Hope you have some luck. I just got back from Kansas and saw only 5 deer. Plenty of heat and wind! Oh, and enough ticks to fill a damn dump truck!

Hang in there, Bill. That extra day may be rewarding.

Good evening..

Hunt tonight was much better. Weather is cooling. Wind is down. Moon is still full at night. Hunted a different stand tonight that was along the river. Justin tried to get me to go there originally but for someone that's afraid of heights it'll test you. I am so it did! Turned out to be incredible. It's a main point for many trails. This is where the biggest buck Innovative has taken came from. I wish I'd hunted it earlier in the week. Bucks are still not going in the fields. But they are moving now in the river and associated banks. With this being my last day I worked a deal with Justin and I am going into "extra innings". Top of the 10th is tomorrow morning. Reason I'm staying is now I've seen bucks in the morning and evening. I already posted above on the morning buck. This afternoon I had 6 come in. Unfortunately they were 2-3 years olds. I kept hearing some deer that always stayed back in the trees. They never came out. They have 1 more day to decide if they're going to adorne my wall... In any case, there were more deer coming in after dark. I had to text Justin and get him to come drive his truck out by the stand to run the deer off. I didn't want to come out of the stand with them there and mess up the spot. The hunting is measurably improved over the rest of the week. So tomorrow is the real last day.

Below is the view out the front of this stand. Notice how you're at tree top level....:) I'll be there again tomorrow evening..



This is out the left side into the creek..



This is the back..



This is the view looking down...:(



This climb is the price of admission...



This is the salt lick in front of the stand and the tracks...



Several pictures of tracks in the creek... Notice how many and how big a lot are....There are some atv tracks. I tried to zoom around them...







This was the only deer I photographed tonight. All that I actually saw were small bucks. I was thankful to actually see some bucks today. Hoping tomorrow brings BIG BUCKS!!



Justin didn't tell me there were bass in the creek. I call it a creek but it's the Arkansas River. Anyways, you can bass fish while you hunt.. What a deal..

[img]http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae100/marshalsmith26/Kansas%20092010/IMG_0662.jpg[/img]

If you own one of these I'll volunteer a free day of labor to come drive it for you. I'm really quick to pick things up...

[img]http://i961.photobucket.com/albums/ae100/marshalsmith26/Kansas%20092010/IMG_0646.jpg[/img]

Well...Since I am in extra innings I better get to bed. 4:45 comes quick. One other item..Since the guys at Open Season TV were nice enough to lend me a Bog Pod I'm going to do a write up in one of my posts on it. Bog Pod is one of their sponsors. I have some pictures of how I used it that may come in handy to you. I need to get a couple more pictures before I'm ready to jump into it.

Later.....

One last thing. I'm starting my day tomorrow at the area I hunted this morning. Instead of getting in the tree blind I'm going to sit in a low sitting turkey hunting chair on the highest hill. I'm either going to sit in front of some trees or make a blind of local brush. This area has a lot of deer passing through it. As long as the wind isn't too bad I feel comfortable with a shot of up to 200 yards in either direction. So I'm hoping that if I see one that I can't reasonable get to I can also slip off the back of a hill/ridge and try to get in front of them. If nothing else it's fun to hunt a little differently every now and then...

Good luck, I hope the change works out for you. Send me a PM when you are home and have the time. I would like to talk about your hunt, if you don't mind. thanks

Will do Batman...

Saturday Morning...

3 does at dawn and the same turkeys from yesterday morning. It was a full moon last night so I'm sure the boys were out partying. I'll be leaving shortly for the tree stand I sat in yesterday. Wish me luck.

luck

Good luck, Bill.

Well..It wasn't meant to be. Only saw 1 small buck as I was getting out of the stand tonight. The wind was howling pretty good. The guys from Open Season TV had the same luck. Although I'm disappointed I did have a great time. Justin was really working hard for us this week but there's only so much he can do..

As for this thread, I hadn't really thought a lot about posting details like this. On my way up it just seemed like a fun thing to do and share. But I have to say that it added a new element to the experience. I caught myself recognizing things I thought were interesting and others might care to see or read about. I think a lot of times I take these things for granted. I'm not really a funny guy so my attempts at humor may not quite hit the mark. But I, like you, enjoy the outdoors. Hopefully me sharing a bit about my trip helped you experience a little of it as well. I'll likely start doing more of this. I'm not sure the moderators want to start this as an on-going thing on THF. But we'll see where I go with it. I might start a real blog and see were it goes. In any case, hope you got something out of the effort. I did...

The End...

I personally really enjoyed it. I was pulling hard for you, early season is tough but it improves daily. Enjoyed sharing the hunt on a daily basis, hope you will do it again. I have bow hunted Kansas for the last 13 years and have witnessed some awesome deer being harvested but I personally have only one P&Y from there. I enjoy the experience and the fact that they have real seasons up there.
One of my most inspirational experiences in the outdoors was when a light frost had coated the leaves in October and as the morning sun rose their was a slight wind from the NE that began a 3 hour episode of leaves falling like rain drops bouncing from limb to limb as they fell to the earth. It was unbelievable to take that in, it was like a God orchestrated concert of sights and sounds was on display just for me.
It reminded me of the scripture that says "Be Still And Know That I Am God"

I enjoyed your thread, for more than one reason. Looking forward to talking to you about your total experience.

Thanks for the blog, Bill.

Thanks for the feedback.

Mark,

Huntng in Kansas is great. It's one of the places I've had on my "bucket list". I can see myself hunting there for years to come.

Bill

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback. Thanks to everyone. I hope you all have a great hunting season. But I'll also issue a challenge to you. I've had friends and family tell me it was nice to see and hear about what I experience when I go hunting. So my challenge to you is take some pictures, keep some sort of write up (journal), and share with those close to you..