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This was my third year coming to Hickory Creek and my first year coming during bow season. My first two years were during rifle and my father and my uncle (who joined me this year also) each shot a buck during these first two years. Now during those first two years we never saw a 140+ buck but we each killed 130 class deer. We kept coming back because of the hospitality and the comraderie at camp. Each year during rifle season at least one person in our camp would kill or see that "Giant Kansas Buck". Our first year it was Brad Martin from South Carolina who killed a giant 184" double drop buck. We knew they were here but the rifle season is post rut and you have to be patient (It's called hunting after all). So we got with Jeff and asked when the best week was to come and he informed us the second and third full weeks of November. So we booked it and this year we were at the boy scout ranch with a total of 6 hunters. We were able to rattle, grunt, and doe call multiple bucks in. I was averaging about 6-20 deer seen a day during my two rifle seasons and this I saw almost 80 DEER in one sitting (INCREDIBLE!)! The stands setup or direction could be complained about but there are so many deer traveling from so many directions a perfect setup is impossible (THATS A GOOD PROBLEM TO HAVE). If you listen to the guides and be open minded you will be successful. They tell you to sit all day, they tell you to be very scent conscious, they tell you to practice concealment of movements etc. and they know these properties. All 6 of the hunters in camp sat all day long everyday. Each hunter saw an average of 3 shooters in 5 days. My uncle saw a deer that was well into the 170"s, My father and Ty both saw deer well over 160", Jason saw a 150s class deer, and Myself and Brian saw 140 class deer. Now the reason these guides don't necessarily tell you what deer are on what cameras is because the deer I killed was seen by my father and Brian at their stands and Brian is well over a mile away and he has a picture of my deer. These deer move so much it would be irresponsible for these guides to say "Oh I have nice 150" deer that frequents this stand" these deer frequent many stands and these guides want you to kill! When Brad (my guide) came and found my deer he was so excited for me and happy for me it felt like we have been hunting together for years. 4 hunters shot at deer, one miss, one wound, and 2 kills. Brad spent over 8 hours tracking deer before he came to my stand and he showed me focus and stayed positive (even after tracking specks of blood for hours). Now I saw two 140 class deer and killed one; no these aren't the Kansas Giants that everyone is looking for but this is "Hunting" not "Killing" and I am very happy with the results. Hearing the stories from the other guys seeing those monsters was fun. Understand that no one had Ozonics, the wind swirled, and it was very hot. The guides did their best putting us in stands playing the wind. They can't kill these deer for us and they can't give you a guarantee so it would be unfair to hold them responsible for not seeing or killing deer. It took me 3 years to break 140" at Hickory Creek. Patience, Patience, and Patience. Every year I was there someone at one of the camps killed a monster, it could be you next year so book your hunt.

(I gave a "good" to care of trophy because they only gut your deer which is all I expect them to do. They don't want to be responsible for slicing your deer's skin when you want to mount it. Some will cape or skin for a fee just like the processor or taxidermist will. I wanted to be extra careful with mine and did it myself. They offer to take your meat or skin to a processor/taxidermist for you and mail it home.)

Cory