Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Be safe in your travels and enjoy some turkey!

Canada

We got back from Saskatchewan Canada last week where we had a great time whitetail hunting. We were hunting with Great Grey Outfitters. They are one of the most professional outfitters that I have ever had the opportunity to hunt with. From the food to the accommodations and the hunting, everything really was first class. We were hunting with rifles, which is not really my weapon of choice but can be a good change from bowhunting sometimes. It actually has been two years since I have even hunted with a rifle. We started hunting on Monday and the temperatures were unseasonably warm. The highs were in the mid 30s, which is pretty cold for us southerners. In Canada, you are required to wear all white or red on your upper body. We wore white and looked like a couple of giant marshmallows because of all the clothes we had on. The hunting was slow for the first few days but my Dad was able to take a nice buck on the 3rd day.

By the 5th day we had passed on plenty of 140-150 class bucks and were dying to see a 160+. Sitting in that blind all day in freezing temps can really take a toll on you. It was Thursday and they put us in a blind they call "The Penthouse". It was really nice and comfortable. Before we could hardly see outside of the blind there were already deer in front of us. It was too dark to see what they were but with all the activity and the freezing temps we knew it could be a good day. At about 8:30 we had a 140 class 8 point walk 40 yards from the blind. He had ice sickles hanging from his chin, it was really cool to see. An hour went by and I noticed a big bodied deer step out way down shooting lane at about 175 yards away. When I put the scope up on him I knew he was a shooter immediately. He was a 10 point that I guessed to be in the upper 160s and would definitely be the biggest deer I had ever shot. It didn't take long for him to turn broadside and when Sarah let me know she was on him with the camera, I squeezed off the shot. It felt like a good hit and he ran off like he was hit hard but I still wanted to take a look at the tape. After reviewing the footage, we realized that I had actually hit the deer low. I had a sickening feeling in my stomach, one that I'm sure most hunters have felt at some point in their hunting careers. Our guide actually heard the shot and came to check on us soon after. We knew it was not a very good hit but followed the blood trail for a while anyway. After looking for about 30 minutes we decided to give him some more time. We waited for a few hours and decided to head back out. We picked up the blood trail quickly and followed it in the snow for a long ways. After a while we knew that if we had any chance to find that buck it would have to be the next day. After a sleepless night, we went back out and tracked for about 4-5 hours. We never found the buck. It really does make me sick and I had a long ride home to beat myself up over it. I can't stand the thought wounding a deer, but it is reality and it does happen. Our guide went back out the day after we left to give it one more try but came back empty handed. At least I had a little bit of comfort knowing that we had done everything that we could to try and recover the animal. I had a great time on the hunt other than shooting and not finding my buck. Every time I head into the woods I try to learn something new and take something positive away from my hunts. Even though this hunt did not turn out the way that I had hoped it would, I did learn a lot and will try to take something positive from this unfortunate experience.

Season Update

Ok, it's been a while since anything has been written on here, so I thought I would give an update of how our season has been going so far. The season started off with really high hopes of scoring on a monster whitetail and a trophy Arkansas black bear within the first couple of weeks. Well it didn't quite work out that way, which is usually the case when hunting. The first week and a half in Kansas started off incredible but then went south really quick. I was hunting the big deer from the previous post very hard and actually got him on video for about ten minutes. The only problem was that he was at 75 yards and walking away and even though I would have done just about anything to get a shot at that deer, 75 yards is a little out of my range. This encounter had me fired up so I was back up there two days later. A small cold front came through and had the bucks on their feet. It started out with a small spike in the field and before we knew it there were at least 10 different bucks in the food plot in front of us. However, none of them were "shooters." As the camera light started running out I looked to my right just in time to see an absolute monster jump out of the brush and into the field. He was a typical 12 pt that would have easily been in the 170"s. It was an amazing sight, he immediately began chasing the other bucks around. By now I'm starting to get a little nervous but Sarah had the camera rolling on him and told me that we still had good camera light if he would just come closer. Two of the smaller bucks to my left started sparring and that got his attention. He was walking from my right to left and was quickly coming into range. I pulled up my range finder and put it right on him, 55 yards and closing. He stopped for amoment and I drew back. He was now at about 45 yards and suddenly stopped. I knew it might be now or never. So I shot... and missed. It was one of those shots where you know you missed right when you let the arrow go. I just choked, no excuses. I was crushed, but he wasn't spooked off too bad so I knew there was still a chance of killing him some time in the future and I couldn't forget about the other big deer that I had filmed just two days earlier in the same spot.

