Blood Trail

When is the best time to bow hunt kansas. I am hunting a friends place in Mitchell County. He does not hunt - so he says come during the rut. I heard some KS hunters say to come early for the big ones because the rut can make them hard to hit. I can go any week but for only one week. I want to make sure its the right week.

Anyone from KS have any suggestions? Also does Mitchell Cty have good deer ?

Howler

Hey Blood Trail, I hunt on my family farm in Cloud county, which is the next county to the east of Mitchell. If your friend has land with creek bottom, you should be in good shape. There are good deer numbers in that area. Be aware that upland bird season starts the second weekend of Nov., which is about the center of the rut. If your friend doesn't allow bird hunters on his land and the land around his does, that might be a good time to hunt, as the bird hunters may very well push deer onto your friends land, but if he does allow bird hunters, you need to coordinate where they hunt to where you hunt, that could work in your favor too. It is a crap shoot as when the best time to bow hunt would be, for me though, I would pick the first week of Nov. and hope to catch the deer in the "chase" phase of the rut. That is when the bucks will really be on the move looking for that first hot doe. As you may know, once a buck finds a hot doe, he may spend upto 36 hours with her, and more times than not, they will not be in an area where you'd normally find the deer.
I go through the dilima of when to go every year too. This year I am going to wait until Thanksgiving, but only because of a "bad" timing issue I have this year.
Good Luck! there are some dandy bucks in and around that part of the state!

Blood Trail

Howler,

Thanks for the info. My friend does have creek bottoms and a 5 acre cedar thicket. I agree with you. Once the boys find the girls its tough. I am going with a couple friends from VA too. They are thinking about the last week in Oct. Supposedly the rut is earlier this year. Maybe that will be the chase phase. Good luck.

kshunter

The best time that I've found to hunt here in KS is the 2nd week of November.

Blood Trail

KSHunter,

Thanks for the input. My buddies went out there last year the first week of Nov. One guy missed 2 bucks in the 140s class. They were not with the does yet...which is good. But my friend who lives out there said they should have come the 2nd week. We will make up our minds over the next few weeks.

Of course drawing a non-resident tag would be great!

kshunter

Good Luck Blood Trail, Hope you guys get a couple good ones!

Blood Trail

Thanks KSHunter. I will keep you posted.