Gordon also explains his background of getting into deer hunting at a young age, working as a freelance writer, and helping start North American Whitetail back in the ’80s. We talk about what really makes him tick after all these years and the satisfaction he gets from talking with everyday hunters who kill tremendous deer. To round out the podcast, we talk about the current state of CWD in the United States and his views on the disease. For more information on North American Whitetail, please visit www.northamericanwhitetail.com

• Recent industry shows that Gordon has attended
• The 2019 ATA Show and debuting the Brewster Buck, the world record whitetail that was taken this past Fall
• The current issue of North American Whitetail Magazine and highlighting the full story of a magnificent 320” deer
• Gordon’s take on whether or not this new world record buck will ever be broken in our lifetime
• Gordon’s late season whitetail rifle hunting in the Northeast panhandle and the coastal bend of Texas this past December
• Western whitetail hunting in states like Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and adapting to unfamiliar open country
• How hunting western whitetail is a good stepping-stone to other big game hunts such as elk and mule deer
• Gordon’s 2018 rut hunt in Kansas and the success he had in November with a mature buck
• Why public land deer hunting is really good in the west and highlighting the low press and hunter numbers
• His background and how he got into hunting at a young age while growing up in Texas
• Discovering his talent and love for writing during grade school and combining that with his love for whitetails
• Getting started in the freelance writing world and helping start North American Whitetail
• The satisfaction of getting to help other hunters learn about deer, deer hunting, and covering some remarkable whitetail stories over the years
• Highlighting big deer stories and how they help to inspire all of us as average Joe’s who have opportunities to kill great deer ourselves
• The perception of hunting as a “rich mans game” or a “trophy bloodsport” and how TV hunting can send a mixed message of what deer hunting really is
• Hunter decline and the reasons why the number of hunters are on the downfall
• What we can do as passionate hunters to help recruit new people to our lifestyle
• The current state of Chronic Wasting Disease and Gordon’s take on the future of CWD in modern day deer hunting
• His December 2019 whitetail hunt in Texas on his family property where he will relive his most memorable hunt from 50-years ag

So far, 2017 has proven to be my most challenging hunting season yet. As we approach the end of November, I’ve hunted across three states, chasing both elk and whitetail deer with my bow in hand. After many days and hours afield, I’ve yet to close the deal and although I hate to admit it, it’s not due to lack of opportunities. I missed a 6×6 bull in Colorado on September 9th along with a 150” ten point in Kansas during early November. A week later I came closer in Iowa and put an arrow into a 140” nine-point but unfortunately, I did not recover the deer after the blood trail faded into leaves.

I’m not writing this as an “Adam Parr Pity Party” but more of a reflection of the season so far in an attempt to determine the reasons as to why the cards haven’t fallen my way. Whenever a goal is set, achieved or not, I feel it’s important to digress the circumstances that lead to an outcome for self-improvement purposes. Or I’m attempting to make me feel better about myself… I’ll let you be the judge.

What Went Wrong During the Moment of Truth?

Over the past few weeks, I’ve found myself diving in and out of a mild depression (just kidding… well kinda) after reliving the close calls and opportunities that didn’t pan out. I’m not highlighting the times where the quarry was out of range or they took the wrong trail, I’m talking about the “in your face, do or die” scenarios during the moment of truth. While many things are out of our control, I’ve nailed down it down to these two factors as to what happened before pulling the trigger:

Rushing Opportunities – With everything on the line, it all boils down to one well-placed arrow. An extra couple seconds, even though it seems like time is fleeting away at warp speed, goes a long way towards executing a lethal shot. In all three scenarios, I felt like I was living on borrowed seconds, but in reality, I most likely had more time to fully assess the situation and settle in.

Lack Of Awareness – This goes somewhat hand in hand with rushing shots but my lack of awareness in the “red zone” caused animals to be on alert while at full draw. In the instance of my Colorado bull, I was picked off by a cow while ranging for the shot. During my Kansas hunt, I spooked the buck due to getting caught off guard while he was closing in on my setup. Bowhunting requires more movement at closer quarters and if you aren’t aware of every single detail, things can go wrong, which then leads to rushed shots.

The past is the past and as much as I wish I could take those arrows back, the only solution in my mind is to stick with it.

The views while bowhunting are spectacular, even when it’s a slow day.

Why Do I Keep Going?

I’m not throwing in the towel because I 100 percent love bowhunting and it’s truly a passion. When the going gets tough, I find myself looking to inspiration from entrepreneurial leaders of the world and my mind keeps coming back to a quote from Steve Jobs: “People say you have to have a lot of passion for what you’re doing and it’s totally true and the reason is, because it’s so hard, that if you don’t, any rational person would give up.”

