- Jul 1, 2015
- 128
- 0
Hello all, an introduction...
I'm an Army brat who got plopped into Kansas at a young age, and here I have remained into my 30's. I've been bird hunting my ass off (I have two setters) the last 10 years, and that' really how I got into big game hunting. Well, after a brief stint in predator hunting. Kansas had been in a bad drought for a few years and the bird numbers suffered terribly, so I found myself wanting to do something other than grind my dogs into the ground looking for birds I knew weren't there. I bought a 223 and after a day of bird hunting I made a coyote set just below a ridge in some native prairie in western Kansas. It was November 12, 2011. I remember the date because K-State played a pretty remarkable game against the departing A&M Aggies. As I started calling I could see two dozen deer down in the low area feeding in a grain field. No yotes. I called some more, no yotes. The deer didn't seem to care. The sun dipped below the clouds lit up the world with hues of orange and pink. A flock of prairie chickens landed on the ridge next to me for the night, and I could see two nice bucks running does in the distance. I decided to stop mucking up this world with my annoying calls, and just to sit quietly and watch. And then over my shoulder up above me I saw a stout mature deer working his way down to feed. He came slowly, confidently, and passed just 53.5 yards to my flank. He was a brutish 10 pointer with good mass, just a solid animal. And this was on public land (that's all I hunt anyway). It got dark and I drove back to camp and listened to the radio as K-State won in 5 overtimes. It was a magical day.
So I started deer hunting, with a rifle, public land only. Over the next four years I only took one buck, but I relished dragging him a literal mile up and down the edges of draws back to the truck. That's what you have to do here to get away from all the other hunters. But, 12 days...that's all our rifle season is here. Two weekends. And for a working stiff who has to drive 6 hours to his spot, it wasn't enough time. So this spring I bought a bow. And after 8 years of going to Montana to hunt birds, I've stacked up enough spots where I've seen nice muleys and even a few elk. So on March 23rd this spring I decided I was going to kill an elk. I started researching. Montana's draw deadline was March 16th. That was out. Wyoming was even earlier, out too. Pretty much everything was out, I didn't have any points anyway (I didn't even know these states had point systems, pretty naive I know). But Colorado! OTC! A good friend had guided on the western slope and gave me some tips, and I took a scouting trip out there in late May, and what do you know we found some elk. I'm in! So here I am, to humbly listen and learn from the many years of experience this board has. Glad to be here, go easy on the newb.
I'm an Army brat who got plopped into Kansas at a young age, and here I have remained into my 30's. I've been bird hunting my ass off (I have two setters) the last 10 years, and that' really how I got into big game hunting. Well, after a brief stint in predator hunting. Kansas had been in a bad drought for a few years and the bird numbers suffered terribly, so I found myself wanting to do something other than grind my dogs into the ground looking for birds I knew weren't there. I bought a 223 and after a day of bird hunting I made a coyote set just below a ridge in some native prairie in western Kansas. It was November 12, 2011. I remember the date because K-State played a pretty remarkable game against the departing A&M Aggies. As I started calling I could see two dozen deer down in the low area feeding in a grain field. No yotes. I called some more, no yotes. The deer didn't seem to care. The sun dipped below the clouds lit up the world with hues of orange and pink. A flock of prairie chickens landed on the ridge next to me for the night, and I could see two nice bucks running does in the distance. I decided to stop mucking up this world with my annoying calls, and just to sit quietly and watch. And then over my shoulder up above me I saw a stout mature deer working his way down to feed. He came slowly, confidently, and passed just 53.5 yards to my flank. He was a brutish 10 pointer with good mass, just a solid animal. And this was on public land (that's all I hunt anyway). It got dark and I drove back to camp and listened to the radio as K-State won in 5 overtimes. It was a magical day.
So I started deer hunting, with a rifle, public land only. Over the next four years I only took one buck, but I relished dragging him a literal mile up and down the edges of draws back to the truck. That's what you have to do here to get away from all the other hunters. But, 12 days...that's all our rifle season is here. Two weekends. And for a working stiff who has to drive 6 hours to his spot, it wasn't enough time. So this spring I bought a bow. And after 8 years of going to Montana to hunt birds, I've stacked up enough spots where I've seen nice muleys and even a few elk. So on March 23rd this spring I decided I was going to kill an elk. I started researching. Montana's draw deadline was March 16th. That was out. Wyoming was even earlier, out too. Pretty much everything was out, I didn't have any points anyway (I didn't even know these states had point systems, pretty naive I know). But Colorado! OTC! A good friend had guided on the western slope and gave me some tips, and I took a scouting trip out there in late May, and what do you know we found some elk. I'm in! So here I am, to humbly listen and learn from the many years of experience this board has. Glad to be here, go easy on the newb.
