So I jumped the gun on you guys before when I sent you to The Outdoor Smorgasbord before. This time I really mean it. The first installment is great, even though we already know what’s going to happen (since we know he hunted at least 4 times). Take a look at the first installment here, and then check back regularly for the new ones here.
So if you’ve been following along with my season you’ll remember that this fall has been extremely wet. That was good when we needed a flood in early October to fill the duck marshes, but it’s also kept the crops in the field. With all the standing corn it has been hard to find the deer and even harder to establish any type of pattern.
But just recently a few things changed. First, it’s been dry enough for the farmers to get much of the corn out. Second, it got cold. Those two things have really concentrated the deer on those freshly cut corn fields. That’s where I found myself and my climber on Thursday morning.
As the sun came up I could see 3 does and 2 younger bucks to my east. Then the buck I was waiting for showed up.
And then 6 does showed up to my west and started feeding in front of me. All I needed was for the buck to come check out the does. And it almost worked. He passed by almost perfectly in the middle of the field at 55 yards or so. Perhaps it’s just as well. It kept me from being forced with a difficult decision on a good buck with a significant break on his rack. A close look will reveal that he has kickers on both sides too.
I wrote this piece last year but I’m recycling it for this year.
I’m certainly not moving to Beverly, Hills that is, but I feel like it. I’ve got a full compliment of duck hunting gear, two dogs, the requirements to maintain my wife and baby, a climber, all my bowhunting stuff, and the uncooked parts of our Thanksgiving dinner all loaded into my truck. Hopefully when I get back there will be pictures of bucks, turkeys, and ducks…
Happy Thanksgiving everyone, good luck to those of you heading afield.
The 38-point whitetail generating the buzz was shot Saturday by a 24-year-old Texan hunting on private land in Richardson County. On Wednesday, Wes O’Brien told the Journal Star his trophy has received a preliminary score of 281.
The rack’s official score won’t be determined for 60 days. During the so-called drying period, antlers will shrink a little.
So it remains to be seen if the O’Brien buck will top a famous set of antlers from a deer killed 47 years ago in Hall County by bowhunter Del Austin of Hastings. Commonly called “Old Mossy Horns,” the Austin buck scored 279 7/8 , ranking it not only first in Nebraska, but a world record for a whitetail taken by archery.
Grab the rest of the story and pictures at the Lincoln Journal Star, here.
BUTTE – It was the big cat’s eyes that haunted Eric Boyd. The 14-year-old from Anaconda was hoping to bag his first elk on opening day Sunday. Instead, he found himself face to face with a large mountain lion.
“It was his eyes that really hit me,” he told The Montana Standard Friday. “They stared right at me and were glowing yellow-green.”
Eric Boyd and his dad, Mike Boyd, were hunting in the Jerry Creek area, southwest of Butte. They were tracking a lone elk, so Eric took up a position near an outcropping of rocks while his dad moved up the ridge to try to push the elk toward his son.
The young hunter waited for a long time but never saw the elk.
“I heard a twig crack behind me and I thought my dad was coming back,” he recalled.
It wasn’t his father.
The Anaconda High freshman turned and walked a few steps, then he saw it: A cougar stepped from behind a tree about 25 yards ahead of him. The animal sat there and the two just stared at each other for what Eric Boyd felt was about 20 seconds.
“I was more shocked than afraid. I was face to face with this animal and I had never seen one in the wild before,” he said.
The cat then hunched its shoulders and started walking toward him.
First off, the promised updates from The Outdoor Smorgasbord have not occurred yet. He’s now waiting until he returns to give us the story… sorry for jumping the gun there…
Since my last post I’ve had a few days the typify November in Kansas. I’ve seen big bucks chasing does from the stand. I’ve had a good duck hunt in the rain. I must have put 500 miles on my truck… Oh, and there has been a sighting of The Big 9 (and here). For those who were readers in October and November of last year you’ll remember that I hunted this buck for several days before killing a better buck right at the beginning of the rut. A few days ago The Old Man sent me a text that said, “Saw the Big 9. He’s got a lot more mass. Was at 70 yards for several minutes chasing a doe.” He was in the same stand where the sightings were last season.
I saw a 145-150 class 10 point Saturday morning followed by a 130ish 8 point. Both were rutting hard and worked a trail without ever checking out my food plot. I’d give you pictures but I left my camera at home on that hunt.
For Thanksgiving I’ll be taking The Wife’s family to the cabin so hopefully I’ll get another crack at one of the big dudes I’ve seen in the last 10 days.
Oh, and the ducks are down… and I saw flight geese all weekend… and it’s supposed to get cold mid-week… And I have some dead bucks to talk about… Geez so much going on…
dihardhunter over at The Outdoor Smorgasbord and his father have returned to Kansas again this year to chase big deer. He’s not quite an hour southwest of where I killed my Missouri rifle buck and about 1.5 hours Southeast of where I do most of my Kansas bowhunting. He’s promising regular updates so check here every day for an update.
So I told you I was not in a discriminating state of mind with respect to my 2009 Missouri rifle tag. Regular readers will remember that I ate this tag last year after hunting more than half the days. It wasn’t a lack of opportunities; it was the two studs I saw early in the season. I held out hoping to get a shot at one of them, and it wasn’t to be.
So this year I knew it would be difficult for me to pass a decent buck. It might have been my saving grace that the first thing I saw as it became light enough to shoot was a decent buck. It would be too easy to shoot a 130 class 8 point in the first 5 minutes of the season. After all, I’d packed a lunch and thermos of coffee. I was prepared to sit all day and had cleared the first three days of the season off my calendar. Over the course of the morning I passed a slightly better 8 than the first, and a heavy 6 twice. Every buck I saw was either chasing a doe or looking for one to chase. From 10:30-12:00 I was preoccupied with the poachers. Around 12:30 I saw the heavy 6 yet again. As the afternoon started to heat up this deer came by:
Around the same time I saw a heavy 10 with a doe at the far end of the field I was watching. He was 600 yards away and appeared to be afraid of the half buck above. For the next couple of hours he would appear from the grass slightly closer, and then disappear again. Finally he gave me a chance at 320 yards. I hesitated, not sure of the shot, and he was gone again. With the fading light I figured my chance was gone. I watched the half buck, a spike, and various furry things fiddle around in front of me until it was almost time to pick up… then he was back. He was looking right at me at 125 yards. I didn’t hesitate this time:
Great mass, good length, character… I’m pleased… But now it’s back to work on the Kansas tag…
dukkillr: Good morning. Do you know where you are?
Dirtball local poacher: Where I am I?
duk: Not where you belong. I own from here to the river.
DLP: Oh, well… We were just following deer we shot on our side of the river…
duk: But those deer are dry?
DLP: Oh… well… those kids shot them on your side of the river… I wasn’t with them…
duk: How did you get here?
DLP: We’ve got a boat.
duk: How’d the boat get here?
DLP: We brought it with us.
duk: You left home this morning with the intention of trespassing and poaching?
DLP: Umm…
duk: Well, how many did they kill? It sounded like they shot themselves out of shells.
DLP: Just these two does, they missed a lot.
duk: Gut them and get out of here. If anyone sees you here again we’ll call the sheriff.
You rarely see this kind of dishonest human trash while hunting in Kansas. I’ve thought about the reasons why before, but maybe the answer is simple: Missouri is full of Quantrill loving, moonshine drinking, discount cigarette smoking, MU rooting, rust bucket driving, welfare receiving, wife beating dirtballs.
Or maybe it’s more complicated… Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the parts of the hunt not ruined by the people above. BTW, anybody recognize them?