Sometimes hunting seems like it’s easy. Right now for me, it’s not easy. But what’s a guy to do, give up and stay home or get in the truck and drive 6 hours to Kansas? With a four-day Thanksgiving weekend upon us, I think I’ll pack the truck and head east!

Just when you think you have it all figured out, plans change due to unforeseen circumstances. Long story short, I was not drawn for a Kansas whitetail tag for the upcoming 2016 archery season and I’m bummed, to say the least. Well, I guess I can say not getting drawn was not unforeseen but it was certainly something that was out of my control. Kansas has been my “go to” state for the last two seasons and ever since that first hunt almost three years ago, I’ve been in love. Although my number one focus in 2016 is the September archery elk season in Colorado, I can’t imagine not hunting whitetails come late October when the rut starts kicking in.

Last Summer I spent a few days knocking on doors in Western Kansas and picked up two good farms to hunt for 2015. After learning the properties and understanding the general deer movement from the first season, I was hoping to put that intel to good use for this coming Fall. I will miss that I’m not going to be able to build a history with the deer I encountered from the year before. I will sincerely miss hanging trail cameras, scouting, and hanging tree stands for the upcoming season. And above all, I will miss the relationships I’ve developed with the landowners who were so great to me, welcomed me openly into their homes, and made me feel like a part of their family.

Ok enough with the pity party… shit happens and life goes on! I’ve come up with a few options to consider for the 2016 deer season:

Purchase a Left Over Kansas Tag

This seems like the ideal scenario on paper but the problem is that it would require an eight-hour drive as compared to my five-hour drive last season, making the weekend hunts tough to manage due to a full-time job. The units that I want to hunt have zero leftover tags and I will have little time to scout due to the upcoming elk season.

I also have to consider the monetary costs of this tag in addition to the time spent traveling. This tag costs $550 which is a lot of money to spend for just a few opportunities to hunt.

It will be a tough to decision not to hunt in Kansas considering I shot a great buck in 2015!

Read more about my successful 2015 Hunting Season in Kansas.

Purchase a Nebraska OTC Tag

The area I have been scouting via Google Earth in Nebraska is roughly a six-hour drive from where I live, which means it will be manageable for weekend hunts. Nebraska also holds a good amount of public land and is known for great deer hunting. The downfall is that hunting pressure will be higher and private land would be harder to gain access.

Another thing to consider is that the Nebraska rifle season falls right in the middle of November, giving me a small window to hunt before the orange army moves in. A positive is that a non-resident tag only costs around $300, which is a pretty good deal in my mind.

Hunt an OTC Unit in Colorado

Colorado implemented an OTC whitetail tag for select units on the front range a few years back and it would only be a three-hour drive to the areas I am looking at. The downfall to this is that the season only runs December 1 – December 31, meaning I would miss the rut. Also, the whitetail densities in these units are low so my whitetail sightings would be few and far between.

The good thing is that the price for a resident tag would be a very low cost of around 25 dollars!

Hunt IL On Highly Managed Private Land

I have access to hunt a number of farms in West Central Illinois where the deer hunting is unreal and the stands are already set. Literally, all I have to do is purchase a tag and show up! The negative to this scenario is that I would not be able to hunt multiple outings because I live so far away, meaning I would only have 1 week to whitetail hunt this year. Also, I really enjoy the challenge and take pride in the work that goes into hunting new farms and/or public land.

Decisions, Decisions

I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what I’m going to do for this Fall and I’m hoping that by writing this article it will help me make my decision. The good thing is that I have a few months to decide. In fantasy land, I would hunt 10 states and take off three months of work to do so, but the reality is that I have limited time and resources so I am forced to choose.

I love this view!

I’m also considering doing the IL hunt in November and then trying my luck with the OTC tag in Colorado where I can hunt the post-rut during December. In this scenario, I would get an awesome week of the whitetail rut and have a closer drive and cheaper tag for late season Colorado.

What are your thoughts? Leave me some words of advice in the comments section below!

A puzzle, much like deer hunting, takes time and keen attention to detail in order to put the pieces together and for everything to align. Have you ever tried to put together a puzzle in a day and succeeded? No, I’m not talking about one of those 50 piece specials that you pick up at the dollar mart. I talking about the 2,000 piece popcorn kernel marathon that takes an hour just to get two pieces to match up! Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is a successful whitetail pursuit for the do-it-yourself guys.

Make sure read Part 1 of this series, Taking Post Season Inventory With Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend: Part 1 as it will help paint a better picture as to what I’m doing at this time of year.

Putting The Pieces Together

When it comes to hunting mature deer, I’ll take any legal advantage I can get in an effort to put the pieces together towards killing a trophy buck. Big Tine is another tool in the arsenal and plays a valuable role in my post season scouting. In conjunction with trail cameras, Big Tine allows me to determine which deer made it through (or didn’t make it through) the season.

