I"™m back from Kansas!! The weather was cool and deer were moving good. I hunted for four days before tagging this 12 pointer trailing in behind two does at 20 yards from the ground. We had game cams of the deer and worked the area for two days before I actually saw him on the hoof. On Nov. 1st, I blew my first opportunity to get off a shot when he busted me shifting in my stand for a better angle. I suspected that I wouldn"™t get another opportunity and was pretty hard on myself for such a rookie error. Anyhow, after seeing him in person, I had my mind set he was the deer I wanted especially to redeem myself on the blundered first opportunity. I hunted the stand for two additional trips with only one other sighting, which was well over 500 yards from my stand. On Saturday night the wind was supposed to be out of the SW, which was marginal for our stand placement, but I had seen him head out into the sand hills with a doe to bed early that morning. I knew I stood a very good chance that he"™d come in that evening. Unfortunately, around 4:30 PM just as the deer were beginning to move, the wind shifted directly out of the West passing directly over the trail used by the deer. While I might be able to get around my farm downwind from a deer, not in Kansas where I was hunting. I quickly decided to jump down out of the stand and build the best blind I could directly south of the trail and see if I could get a 20 yard shot from the ground. I"™ve hunted deer from the ground before, but never with much success. Anyhow, I sat on my knees for well over an hour and a half, hunkering under a tamarack bush watching deer move in and occasionally a doe trying to figure me out. At 6:40, the buck came in. He stood facing me for a few minutes and finally turned. When he did, I fired my arrow. It hit him. He ran up a small hill where I could watch him all humped up. I had made a good shot. He stood there at 60 yards away not really moving, so I figure why not take another shot just for good measure. I released the arrow, which hit just a bit short and he took off trotting. I called in the guys and we began to look for blood. It was just after dark. The deer had bled very little and we ended up leaving him overnight. The next morning we found him a mere 20 yards away from where we had stopped looking, but 90% of the deer had been devoured by coyotes. The buck ended up scoring 167 3/8ths green. He"™s a nice buck and the hunt off the ground made it even that much more exciting.
Kelly
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Official Measurer of the Boone and Crockett Club
Another successful hunt from Kansas - pics
