dug my rangefinder out and shot a couple spots to get range. The buck stopped behind a tree and I ranged his rump at 33 yards. Then I ranged the 2 open spaces in front of him. and put my rangefinder up. By the time I put it away I had already forgotten all the yardages again. Remember, my brain ain't working right. Thankfully he stopped again and I repeated the process. He started walking and I came to fulldraw. At that moment, he turned and headed right in my direction for a bit, then stopped. I am at full draw waiting for him to turn. I stay in this position for about 50 seconds. When I ranged the spot he was in before turning he was 32 yards. I thought he had walked about 4 or 5 yards towards me. So I am looking through my peep thinking he is about 28 yards. I used my 30 yard pin and felt I was holding it low. He turned and gave me a broadside and I sent it. Well it hit him high on the shoulder and rode up and spined him. He dropped like a rock backwards and rolled around a bit. I grabbed another arrow then ranged him and he was 25 yards. So now I know exactly where he is at and let him have it with my number 2 arrow. He stands up kinda and flips over again. I grab my third and final arrow and let it rip. He is now pinned to the ground from every angle. I doubt he would have gone anywhere after arrow number 2, but might as well smoke em if you got em..
After the shot I fell apart. Shaking uncontrollable. I really did not notice how bad it was until I watched my cell phone video back. The tree I was in had no branches around me that I could have attached my camera to, so unfortunately no video of the shot. As soon as my third arrow was launched I picked up my cell phone and started recording. I did not notice at the time, but he was still moving a little when I was talking. When I zoom in on him the first time you can see the arrow move as well as his front leg. It was a crazy hunt and my first out of Texas buck. And from a Tree no less. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the video as it is really all I have to show besides the LDPs.
****** Video---- ******
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