Looking back over the week long hunt there were many factors that brought me to the clearing on the last morning.
Just the morning before I'd gone there with the intent of staying all day and had done just that. It is such a great spot that I just knew if I logged the hours I'd get the deer.
The old blind was still there that morning and it was cozy enough for the chill temps. A bright sun helped it along as the morning warmed and the light layed it's warm fingers on the blind. But nothing had showed.
Tracy showed up toward noon with "Motel 6" and we swapped little for big. Surprisingly enough, nothing really changed in appearance. We took a break for an hour or two and then into the blind we went for the rest of the day.
It was surprisingly uneventful. Toward last light we heard a flock of turkeys passing just out our sight heading toward a favored roosting spot.
We should have seen something. Tracy's son Tress had set there the evening before and had does and a small (you learn to question that description) buck at 10 yards.
I was off sitting in the "4 Oaks" stand that Tracy and I had put up.
Tracy was off in another clearing waiting in a spot that would show him movement in the same basic area, but out of my sight. Neither place showed any movement.
We were both pretty astounded by these events. When I'd first seen the "4Oaks" location I was smitten. What a great spot it had looked like.
A heavily used trail angled down from "Buck ridge" into a pretty thick area. It cornered out shortly after a short stretch with a pile of fresh scrapes along it's length.
The corner itself showed movement from other directions and was comprised of at least 3 different cover types... classic "edge" in the timber.
Just down hill from the corner was a favored clearing the local deer and turkeys liked to feed and lounge in.
In just the right spot were 4 small white oaks surronded by cedars. A perfect spot to tuck in a ladder stand.... so we did.
Just after that stand was set up, the rains came. We lost a day and a half from sitting out the rain, but looking at it philosophically we both knew that our scent would be washed from those spots we had hunted already and the bucks would likely be making their rounds freshening their scrapes.
We had sat in the double cedar stand in the clearing below "4 Oaks" on the second night of the hunt. We had exactly one raccoon pass by out of range and two does that could have come in range except for an unfavorable wind and the fact that dark had taken over and a shot of any kind would have been unacceptable.
I'd plopped my butt in the stand up on buck ridge that morning but saw only one distant deer that I couldn't identify. I was still optomistic at this point.
After all, the first morning had been such an absolute gang buster start to the hunt.
Topic: Charlie Lamb comes to Kansas hunting whitetails! (Read 2780 times)
