well guys i'm back from Kansas with NO good news! This was by far my worst trip to Kansas. Oct. 27th thru Nov.10th should have got me into some rutting activity for sure right? WRONG.....not one friggin trace of a rut. Temps averaged 72 -79 as daily highs. All the milo fields that i normally hunt around were cut but 2 neighboring farms still had standing milo. With this summers drought the milo was only 3 feet or so, not 5-6 feet like normal. So the deer had their favorite local food at a good grazing height on neighboring farms. To give you an example of the difference in deer movement on the property, I keep a journal of each sit in my treestand at the end of each day. In 2009, my first year in Kansas, I was there for 1 week and I had 78 deer i could have killed. For me that means within 25 yards of my treestand. This year i spent 2 weeks and i only had 7 deer i could have killed. Of those 7 only one was a true shooter. A 10 point 140-145 buck who came to 27 yards from a direction i didn't expect and when he stopped there was a branch covering his chest out at about 17 yards. I waited for him to choose his direction, down a trail that lead 18 yards from me or around the pond and away from me. He chose neither opting to swim across maybe due to the high temps.
Well last day rolls around, my cousin who put me up for the 2 weeks, asks me to shoot something for the freezer. During the morning sit i have a doe come to within 10 yards but she was a mule deer doe and i don't have a tag to shoot her. My trip ends with me and a buddy(who met me for the 2nd week) both getting skunked.
When i get home and unpacked i find out that the airlines or TSA have broken the sight of my bow. The SABO sight i had been practicing with for 4 months was totally snapped. So i put back my old sight and peep from last season and try to sight in. Lat night i head out to my small food plot behind my mothers house. She had been telling me about 2 nice bucks she'd been seeing while i was away. After an hour in the stand out comes a doe to feed. Shortly after a pretty nice buck cruised by the food plot but never noticed the doe. I lost sight of him in the woods at 120 yards and heading straight away. So as the light grew dimmer i decide to use one of my doe tags. I settle the 20 yard pin on her and touch off. I hit her low but seems like a good hit. She turns and jumps the stone wall and i notice no exit hole. Hitting low from 18 feet is not so good because i think it only hit 1 lung but it should still do the trick. Just then the buck comes running back and runs that doe toward the west. If he didn't show i know she would have laid up less than 50 from me. I called a buddy to give me a hand after it was dark and we blood trailed for 2 1/2 hours but didn't find her. Now as i right this it is raining just about as hard as it can rain. The odds of my finding her are not good.
I have to be honest here. I am really losing my faith in bow hunting. I've been doing it now for 10 years and it has been full of misery. I've never tried so hard at something and still not be good at it. Its frustrating and humbling i get that but it throws me into a depression every year. My wife even makes comments about it.
I'm headed out to look for that doe in a driving rain storm, hope your day is better than mine.