A small whitetail buck posing for a picture.

I’m not going to lie – I was hoping to showcase this article with all of the monster bucks I have on camera running around my hunting property but the truth is, my trail camera pictures are less than ideal. I put the cameras out for over three weeks and have a bunch of does, small bucks, and mule deer to show for it but no big boys showed themselves.

Does this mean that my hunting property is terrible? No. Does this mean that Big Tine doesn’t work? No. What I’m learning is that the properties I hunt do not hold the same amount of deer during the Winter months as they do during the Fall. I’m slowly putting the pieces together!

The pictures are telling me that there are indeed deer in the area but I’m certainly not getting mature buck pictures. My guess is that the majority of deer are wintering elsewhere due to the fact that the bedding areas and fields on the properties are now cow pastures. It is common practice for farmers to switch pastures for cows on a seasonal basis so that they can sustain them throughout the Winter months. Long story short; if cattle are present in both major bedding and feeding areas, deer numbers on the property will decline.

It’s Better To Know Than To Wonder

My trail camera pictures were not as I had hoped but at least now I know more about Winter movement and the reasons that may be affecting the lack of deer in the area. If it weren’t for putting out Big Tine and checking the cameras, I would have never known in the first place. Its better to know – knowledge is power.

One of the highlights of my weekend endeavor, in addition to checking trail cameras, was finding a matched set of antlers in close proximity to one of Big Tine sites. This little guy is an up-and-comer with great genetics for a 1 1/2 year buck! I believe I have pictures of this guy from last Fall so it will be cool to see what he turns into as a 2-year-old.

QuietKat is a great tool for shed hunting. I found this matched set within 100 yards of the Big Tine!

Learn more about how I use my QuietKat as an efficient shed hunting vehicle, HERE. I also found another nice 4 point side that had been laying a while (not fresh) and I also witnessed something that I have been wanting to see for a long time. I watched the bigger mule deer buck I have on camera shed one of his antlers as he was running away! After three hours of grid searching the spot where I saw him drop in knee-high grass, I was not able to locate his shed but it was still cool to see none the less.

Mule deer enjoy Big Tine too!

Never Stop Learning

I encourage you all to go out and run cameras over the top of Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend. It will not only help you discover what deer are using the properties you hunt but it will also add to your overall knowledge of deer movement and patterns. Whatever the outcome may be, it will make you a better deer hunter and will help you find the real reasons behind your results. It forces you to analyze and ask questions as to why deer are or aren’t there. And above all, it gets you outside doing what you love the most.

For more information about Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend and Attractants, please visit:

www.bigtine.com

– Adam Parr

My first “real job” out of college was doing sales and marketing for a solar company in Michigan. We attended 10-15 shows each year so I was no stranger to the circuit and quickly became involved in the world of conventions and travel. Although they were fun and it was great to meet people from all over the world, something felt empty. The solar industry was cool but at the end of the day, the people I was working with didn’t hold the same passions as me so I kind of felt lost. Suit and tie was the dress code of choice and I talked to people all day long who had never picked up a bow or even thought about hunting. I dreamt of being part of an organization that would align my career with my passion for bow hunting.

Fast forward to 2015, I started working for a company called QuietKat and immersed myself in an industry I truly loved. I get work with individuals who hold the same level of interest for hunting, archery and the great outdoors, which I believe is my one TRUE calling in life. One of the perks of being on the sales side of an organization is the opportunity to attend industry trade shows. This year I had the privilege of attending my first ever ATA show in Louisville, Kentucky and what an amazing experience it was!

For those of you who may not know, the ATA show is an opportunity for manufacturers, retailers and media professionals to come together and do all things archery related. For manufacturers, it is an opportunity to showcase their latest products, meet with existing and new customers, and to sell products for the upcoming year. Retailers visit the show to place orders, see the latest gear and attend seminars that cover a number of topics relating to the business side of archery. Last but not least, there are a number of TV personalities, bloggers and media people who document the event, meet fans and promote various products.

I spent time shooting a video segment with one of our partners, Midwest Whitetail.

It Feels Good To Belong

If I had to give myself an assessment of whether I am an introvert or an extrovert, I would put myself into the category of an introvert. It’s hard to believe I am in sales but I have always struggled to make small talk with people and develop close relationships in other industries because my heart just wasn’t there. In this industry of archery and bowhunting, I am right where I need and want to be.

It is hard to describe what this show meant to me but just imagine your favorite hobby or interests and being surrounded with thousands of other individuals who are like minded. When you are with these individuals, you can share advice, stories and have a good time together. Like a reunion of life-long friends, its feels damn good to belong.

