December is a crazy time of year. Between Christmas, my oldest son's birthday, my wedding anniversary and my busiest season for work... it leaves little time to hunt. However, the past few years my dad, son and I have been invited along with some great friends on a Kansas whitetail/pheasant hunt. Those are the kind of trips that you have to make time for and they have become one of the absolute highlights of my year. This year was no exception.
The first two days of our trip were spent chasing ringnecks and looking for whitetail bucks before the hunt opened on day three. The roosters this time of year have seen every type of pressure and those still alive have adapted to elude their pursuers in easy fashion. They are crazy birds flying hundreds of yards in front and running like mad. My 11-yr-old, Jake, quickly learned that they don't act much like clay pigeons. We did find some birds and on day two... some great bucks. One of them was an extremely wide 5 x 5 with some great character that was chasing a hot doe. After looking at that buck in the scope, my dad said "that one is good enough, I want to come back tomorrow and take that buck."
The next morning found us back in the same CRP field before daylight spotting for that buck. About a half hour after daylight we saw a white tail flash in a sea of grass and then spotted five bucks moving through the CRP in our direction. After about 15 minutes the bucks had worked their way to within 400 yards and then stopped. A cross wind was howling at 20-25 mph and at that distance I figured my dad would want to get closer before attempting a shot. He had me range the biggest buck, he judged the wind and then looked at his ballistics chart for drop and wind drift while I was divining a plan to get him in range. As I started making my best recommendation on closing the gap he said "No, I think I'll just shoot it from here." A few seconds later and one perfectly placed shot put the buck down. As I guided Jake and his grandpa to the buck I could hear Jake yell with excitement when they found the great buck. Lots of smiles and pictures later and we were on our way to find our friends.
Later that day we were back in the same area with our friends looking for another shooter buck. I was glassing from the top of an old tractor that I was using for a vantage point when I spotted a buck from over a mile away that looked like a good one. We closed the distance to about a quarter mile but the buck had disappeared. We sat glassing the does that had been with it, wondering what had happened to the buck when it suddenly jumped from the cover over a fence and stood looking at us in the open. I will always remember the late evening sun glowing off of its thick antlers... what a buck! It now knew that it was being hunted and walked down to the bottom of the wash and bedded out of sight. We quickly devised a plan to stalk the buck from different angles to attempt to surround it. I backed off out of sight of the wash and took off on a dead run to get behind the buck as my friends stalked into it from both sides. As luck would have it, the buck stayed bedded in the thick CRP until I eased over the edge of the wash at just over 300 yards. The buck spotted me and stood giving me a perfect broadside shot. This was a great joint effort and wouldn't have happened without my friends help. This buck had ground ?growage?? what a great animal and an amazing experience. Our opening day had been unforgettable.
Our friends hunted hard all week, passed on some great deer that they could have taken and had some close calls with a few definite shooters. Jake was pleasantly surprised that my dad and I filled our tags on the opening day as it left the rest of the week to hunt pheasants. Every day Jake had lots of chances but hadn't been able to bag a rooster. They would jump out too far or flush from behind and the ones in range were tough to get on with the bitter cold and wind? tough conditions for a young hunter. He worked hard, walked many miles each day and kept a great attitude. Each night he would help his grandpa take care of the dogs and tell him ?I think tomorrow will be the day grandpa.? What a great kid. Our last day with only a couple of hours to go we had surrounded a small weed patch with Jake on the outside edge when a big rooster took flight and Jake made one of the best long-range shots of the trip. He was all smiles. It was a great way to end a magical week with great friends and family.
Jake and his grandpa on the way to find grandpa's buck
Dad's Buck
Jake's Rooster
My Buck
THANKS GUYS!
Rising Moon...
The first two days of our trip were spent chasing ringnecks and looking for whitetail bucks before the hunt opened on day three. The roosters this time of year have seen every type of pressure and those still alive have adapted to elude their pursuers in easy fashion. They are crazy birds flying hundreds of yards in front and running like mad. My 11-yr-old, Jake, quickly learned that they don't act much like clay pigeons. We did find some birds and on day two... some great bucks. One of them was an extremely wide 5 x 5 with some great character that was chasing a hot doe. After looking at that buck in the scope, my dad said "that one is good enough, I want to come back tomorrow and take that buck."
The next morning found us back in the same CRP field before daylight spotting for that buck. About a half hour after daylight we saw a white tail flash in a sea of grass and then spotted five bucks moving through the CRP in our direction. After about 15 minutes the bucks had worked their way to within 400 yards and then stopped. A cross wind was howling at 20-25 mph and at that distance I figured my dad would want to get closer before attempting a shot. He had me range the biggest buck, he judged the wind and then looked at his ballistics chart for drop and wind drift while I was divining a plan to get him in range. As I started making my best recommendation on closing the gap he said "No, I think I'll just shoot it from here." A few seconds later and one perfectly placed shot put the buck down. As I guided Jake and his grandpa to the buck I could hear Jake yell with excitement when they found the great buck. Lots of smiles and pictures later and we were on our way to find our friends.
Later that day we were back in the same area with our friends looking for another shooter buck. I was glassing from the top of an old tractor that I was using for a vantage point when I spotted a buck from over a mile away that looked like a good one. We closed the distance to about a quarter mile but the buck had disappeared. We sat glassing the does that had been with it, wondering what had happened to the buck when it suddenly jumped from the cover over a fence and stood looking at us in the open. I will always remember the late evening sun glowing off of its thick antlers... what a buck! It now knew that it was being hunted and walked down to the bottom of the wash and bedded out of sight. We quickly devised a plan to stalk the buck from different angles to attempt to surround it. I backed off out of sight of the wash and took off on a dead run to get behind the buck as my friends stalked into it from both sides. As luck would have it, the buck stayed bedded in the thick CRP until I eased over the edge of the wash at just over 300 yards. The buck spotted me and stood giving me a perfect broadside shot. This was a great joint effort and wouldn't have happened without my friends help. This buck had ground ?growage?? what a great animal and an amazing experience. Our opening day had been unforgettable.
Our friends hunted hard all week, passed on some great deer that they could have taken and had some close calls with a few definite shooters. Jake was pleasantly surprised that my dad and I filled our tags on the opening day as it left the rest of the week to hunt pheasants. Every day Jake had lots of chances but hadn't been able to bag a rooster. They would jump out too far or flush from behind and the ones in range were tough to get on with the bitter cold and wind? tough conditions for a young hunter. He worked hard, walked many miles each day and kept a great attitude. Each night he would help his grandpa take care of the dogs and tell him ?I think tomorrow will be the day grandpa.? What a great kid. Our last day with only a couple of hours to go we had surrounded a small weed patch with Jake on the outside edge when a big rooster took flight and Jake made one of the best long-range shots of the trip. He was all smiles. It was a great way to end a magical week with great friends and family.
Jake and his grandpa on the way to find grandpa's buck
Dad's Buck
Jake's Rooster
My Buck
THANKS GUYS!
Rising Moon...
