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Day 1

Morning Hunt

What a start to my first morning hunt! I hunted a stand called Calvary Creek. One of my favorites. By 7:30 AM I had six bucks show up including a tall 2.5 year old with some early trash that needs at least two years before he's a shooter.

A young buck that has good potential

There were deer everywhere, and rut activity is definately on, at least for the younger bucks.

A new buck was coming out of the trees and as soon as I saw him I knew he was a mature, trophy buck. He was a 9 point with exceptionally long tines, and all intact. Good mass, and good width. I figured he would go 160-165 inches.

As soon as this buck showed I knew it was a shooter

This buck's rack was impressive with good mass, good width, and exceptional tine length

The camera angle looks good here but there's brush in my way. I never got a shot.

The buck worked some scrapes over at 30 yards and I could have easily made that shot. But since we're using bait at this stand, I figured I should wait for him to get closer. He did that, but he was quartering to me. He didn't stay long and then moved toward my stand. I moved my camera to intercept him and waited for him give me a clear shot. It never happened. He moved from scrape to scrape and every one had an obstruction. Eventually he moved off and I never got a shot.

I'm going right back to that stand this afternoon.

Afternoon Hunt

Back to the same stand as this morning. I couldn't help but think of my interview with Don Higgins when he said "the wind must be mostly right for the buck, and mostly wrong for you." That pretty much described my afternoon wind. If the buck came from the west - where he headed in the morning - there was a good chance the buck would wind me.

I had a pile of does coming in all afternoon. I even had a badger show up and fed on the bait alongside the does. As the sun began to set, I heard the distinct sound of a buck rubbing a tree. I turned to look behind me in the stand and the big buck was 50 yards behind me. The wind was mostly right for him, and almost entirely wrong for me. He came in tight to the tree and my wind must have drifted over him. I was in the clear. I pulled my bow off the hook, hit my record button and waited for the good angle.

The buck came in despite a really risky wind

I pulled back my bow, settled my pin and released. The shot was perfect and I was pretty sure I saw him go down.While I was waiting in my stand, I got a text from Matt. He had also shot his target buck. I real heavy buck with lots of trash. He wasn't quite sure about the hit, so he settled in for a long wait in the dark.

My Mathews VX3 did the job once again. I watched the arrow sail through the great buck.

Clay showed up 30 minutes later and we tracked my buck. He didn't go far! He is a great buck, with super long tine lengths of 11" on his G2s, long main beams, and 20" inside spread. He was also extremely heavy on the hoof.

We dragged the buck out and 30 minutes later got a text that Matt had recovered his massive buck! We were pumped and did a fair bit of 'celebrating' tonight with a bottle of Green Spot Irish Whiskey.

Another great buck from Kansas. The only problem is my hunt is over too soon!

Matt Devoe's buck hit the magic 170" mark!

Another amazing bowhunt with Kent and Clay Jarnagin comes to a quick end. This was my 20th year bowhunting here and I don't think I've ever had a bad hunt. Two out of three tagged out with great bucks on the very first day is amazing. Greg Hammell is still bowhunting and if he gets a buck I'll post it to the thread. Thanks for following this very short, live bowhunt!