It Was Over That Fast! 

I arrived in Kansas on Friday the 7th of Nov. Took a quick scouting trip Saturday morning and took the stand after lunch. Hunted in the creek bottom near cut bean fields and only saw some turkeys. Went back next morning and saw the turkeys again, still no deer. Disappointed so I moved to a different bean field and set a ground blind affording me to see several hundred yards in several directions. Hoping to find where there was some activity. Sat there Sunday evening and Monday morning and saw nothing. Weather had been cold, 19 degrees in the morning with wind.

Rain set in Monday afternoon so I did not hunt, just rode around outskirts of property and glassed. Still saw nothing. Found a pasture that had been recently cut and round bales were still in place. There was a long thicket with some mature timber that ran through the pasture. It may have been 50 yards wide, but was several hundred yards long. I decided I wanted a closer look, so I parked and took a quick look. On edge of thicket I found one good scrape and a nice rub. There were several trails leading to and from the brush. There was a small break in the brush that was in a bend of the tree line. My hope was that the buck which made the scrape would travel the thick brush to scent check the scrape and hopefully take short cut through opening at the bend. Tuesday morning was more rain. Trees did not afford a location to suit me. Brush was too thick for a blind. Just so happened the farmer had left a bale right at the bend, 23 yards from brush. So I put my ground blind up next to the bale hoping not to be detected out in the wide open field. Sat there in the cold rain that morning and only saw a coyote, and he was too far to shoot. Came out for lunch and went back at 1 P.M. or slightly after. Rain had stopped by 3 P.M. By then I thought it was another bad spot. My son had texted me and was telling me about blowing the motor on his dirt bike. Then I wrote him back and just as I hit "send," I looked up and the buck stepped out into the cut just as I had hoped. I dropped my phone, grabbed my PSE X Force, hid in the corner and drew 72 lbs back that was zipping a 360 grain Gold Tip with a Rage 2 blade on front at 296 FPS ( 27" draw ). Leaned over to the window as he just stood there broadside almost, unknowing of what was looking at him, he looked like a king standing there. I planted the 20 yard pin and launched that Rage straight thru the heart! He might have run 150 yards. It was over that fast, 5 seconds maybe! Normal bow hunting consists of getting winded, being seen, out of range, no good shots through the brush... ya'll know how it goes! What are the odds of seeing one deer like this broadside at 23 yards and not seeing another deer in days? I don't know, but I'm sure glad the Lord put a little ( lot ) sunshine on the trip because I was pretty bummed from the traffic violation I got 3 miles from my home in SC, when I left for this trip. While there we had three flat tires on gravel roads ( plug kits people), then got stuck on a wide open dirt road, but luckily we did find a super nice farmer up the road who pulled us out with that big ol' John Deere.

The bucks right G2 must have gotten bent over during velvet, not sure how that would affect net score, but gross was 136 1/8 for typical 8 point. My best gun or bow so far.

Thanks to HSP for this opportunity.