Although it was great meeting many new and existing customers for QuietKat, one of the coolest parts of the ATA show for me was getting to meet individuals in the industry who have inspired me over the years. As an avid bowhunter I have been reading articles, books and watching shows with names such as; The Drury’s, Michael Waddell, Cameron Hanes, Todd Graf, Jeff Sturgis, Adam Hays and many more. I was fortunate enough to meet all of these guys at the show and because of this, it has inspired me more than ever before to be a better bowhunter.

It was great meeting Cameron Hanes at the 2016 ATA Show!

A Tight-Knit Community

I look forward to next years ATA show for many reasons but above all, I just can’t wait to talk archery with a passionate bunch of people for three days straight! I love the camaraderie between each individual in this industry and although the community may be small, our passion for archery and bowhunting is large. Thanks to everyone who welcomed me to this industry; I hope to be involved for many years to come.

These people of the ATA are not my colleagues, business partners or mere acquaintances; these people are now my friends. It is a brotherhood of which we all belong and share together. Take care, my friends and see you soon.

-Adam Parr

With smartphones quickly taking over our everyday lives, it has become the norm to see people’s faces buried in them more than ever before. Next time you walk into a mall, stop and take count of how many people have their eyes glued to a phone. Look around next time you are waiting in line at the airport and count how many people are completely oblivious to the world around them. We humans get bored very easily and tend to rely on technology to help pass the time so it’s with little doubt that us hunters are following suit. We post long hours in a tree stand each fall pursuing that trophy buck and to help ease the “downtime” we employ a little smartphone therapy.

Deer Are Sneaky Creatures

I would like you to take a moment and reflect on your past hunting seasons, specifically in regards to quick encounters and sightings of whitetail deer. Think about how many deer swiftly moved past your stand and in a matter or seconds they were gone. How many times did you catch a glimpse of a deer moving through a thick area that you would have never seen if you hadn’t been looking in that EXACT spot at that exact same time? How many instances have you had a deer get to within 30 yards, without ever seeing or hearing their approach, completely catching you off-guard?

Here’s something else that will boggle your mind. These are just the times that you ACTUALLY witnessed those events take place. Take it one step further and think about how many deer you DIDN’T see because you weren’t looking in the right spot at the right time. Who really knows how many deer slip past you throughout the season and leave undetected; It’s almost scary to think about!

Don’t Text & Hunt: VIDEO

Click the link above to watch a doe sneak up on a hunter while texting!

What I’m trying to highlight is that whitetail deer, especially mature whitetail bucks are very elusive creatures and are experts at evading hunters. I mean, it’s practically their job! And no, I’m not here to bash people who scroll their news feeds on the regular because I to, am a smartphone whore. My goal is to create awareness and I, my friend, am here to say that you are missing opportunities at deer because of your smartphone. Don’t believe me? I have the numbers to prove it!

If It Were A Snake…

Before I hit you with a bunch of facts and numbers from a recent survey, I wanted to highlight a few experiences of my own from this past hunting season which helped influence the writing of this article.

Scenario 1

November 18th I found myself perched in a tree and by 9:30 am I had yet to see a deer. It was a dead calm day and boredom started to set in so I decided to get out the ole smartphone and kill some time. I figured I would be able to hear anything approach because of how quiet it was so I started scrolling the news feed. After 5 minutes of reading status updates and liking photos on Instagram, I decided to look up and out of nowhere, a doe was 25 yards away walking right towards me. Five seconds later she walked right into my scent cone and killed any chance of me reaching for my bow because she was already on alert. Moments later she whirled around and trotted off in the opposite direction, leaving me shaking my head.

We’ve all seen this popular hunting meme!

Scenario 2

My girlfriend’s brother, Steve, was heading into an area of public ground to hunt in Kansas during our week trip and he came up on another hunter in a tree stand. By the time Steve saw him he was within 40 yards of his tree stand with nothing but open air between the two of them. The hunter did not hear his footsteps nor did he catch his movement. Steve waited for him to look up so he could acknowledge him and waive to say sorry but after 30 seconds, the hunter was still oblivious. Steve walked away and left the area without ever being detected.

Scenario 3

The evening after I killed My 2015 Kansas Buck, I decided to head back to the same area in an attempt to fill my doe tag. Once again, this was a very calm evening so the leaves were crunching with each step I took. I dropped down into a river bottom and came up the other side still searching for the ideal setup, so I pushed further into the timber. About 10 yards past the river bottom I saw a hunter sitting on a stool 50 yards away next to a tree. I paused for a few seconds to see if he would acknowledge my presence but to no avail. Do you want to know why he didn’t look up? He was looking down at his phone! I turned around, went back across the river bank and turned to see if he had seen me but his head was still buried in his phone. I could have been a 170 walking in for crying out loud!

