Kansas Update

[Ironhead]

Good luck, Todd

[Todd_ID]

Pics will come when I get the time that I'm not hunting or sleeping.  I spent all day in a treestand today.  I saw 3 bucks and about 10 does.  I got a forkhorn on video grunting and snort-wheezing.  I also got a "darn close to shooting" buck on video at 18 yards or less for about 7 minutes.  He was a 4x4 that wasn't quite wide enough, tall enough or heavy enough.  But he was close to all of those!  I put a score on him of about 130", for those that would like to know.  The guys that I'm hunting with said that I should have shot him, but I'm not sure....I could kill him in my backyard about any day of the week, so it wasn't worth shooting to me.

This type of hunting is amazing.  The other guys here all come back at 11 and have lunch, and then they head out to a different stand for the afternoon.  I have been staying in the stand all day unless the wind changes and blows out the stand I am in.  That's when I change stands.  Google Earth is a blessing for stand choosing!

[Turkeyman]

Hang in there Tod it will happen. Like i said pray for a cold front.

[Hornseeker]

Keep after it!!!

[Todd_ID]

Today I set up a ground blind where I had seen 2 different BOONERS.  The sum total of the day was about 6 does and two dink bucks.  FLIP....for lack of a better word!  I'll keep hunting hard.  I'm done passing on the 130" 4 points, though,  I've only got 3 days left.

[Machias]

Any weather changes headed your way?  Hang in there.

[Michelle_Nelson]

Daing can't believe I missed this thread! 

Now I will be hanging on every word  for the next few days.  Good Luck Todd kill a monster!

[Todd_ID]

Today was colder with a north wind coming in.  I saw bupkis in the morning.  I moved to a ground spot I found.  I immediately had three does and two small bucks come out but nothing worthwhile.  I moved to an "escape point" stand I had set where they were cutting the corn next door.  I saw 1 doe in 4 hours....talk about a plan not coming together.  I moved back to the ground spot and had deer all over until dark.  I saw probably 15 does and 4 bucks.  The coolest was a forkhorn that was bigger than most of our 4x4's.  I could have shot him a dozen times.  I had a monster come in to my grunt call just at dark.  I didn't have a good range on him, but I had a very good guess of 32 yards, but I couldn't see my pins quite good enough to make a confident shot.  I most likely would have killed him, but you don't want any questions on a "booner" buck.  I've got 2 full days of hunting left and flying home on Monday.  Wish me luck!

[Machias]

Good luck!!!!

[EastWaViking]

good luck and thanks for all of the updates!

[Wacenturion]

Good luck you're last two days..........got a feeling you're going see that big one again.

[Turkeyman]

Good luck!

[Todd_ID]

Today started out the same as the rest....friggin' dark!  Just kidding.

I got in my best stand an hour before sunrise with a perfect wind.  This stand is set on a property boundary fence trying to catch deer movement out of a 2000 acre contiguous preserve.  It's where I saw the "uber-monster" buck.  As the sun comes up I start seeing things that weren't there before on the other side of the boundary.  It turns out is was a new "No Hunting" sign and tin foil wrapped around tree limbs and pie plates swinging in the breeze over one of the best deer trails in the state.  The landowner on that side of the fence walks his property to prevent trespassing and hunting, and somebody that hunts his property told him about my stand.  That's fine with me (to each his own), but I wasn't going to shoot a deer off his property...ever.  Now the landowners we are hunting on are dealing with Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks trying to get this type of stuff to stop.  Now I know why I didn't see anything out of the ground blind I had set up in the perfect spot about 200 yards from there for two damn days. 

I got out of the stand and left.  I walked a couple miles and hunted from the ground in a new spot that I had seen good movement around.  I jumped a 140" buck and 2 does when I got there.  I sat there about 3 hours and saw a doe coming.  She was pulling along a whopper 4x4.  He was 17" wide but had huge mass and was mega tall.  The cool thing was that his tines wrapped all the way around the front and touched over his nose.  I was at 50 yards from him as he tended this doe for 3 hours.  The sounds I heard reminded me of Taiwan....oh, that's another story. J/K.  All he had to do was take a few steps the other way, and he would have been dead, but he never did.  All I got was a great memory and a ton of cramps from not moving an eyelash for 3 hours.

I had another big 3x4 walk to 15 yards that I really thought about shooting.  I let him walk though..there's still tomorrow!

[Wacenturion]

Good luck tomorrow!

[Todd_ID]

So, the last day came and went with me sitting on the ground and not in a treestand.  I had seen good movement in this spot and figured that my best chance was to go back to what I know, and that's hunting on the ground.  At first light I heard a grunt and looked the wrong way first.  A doe was staring at me at 10 yards, and I never heard her.  The grunt came from the stud 4x4 I had missed a chance on the previous day.  He was about 5 yards behind the doe.  They busted out rather quickly and noisely.  I had a brief shot a him, but he wouldn't stop for my "Bahrp".

At about 9:30 a doe came in with a decent buck in tow.  I decided quickly that I'd take him on the last day.  She led him right to me, but he wouldn't stop for several grunts.  Finally he heard one at 30 yards, and I made quick work of the shot.  The "blind man" blood trail from the sharp broadhead was a very gratifying end to a tremendous hunt. 

The guys invited me back, but it'll take a miracle to finance that type of trip every year.

Here're some pictures from the treestand of the type of country we were hunting:





And here is the picture of the guy I shot:


Sorry, Michelle and Charlie, but it's not getting a shoulder mount.  I shipped it home to do a euro mount, though.