Morning Hunt
We were out of the house at 5AM. Plenty early to get settled into the stand well before sunrise at 7:10AM. I was hunting the Calvary Creek stand, Jake was at the pipeline, and Tom was at the Condo. As I sat in the dark for over an hour, I could hear deer chasing through the tree belt behind me.
As the sun came up the sightings were non-existent. It was nearly 8:00AM and I had not seen a deer. I decided to film a sequence of rattling. I had purchased a Knight and Hale "Da Bonehead" rattling unit that you pull apart and strike together.
As I was filming the sequence I looked out into the CRP and I had called in a very big 8 point. I whipped my camera around to hopefully catch the buck but he had winded me and started moving away.
I rattled again and he came back but he was too nervous and headed in the opposite direction. That was the first buck I have ever rattled. Very cool.
An hour later another mature eight walked by the stand. He was a nice deer, but not a shooter for me, at least this early in the hunt.
The rest of the morning was slow. Tom and Jake had far more action, both had shooters just out of range. A very slow morning for Kansas but they can't all be crawling with bucks.
Afternoon Hunt
For our afternoon hunt Jake went to the Kill Tree, I went to the River Stand, and Tom went to the Barbie. I know these stand names mean nothing to 99% of you but the regulars that hunt here like to read these updates and hear about the stand we hunted.
It was flat all the way around, I had one buck and some does, Tom had all does, and Jake had small small bucks a doe and a coyote. It was slow, but we believe it's just the calm before the storm. It gave me a nice break to have dinner and relax with my hunting buddies tonight.