The Numbers Don’t Lie

In addition to my own experiences, I wanted to gather factual data on a larger scale so I created a survey and posted it on www.whitetailwatch.com, www.archerytalk.com, and Facebook so that I could reach a wide audience of whitetail hunters across the U.S. A total of 260 people completed the survey which was more than my expected goal of 100. I asked a range of questions pertaining to hunting but there were two questions I was particularly interested in gathering the results.

On average, what amount of time do you spend on your phone during 3 hours of hunting?

I took the averages of each time period. For example, the 15-30 mins category I rounded to 22.5 mins and divided by 180 mins to come up with the percentage of time spent on the phone during a 3-hour hunt. Here is what it came up with based on 260 completed surveys:

• 53% of people spend 4% of their hunt on a phone, or 7.5 mins in a 3-hour window.
• 32% of people spend 12.5% of their hunt on a phone, or 22.5 mins in a 3-hour window.
• 10.5% of people spend 25% of their hunt on a phone, or 45 mins in a 3-hour window.
• 4% of people spend 50% of their hunt on a phone, or 90 mins in a 3-hour window.
• 0.5% of people spend 83% of their hunt on a phone, or 2.5 hours in a 3-hour window.

Over 10% of the survey population spends 25% of a 3-hour hunt on their smartphone.

Do you feel like you missed shot opportunities at deer because you were looking at your phone?

This one surprised me because of the amount of time people spend on their phones but only 6% of the group stated they missed shot opportunities due to being on their phone. The problem with this question is that you would actually have to witness the missed opportunity in order to answer yes. The people who answered no either never saw it happen, even though it did or it never happened in the first place. I guess we will never know.

6% of the survey population admitted to missing shot opportunities due to being on their phone.

A Growing Trend

You might be thinking to yourself, “So what, Adam! Those three scenarios could have been just pure coincidence and that survey you created sucked!” Well, maybe that’s true but I can guarantee you that those three scenarios and the amount of distraction from a phone did not occur 10-15 years ago. Am I right? Your smartphone is not helping you kill deer.

Think about how short-lived the encounters were when Steve and I walked up on the hunters on their phones. These encounters lasted less than a minute from the time they could have seen us until the time we were gone. Typical deer sightings aren’t much different; they can be very short lived which also proved true in my first scenario with the doe that got down wind of me.

When you step back and actually think about it, the minutes on your phone start to add up which could be costing you shot opportunities at deer. I’m not saying that being on your cell phone necessarily is a bad thing but just remember the next time you pull out that phone for a mere 5 minutes, 6 booners could have walked behind you! Just sayin’!

Want to kill more deer? Stay off your damn smartphone while you’re in the woods.

-Adam Parr

Given that I didn’t have the luxury of scouting every weekend, I needed an extra edge in conjunction with running trail cameras. At this point in time, I had no information related to deer densities and if there were even deer that I would be interested in pursuing on the recently acquired properties. Long story short, I was looking to take a quick inventory on any big bucks roaming the farms I had access to hunt. To help me do this I implemented the use of Big Tine Fortified Deer Blend!

A Needle In A Haystack

Now before you jump to conclusions about the 7,000 acres of hunting land, let me paint you a better picture by stating that the acreage is not continuous and only about 1,000 acres is what I would deem “hunt-able”. Out of that 1,000 acres, there are less than 10 acres of trees, the landscape is comprised mainly of open grass, small draws and has a total of two crop fields. Do you get the picture? If not, I posted a snapshot below for your viewing pleasure.

With all due respect, I’m not hunting Iowa, people! This is Western Kansas, where the only trees you will find are located in and around dried up river bottoms or in the immediate areas surrounding homesteads. The wide open prairie makes the deer extremely tough to pattern so just hanging cameras in a “hopeful” location wasn’t going to yield the best results. Big Tine was the answer to my early season scouting success!

Yielding Results

Upon my first use and within hours of putting out Big Tine’s Cherry Rush Last Call, I had a mature buck in front of the camera during daylight. Below are a few trail camera pictures showing me putting out the mixture and shortly after, catching a mature buck coming out of the bedding area from behind to investigate. Although he is not a giant, he is still mature and I was blown away at how quickly Big Tine was able to bring him in front of the camera. See my trail cam pictures below where it shows the dates and times only hours apart on the first day I put out Big Tine.

One of the more successful camera locations was where I put out the Big Tine 30-06 formula; a perfect blend of minerals, corn, sunflower seeds, and cherry aroma to spark their curiosity! Within 2 days I had pictures of 5 different bucks ranging in size from 150” – 170”. Right then and there I had confirmed two things; Big Tine really does work and I had hit the deer hunting property lottery! See below for a sampling of trail cam pictures of the giants I was able to capture on camera. To view the full card pull, check out the Transition Wild Facebook Page.

