Grand Adventure - Kansas!

[John146]

My buddy Tim(rcheryhunter)and I just got back from 11 days in Kansas. Our trip started with an all night drive on Friday, December 20th and we arrived in Kansas on the first day of winter and boy was it ever winter in Kansas!

We just beat getting shut down on the highway because of the ice storm that we drove through and in the early morning light of December 21st we were in a winter wonderland. Everything was white. It would be 4 days till we would see the landscape unfrozen.

[awbowman]

   

[John146]

We were graciously given the run of a house that a friend of Tim's had offered in a small town near where we hunted and I would soon meet the owner but I knew I would like him when I walked in the living room and saw these!

[Hermon]

   

[John146]

Tim and I had not hunted together in a few years but we have a hunting heritage together that has accounted for some of the most enjoyable experiences of my life. We have hunted Moose in Alaska, Elk in New Mexico and Wyoming, Deer and Hogs in a whole lot of other places. We call these jaunts - Grand Adventures - thus the name of this thread.

We had a number of objectives on this trip.
The first objective of this trip was to have a BLAST! Our drive up was worth the trip in itself. We were able to catch up on a whole lot and the fellowship was just off the charts!

The second objective was for me to experience Kansas from a deer hunting perspective and hopefully historically too. I love finding out about a place I go to and meet some of the people there. Their stories always fascinate me. Tim has been for the last 10 years and I had pheasant hunted Kansas about 15 years ago but had never been here for deer.

The third objective was to film a deer harvest while hunting on the SPOT 360 Hunting Seat. Tim is a "ground maniac" like me and I was to be armed with a camcorder for this trip. This turned out to be as exciting as hunting - well maybe not quite - but it was a different sort of rush to try to capture happenings on video and I was hoping to do that well. Let's just say my video skills could use some work but I was able to capture some things that will be etched in my memory forever.

Fourth objective was to implement the hunting strategy that is the tag line for the SPOT 360 and that is - Find the Spot, Hunt the Spot. We were hoping to take our gear and daily hit 2 different spots each day when fresh sign was located or in some previously determined spots that Tim had in mind.

Fifth objective was to put the SPOT 360 through its paces in weather that was colder than anything I had ever hunted in before. I needed to see for myself if there would be any issues because of the cold or terrain we would be hunting. Turns out that I was the one with the issues concerning the cold. Thank God Tim brought an extra pair of goose down coveralls because the gear I brought, on one day in particular, was just not enough.

[lilbobby]

   

[Cyclic-Rivers]

   

[karrow]

and then???  

[John146]

Our first morning of hunting took place at a feeder that Tim had set up for his wife on a previous trip. This was the closest place to go to. The roads were not good for travel to the other property we had access to so we decided to go here and "get our feet wet", or frozen - so to speak. This turned out to be a good decision even though everything was so noisy when we walked that we wondered if we might be wasting our time.

Access to this spot was unique. There is a gap in a rock wall that you have to go through to get up on top of a flat where cedars and oak flats are. Here's a picture of the rock wall from below and then a couple with Tim at the top and then coming down when things had thawed out a bit.

[John146]

Once on top, Tim set up against a fallen cedar which provided excellent background cover with a shooting lane toward the feeder and I got behind the trunk of the cedar and off to his left. About 2 hours into our hunt a doe came in. There is no editing so excuse my movement and focus issues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yteaKfRPYbs&feature=em-upload_owner

[John146]

As you can see my view was not the same as Tim's and neither he nor I was sure about the shot. Tim saw the arrow go past the deer and thought he had shot high. I thought I has heard impact. Turns out we accomplished our third objective on the very first morning hunt in Kansas!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fq-ODrjcW-M&feature=em-upload_owner

[John146]

What a Grand Adventure!! Hunt in the aftermath of an ice storm, set up on the ground in your first spot and harvest a doe!! Needless to say we were pumped up and felt the trip was a success already! We gave thanks to God for the gift of this deer, its life and the meat it would provide.

After some pics we drug the deer out the way we came in and drove to the local meat locker to drop her off. We celebrated with buffalo wings from the store across the street and headed to the house to prepare for the afternoon hunt.

Here are some pics and I will pick up the story tomorrow. Time for bed.

[dhermon85]

Great job! Nice doe

[Over&Under]

The kind of blood trails I like    

[bofish-IL]

Excellent thanks for taking us along.

[Gen273]

[Homey88]

Awesome hunt!

[katman]

Grand adventure indeed, congrats.

Looks Grand so far! Can't wait to read the rest.

Bisch

[Dirtybird]

Nicely done Todd.