With the hunt down to the wire and a strong Northeast wind blowing - deciding on a stand choice for my last morning was an easy decision. The junk yard stand was a great choice because it's in the trees and the deer seem to gravitate here when it's windy.
Kent dropped me off early and before I was even done attaching my safety rope to my Summit SOP harness deer were under me. The scene reminded me of my first hunt in 2004 when a giant, wide, dark-horned buck walked under me at first light. To this day he's my largest typical and probably my most impressive buck.
As it became lighter the woods began to fill with deer. A small buck appeared and started chasing does around. This went on for at least 30 minutes when I turned behind my stand and saw a wide 8-point. I couldn't see his rack very well (it was buried in a tree) but it looked like a shooter with good mass and a great spread. I did notice one of his brows were missing and I debated shooting a 7pt but his spread talked me into it. I immediately went into "kill mode."
This nice Mainframe 8 came in and I decided to take him
The buck walked in and presented me with a fantastic 15-yard shot, quartering away. I drew my bow, put the pin on his off leg, and shot my 10-year anniversary buck. I won't go into details on the bloodtrail since we'll save that for a future challenge. But it's safe to say it was a pretty easy tracking job.
I called Kent and Jake and told them it was safe to come pick me up. While I waited for them to drive out, the giant old 6-point I saw on the first day of this hunt showed up and walked around my stand grunting at does.
When Jake and Kent arrived I was anxious to see my buck. I am pretty analytical of what bucks I shoot and usually have time to assess them. In this case I didn't. I don't care about score, but I hate to shoot young bucks before their prime. When I walked up this this deer I knew I'd made a mistake. Don't get me wrong, he is a great buck and was taken cleanly with a perfectly placed shot. But, I was disappointed in myself. I shot a young deer with the potential to be a giant. We pulled his jaw and his incisors (will send to DeerAge.com) but I am fairly certain he's a 3.5 years old. He's no younger than that but I would be surprised if he was 4.5.
He's a mainframe 8 with a 20" inside spread. A great buck even if he should have been given another couple of years. He will be going on my wall alongside the other deer I've killed here in Kansas.
My ten year anniversary buck was a bit younger than I thought but is still a beautiful deer
So there you have it. Another great hunt from Kansas ten years after I first met Kent Jarnagin and Kent Woolfolk. This place is really special to me, and now to Jake too. I probably look forward to this hunt more than any other. Next November can't get here soon enough.
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Our deer hunt takes place in Southwest Kansas with Cimarron River Outfitters