All Season – All Purpose

My original use of Big Tine Deer Feed was used as a tool to help with my early season scouting efforts but I will also utilize Big Tine for my Spring / Summer mineral sites. Because of the desolate environment that Western Kanas deer are subject to, they do not receive maximum nutrition through their everyday diet. With the help of Whitetail Institute’s Imperial 30-06 Mineral/Vitamin Supplement, Big Tine is the perfect supplement for enhanced antler growth and an overall healthier deer herd.

Although I can’t credit Big Tine entirely for a successful deer season, it did play a big part in my scouting efforts which was the first step towards completing my end goal of killing a mature whitetail in 2015. After many failed attempts and close encounters, the cards were finally dealt in my favor and I was able to arrow my biggest whitetail to date on November 20th. To read more about that memorable hunt, click HERE.

Don’t just take my word for it. Stop by your local retailer today and pick up a few bags of Big Tine and start experimenting on your own property. They have a wide range of products in addition to deer feed including; food plot seed, cover scents and mineral blocks. Regardless of what you use, I think you will be very pleased with the results!

To find out more information about Big Tine, please visit their website at: www.bigtine.com.

-Adam

I had been hunting hard all week and had yet to get a single shot opportunity on any deer, let alone a mature buck! Dustin and Steve tagged out earlier in the week and I’ll feature their stories in a later article. I had been seeing good bucks at the beginning of the week but they were all out of range for a shot. The 12 hour, all day sits with little deer movement over the past few days started to wear on my morale and hopes of putting my tag on a mature Kansas buck.

On the second to last day, I decided to pull the plug on an area I was hunting and move to a new area in closer proximity to where Steve and Wendell had been hunting. They were seeing a lot of does running around and a few good bucks so they told me to come try out this spot. At this stage of the hunt I didn’t have much to lose!

Setting Up For The Evening Hunt

Dustin and I decided to hunt together on Thursday evening so we brought two tree stands with the anticipation of hanging a double set. Upon entering this new area, it was really tough to find the right tree because of the thicker brush and the lack of suitable trees to hang a stand. We ended up walking around for over an hour before finally finding one that had some shooting lanes and was large enough to hold the both of us.

By the time we had all of our gear at the base of the tree, we were exhausted and drenched in sweat from the 60-degree temps and sunny skies. Since we had trounced around the area in every direction making all sorts of noise, neither of us had high hopes for the evening hunt.

After finally getting settled into the stand about 3:30pm, the winds died down and we enjoyed the view from 25 feet up. To the West was a river that ran North / South and to the East was a CRP field. We were positioned in a 100-yard wide strip of thick woods that ran between the field and the river. Without having stepped foot in this area before, we didn’t know what to expect for deer movement but it looked promising because of the abundance of rubs and scrapes in the immediate area.

As the light faded we had 2 does come behind us at 50 yards but did not make their way in for a shot. They ended up getting down-wind and slowly walked off back to where they came from. Even though we didn’t see much movement, it was great to be in the same stand with my good hunting partner again!

The Morning Hunt – November 20th

My alarm rings at 5:00am and I dread crawling out of the sheets but I know I have to keep pushing. Dustin decided to sleep in so I went out solo for the morning hunt with the anticipation of sitting the entire day. I parked the truck and began the walk to my stand; bumping a doe in the field but made it the rest of the way unscathed. I finally settled in about 20 minutes before first light and prepared myself for, hopefully, an exciting and successful day.

Shortly after first light, I catch movement to my left and notice two does moving slowly through the understory. I stand up to position myself in hopes that they come close enough for a shot but they slowly graze for a few minutes and walk directly behind my stand at 40 yards where I am not able to shoot. After standing directly down-wind for 5 minutes they push off to the North without offering up a good shot opportunity. Once again, I was bummed!

10 minutes goes by and I catch more movement to my left but this time, it’s within 30 yards. At first glance, I thought it was a lone doe but as it came closer I was able to make out two small spikes on the top of his head. He closes the gap to 10 yards, hits a scrape and walks off in the same direction the two does traveled just minutes prior. If only he was a little bit bigger!

The Moment Of Truth

At approximately 7:25am, an hour after first light, I see a bigger bodied deer moving out in front of me at 60 yards but could not yet determine what it was. A few moments later he clears the thick brush and I immediately determine he’s a shooter and my heart begins to race!

He moves his way in closer, alone and oddly enough, with the wind at his back as he funneled off to my right at 70 yards. Knowing he was too far for a shot and would likely move past me out of range, I reached for my Quaker Boy Bleat-In-Heat and let out a nice long doe bleat. It immediately caught his attention and fired him up enough to work a scrape that was close by. After he finished working the scrape he started walking my way, but once again, I had no shot opportunities as he paralleled my tree at 35 yards!