By now it was time to start bear baiting. We began to bait just a week before the season starts even though you are allowed to bait a month before opening day. Right away the bears were hitting the baits and we got a few pictures of a pretty good bear on one of the baits.

The bait sites were hit every time that we checked them and I was getting pretty excited even though I still had that big buck on my mind. Opening day came and we headed to our spot for an afternoon hunt. When we got there it had not been touched. The bait was hit everyday leading up to this and all of a sudden... nothing. We hunted that afternoon and did not see anything. After that I decided to put my focus back on deer hunting.

For the next few weeks, I hunted that same over the same food plot whenever the wind was right. I never saw much more than a spike. One day my Dad says he wants to put a new stand up in this certain spot on the farm. He said that he had a good feeling about it even though we didn't have any trail cam pics of any big bucks over there. I helped him hang the stand and he was ready to hunt it, I was still hunting over the food plot where I had missed earlier in the year. The afternoon goes by and we don't see anything. As we are walking back to meet at where the Stealth is parked, the lights turn on and it starts driving towards us. It was a little weird knowing that he was out earlier than we were but I didn't really think anything of it.

When he gets up next to us his face was ghostly white and he says to me "I just shot the big one!" I said "Yeah Right," but from the look on his face it had to be true. Dad said after he shot the deer it walked off and he saw him lay down in some brush. He was a little unsure of the

shot, so we decided to let the deer lay over night. It turned out to be a good decision because the buck was laying right where he last saw him and he was a giant! It was the same deer that I had filmed earlier on but was too far to shoot. The deer gross scored a whopping 178".

Last week Sarah and I were up in Kansas and knew it was going to be a good week. The bucks were starting to cruise a little bit and on top of that, a cold front was moving in. We checked

the trail cams and had pics of some nice bucks on a scrape where we had a stand near by. The only problem was that there was only one stand there, not a camera stand. So during the middle of the day we went in and found another tree nearby to hang a couple stands in. We got our Ameristep stands hung and were ready to go. That first afternoon we saw a bunch of does and a mid 150''s class buck. Once again he hung up just out of range but it was very

exciting to see a big buck. It seemed like it had been forever since I had seen a shooter buck. We knew the next morning was going to be awesome and when we left the truck the temp said 29 degrees. Most people think that's pretty cold but I LOVE it, as do most hardcore hunters. We got set up in the tree while it was still dark. I heard something over my left should and looked to see what it was. It was a buck but I couldn't tell much more than that. He was grunting and chasing does all around our stand. As it got lighter, we could tell that he was a good buck but he was pretty busted up. He was a main frame 10 with a freshly broken main beam, G4 and eye guard, but this was a good sign. After this buck and the does left it was

beginning to quiet down. It had now been about 30-45 minutes without seeing anything and I was thinking, surely they aren't done moving, it's too cold and the rut is starting up. I decided to grunt and rattle a little bit. 3-4 minutes after rattling, I notice some movement to my left. It was a buck, a good buck. He was coming right to us. Sarah had the camera rolling and he came in to 30 yards. I drew back and settled my pin. The arrow hit its mark perfectly and as he was running off we heard him crash. We were so pumped! We decided to give him some time to make sure that he died because we did not want to push him if he wasn't dead. After waiting a little while, we went looking for him and found him about 75 yards from where I shot him. I was so excited, it's so hard to describe the feeling I had knowing that I had worked and hunted so hard for this buck. And the fact that we got awesome video footage of the hunt was

incredible. After shooting this buck I knew it looked familiar but wasn't sure until I recovered him. Sure enough, it was the second buck from the previous post. The buck scored 145" and I am extremely proud to have been able to put my tag on this buck.

It is kind of funny that I posted an entry with two pics of bucks before we had killed one and we end up taking both of those bucks. So far this season has been a rollercoaster for me and Sarah but that's what makes hunting so great. There is still a lot of hunting left to be done and Sarah still has a Kansas tag. Who knows, she might get one bigger than both mine and Dad's.

We head out Friday for Canada to hunt whitetails and maybe we will bag a couple of northern giants. Hopefully we will have internet up there and I can do some blogging while on the trip.