update and hunt report

Andrew Schaefer

Active member
Hi all. As some of you might recall, I moved from Florida to Kansas back in October. Soon after moving here I was spending a lot of time just getting the lay of the land and doing some scouting for hunting opportunities. I held off buying a hunting license for several weeks, hoping to wait the (painful) 60 days to establish residency, but I was seeing so much game that I broke down and bought the non-resident license and started hunting upland birds with some modest success.







The duck season in this part of Kansas runs until late December, then shuts down and reopens for 9 days in late January- more on that later. I made it out for ducks one day in December, which was my first time out for ducks since September wood duck season in FL. The day was about 15 degrees and windy, with a few inches of snowfall. I bagged one mallard and had my first experience with goldeneyes. Those things are though! I shot two and was unable to recover either. I've always heard how tough they are, but never understood it until that day. Anyways, I didn't get any pictures that day because everything was wet, frozen and snow covered. My gear gained about 100 pounds of ice throughout the day, which made loading the canoe into the truck interesting. The lake was 75% ice covered by the next morning, and a few people (idiots) were ice fishing out there a few days later. The next week the weather warmed and the ice melted.

Once Christmas rolled around I was eligible for resident licenses and went out and bought a couple deer tags for the January antlerless rifle season. I hunted several times and was seeing mostly the north end of southbound deer. I'm not a great deer hunter. I really don't enjoy deer hunting a ton, but I really enjoy eating deer. Last Friday was going to be my last opportunity to hunt deer. I woke up, rolled around, and thought about just staying in bed, but I willed myself out to the woods and got to my spot just before shooting time. I hadn't been sitting for more than 20 minutes when two antlerless deer came hopping along. I shot both. The one appeared to be a 1 1/2 year old doe, definitely too big to be a fawn, but not as large as most does. The other was interesting, it was a button buck, but it must have weighed about 120 lbs on the hoof. The joint on the front ankle had been messed up at some point. It was the size of a tennis ball and wouldn't extend fully, but otherwise appeared okay. Near as I can tell, the buck must have injured the leg a while back and its body decided to forego antler growth? I don't know.



Now for the hunt report. The late season split that I mentioned earlier started this morning. Friday I was able to locate some mallards dropping into a river backwater, so I figured I'd give it a shot. I had never been into that spot and only knew it from google earth, but between the birds I saw drop in and the amount of quacking/carrying on I could hear from 300 yards away, I had a good idea there was a good number of birds in there. I got to the launch this morning and there were a couple other boats already out, but luckily, no one was in the spot when I got there. 10 minutes before shooting time there were already ducks all over the place. Most of the mallards were concentrated on heading out the the feed field, but a few were milling around low and looking for a place to set down. Fifteen minutes in I decoyed a pair of drakes and dumped both. I waited a few minutes to wade out to pick them up. When I did, I got caught out in the decoys by a pair of mallards circling. Luckily, they came back for one more look, and I took the drake as they passed directly overhead. I now had three mallards in the bag and the sun wasn't even up. Over the next hour I had a few lookers, straight up missed a drake that was squatting over the dekes, and saw some wigeon that didn't want to play. Then I had a pair of ducks swing in for a look. The sun was in my eyes, but I could tell on the first pass they were pintails, and at least one was a nice drake. I've lived in Iowa, Wisconsin, Florida, and now Kansas, and it seams like I get one good opportunity on pintails per year and they are my favorite duck. I bumped the jerk cord as they were flying away from me, and when they turned back I thought to myself "don't screw this up!". I sat stock still as they eased in with wings cupped. Just as I rose to shoot, they turned to my right an got knotted up. I stoned both birds with one shot, and when I picked them up I found out they were both nice drakes! Awesome! I had one duck remaining in my limit. I waited about 20 minutes, had a pair of mallards work, and ended the hunt with 4 mallards and 2 pintails, all drakes! I'm not one to harp on people for shooting hens, in fact I shoot a fair number of hens. I'm a population ecologist by training, so I know shooting hens has no effect on the population, but I try to get the drakes when I have a choice. Here's a couple pics.




 
I am glad things are working out for you in Kansas. I drove down there last spring to pick-up a puppy. I stopped in southwest Iowa at a rest stop just after dawn. When I stepped out of the truck I could hear quail calls; a sound not heard by my ears in 44 years. My first thought? Boy, I sure miss eating quail!

When deer suffer a severe skeletal injury the will usually grow an atypical rack on the opposite side of their body from the injury site. When we used to hunt out of a rented cabin near Waugoschance Point in Wilderness State Park, one of my hunting partners shot a buck on the fourth day of the season. The deer had a rack that looked like a hydra, just a nest of points radiating from the pedicles on each side. It only had three legs, having lost the lower portion of one of its front legs at the joint. Dennis sat the deer run for three days without seeing a deer. Most of the grief his camp-mates directed at him revolved around his not seeing a deer or a buck for days...because he was hunting a handicapped deer run.
 
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Man! Google Earth didn't steer you wrong on the duck hunt ;-)
That's a colorful bag right there.

Sounds like you're getting the lay of the land down pretty well. Good on you.
 
Outstanding! Great to see you are settling in and having some great hunts!

While that injury may have reduced the button bucks antler production, deer up north are simply bigger than down in FL, we killed lots of 120# does up north. I would not be surprised if that was just his first set of antlers.
 
Andrew:

Now tell me, where is it your moved to? Have any retirement homes out there?

Seriously, reminds me of the Long Island I grew up in the early sixties, not unusual to shoot black ducks in the morning and kill quail and pheasants in the afternoon. We even had grouse in the shrub oak and pine barrens.

Upland part, all gone.
 
What a great way to establish your roots in wonderful state. Just think, Andrew, you have only scratched a small part and think how much fun it will be to continue exploring. The pictures were wonderful.
Al
 
Thanks all for the replies. I went back to the same spot this morning and couldn't get the ducks to even look at my set up. Didn't fire a shot. There were a couple hunting parties nearby that were in the right spot and enjoyed some decent shooting. Every day is a new day!
 
Way to go, Andrew! It sounds like you've found a super place to call home! Hard work scouting usually pays off, and killing that beautiful pintail makes all the work worthwhile. Great job!
 
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