I let him move past me which gave me some time to reach for my Quaker Boy Brawler Buck Call and I let out a soft, quick buck grunt. In an instant he wheeled right around and made a bee-line right for my tree; quickly closing the distance to 10 yards! I don’t know if he picked up my human scent from the night before or if it was because he didn’t see the buck that should be standing in front of him but he got spooky and made a quick, 180 degree turn directly away from me. I used this to my advantage, immediately drew my bow and began looking for an opening to get a shot off. After holding for 10 seconds he made his way into an opening and I stopped him with a mouth grunt at 20 yards broadside.

I settled my pin on his chest, let off the shot and watched as my arrow flew directly into his chest cavity! The shot placement was absolutely perfect and upon initial impact, blood was pouring out of the entry hole so I knew I had hit him hard. I watched him run off, blood pumping from his heart and he started to do the “dizzy dance” as his run slowed to a walk. He stumbled out of sight behind a large cedar tree and moments later I heard him crash. In an instant, the woods were silent again.

At this point I completely lost it and was celebrating beyond belief; shaking uncontrollably in my tree stand. I could not believe it came together on the last day of my hunt and I was ecstatic to finally have a beautiful, mature Kansas buck on the ground!

I texted the guys and waited for Dustin to arrive so that we could track him together and allowing extra minutes of caution for the buck to fully expire. 20 minutes later Dustin shows up and we follow a blood coated trail to my buck that looks like someone dumped a can of red paint on the ground. I can’t say enough good things about Rage Broad Heads , they sure make easy work out of tracking a whitetail deer. I was using a Rage Hpyodermic and they are absolutely devastating, leaving a blood trail that you can run down if you wanted to.

It Can All Change in a Matter of Seconds

Bowhunting is a constant game of “cat and mouse” and the majority of time, I’m the cat who can’t catch the mouse. This year was filled with many highs and lows, multiple close-call encounters with mature bucks and one successful hunt to end my 2015 season in Kansas. You can go from zero to hero in a matter of seconds as long as you never give up and put in the time.

I’d like to thank my good friend, Dustin Campbell for telling me to keep grinding and for helping me with the long drag to the truck. Also, thank you for taking all of the great pictures; you certainly know how to capture my good side! I’d like to give big thanks to Wendell Trowbridge and Steve Trowbridge for pointing me in the right direction and putting me into a good area! I couldn’t have made it happen without you guys so thanks again!

These are the moments I live for and will cherish forever. I love deer hunting

-Adam

After a six-hour drive to my hunting lease in Kansas, I arrive at the farm around 11pm and quickly set up my tent in the gusting wind and darkness. I unpack my gear and settle in for a night of restless sleep as my mind races in anticipation of tomorrows hunt. Although I’m not planning on hunting in the morning, I plan to wake up at sunrise and drive the area to scout for deer movement.

My alarm goes off. I am tired from the work week and the long drive but I jump out of bed in excitement and anticipation of the morning scouting session. Its a cool 40 degrees, which is unseasonably cold for the morning low in mid-September so I am expecting decent activity. After three hours of driving, glassing and scouting from afar, tiredness sets in so I head back to camp.

It’s getting close to 10am so I decide to stop and check trail cameras in the immediate area surrounding the farm. Thinking to myself, “It might be too early in the day to check cameras and I should probably wait a couple hours” did cross my mind but the temptation was too much. After running a trail cam through the latter part of the Summer, I wasn’t getting any pictures of my target buck in this particular area of the farm so my intention was to pull this camera and move it to a different location.

As I close the distance to within 100 yards from my camera, I see a doe and fawn have picked me off. I don’t really think too much of it because there always seems to be a doe in the area no matter what time of day it is so I push on without stopping. As I get closer to the camera she starts to circle in front of me instead of running the opposite direction. At this point I stop and watch her run to another low area with thick cover, littered with willow brush and small trees. In an instant my heart sank as she alerted five does and three bucks from their beds not more than 100 yards from where I stood.

I am in utter disbelief! One of the bucks is the typical 12 point (pictured above), who is my number one target buck for the season on this particular farm and he is accompanied by the second biggest buck on the property which is a heavy 9 pointer (pictured above). None of the deer in the group spotted me or knew what was causing them to run but were alerted by the running doe that I had spooked minutes earlier. I watch them trot across the road as I shake my head and mumble a number of curse words for blowing these deer out of the immediate area.

Lessons Learned

You may remember from one of my earlier posts that I had laid out an exact strategy to hunt this deer throughout the early season. Read the full post: My Exact Strategy For Western Kansas Early Archery Season

The spot where I bumped them from was less than 400 yards from where my tree stand is located, overlooking the waterhole where I have numerous pictures of my target buck. The wind was perfect that evening for him to move during daylight but all bets were off because I had ruined the hunt before it even began. I sat the stand anyways hoping that they bedded up in the milo field to the North but all I saw were does and fawns.

Hindsight 20/20 I should have waited to check that camera until at least noon but I’m not sure if that would have made a difference. I think regardless of the time of day the same scenario would have occurred but I will never know for sure.

One of the main takeaways from this excursion was the realization that I didn’t need trail cameras anymore because they had already done their job. Because of my pre-season scouting, I knew there was a shooter in the area and I knew he was coming to the water tank on a regular basis. I positioned my tree stand accordingly so that he could not wind me on his approach, I put in the necessary work but all was lost because of my excitement and trying to nail down his exact bedding location. For what??

I follow a number of hunting shows where they are constantly running cameras to locate the exact travel pattern and bedding area of a hit list buck. Although this information is extremely benficial, it can also be high-risk, resulting in bumping deer and jeopardizing a hunting area. In this particular scenario, I was caught up in the mentality that I HAD to keep running cameras in order to kill this buck. That would be like me as a salesman getting a person to say “Yes, I’ll buy your product!” and then continue to explain features and benefits for another 10 minutes even though they have already committed to the sale. Ludicrous, right?? How much is too much? Sometimes less is more.

All things aside, it was a wonderful opening weekend and it felt great to get back into the stand with my bow in hand. As hunters, we are constantly putting together the pieces of the puzzle and trying to wrap our heads around these elusive animals in hopes of filling the freezer. After all, this is an entirely new property so I have to expect certain things like this to happen because of my lack of local knowledge. I came away with lessons learned and memories made, and in the end that’s all that really matters. I love deer hunting!

-Adam

My hunting partner and I stepped out of the truck for the first morning of scouting and we were about as lost as a couple of newborn puppies separated from their mother. All we could see were tall grass fields, a few scattered trees and an everlasting open prairie. After exploring the surrounding area for 20 minutes, we were convinced that deer just simply didn’t exist in this part of the state. We jumped in the truck and started heading to a different area and out of nowhere, a 160 inch buck with all sorts of trash ran across the road in front of us chasing a doe. I had never been so excited and confused at the same time. Those deer literally appeared out of thin air!

The last described scenario took place on public land. If you are hunting Eastern Kansas, then this article wont hold as much weight because the Eastern side is much like Michigan; lots of woods and crop fields with not much open ground.

This year I have the luxury of hunting some private ground on the Western side of Kanas and will be adjusting my hunting strategies accordingly. Here are four key tactics to implement while hunting during the early season on the West side of the state.

#1 – Hunt the Water Sources

Western Kansas is very dry with limited water sources so my early season strategy while the weather is hot will be focused around water. The majority of river beds on the western side are dry and standing water is scarce so if you are able to located a good water location, your plan should be focused around this.

During my last scouting endeavor I was able to locate a half-full water tank and since there are no cows in the pasture, the deer are taking advantage of this resource! My Covert Scouting Cameras had some great things to show me last weekend after the first card pull; view the pictures on my Facebook page, HERE!

#2 – Less Hunting and More Scouting

Hunting a new property is tough, especially when you don’t have any clue as to how the deer utilize the property and where the common travel routes are. Aerial and topography maps will only tell you so much before you have to put boots on the ground. I will be spending a good amount of time glassing from afar in the mornings and evenings until I have a good idea of how the deer are entering and exiting the property. When I do set out to hunt, my tree stand placements will be easily accessible with minimal risk of bumping deer.

I will also spend a good amount of time driving around the neighboring properties to get a better understanding of the surrounding area and how the property I’m hunting fits into the big picture of deer movement.

#3 – Find A Good Vantage Point

This tactic coincides with the “more scouting and less hunting” rule mentioned above but it’s definitely worth mentioning. Western Kansas tracts of land are so vast, meaning there is a lot of ground to cover. The best place to scout from is the highest vantage point or the spot where you can look over more ground. This really helped us learn the deer movements last year and played a key role for spot and stalk hunting later in the rut.

I put together a quick 2 minute highlight video of our hunting trip in Kansas last November. Click the video below and watch me put a stalk on a nice public land 8 point buck!

#4 – Wind, Entry/Exit, Food, Bedding and Travel Routes

The words mentioned above are pretty self explanatory and are applicable to any deer hunting scenario no matter where you hunt. Play the wind and plan your entry and exit routes to your stand locations so that you go undetected. Locate the food and the bedding areas and hunt the places in between. Pretty simple, right??

In my next blog post I will break down my strategy and exact game plan for hunting the biggest buck on the farm. This will highlight my tree stand placement and entry and exit routes in coordination with the right wind. Stay tuned!

-Adam