jode hillman
Well-known member
My son and I had a wonderful opportunity to bow hunt giant Kansas Whitetails during the rut.
It was quite and eye opening experience. After 9 days, 3000 miles and some wonderful experiences, we are home. Both of us having tagged out,( on 220 lb+ bucks) and Ethan Killing his first deer, AND a buck that is the largest the Hillman household has ever seen. Way to one up me son!
A short write up of each hunt as well as a few pics are below, as well as a few pics of ducks and geese we found.
Blood and Water
Well Kansas did not disappoint. After three hard days of hunting, and seeing some small bucks and many huge does, I decided to do a little scouting. I hung my climber in Cottonwood tree by a very pretty river bottom. I Was on a high Bluff situated between the river, and oil-gas access road. I could see for quite a country mile on both sides of the river. Even if no deer were deer were sighted, it was still going to be a great afternoon.
At 4 PM a family of raccoons came out of a bank den and foraged around me. A little while later a Kestrel went after a sparrow in the sagebrush. Bass and catfish were eating mayflies out of the river. Quail were calling.
It was a perfect afternoon. It only lacked one thing , The intended quarry, a mature white tail buck.
Shortly thereafter I saw a small eight point buck, probably only a one and a half year-old. I had seen him many times previous.
He walked by. Hours passed uneventfully.
About 5:15 central time I spied a large body deer working its way through the brush. I glassed it, and to my surprise it was a giant doe. I watched her feed in the green grass for 20 minutes. But there was no buck to be found.
I decided it was highly unlikely she was alone at this time of year. I had brought with me a pair of sheds I had found in New Jersey, along with a grunt tube.
I figured it was now or never. I started by tickling the tines lightly, then I laid into them. I smashed them together violently . I also began breaking branches of the Cottonwood and blowing short bleats and grunts into the tube call.
I continued this for a solid 40 seconds. And then I set the antlers down and waited
Within one minute I heard crashing and thrashing through the river bottom . A large buck left the cover of the brush where the doe was located. He ran directly at me full gallop, saliva flying from his mouth!
I had the bow up and ready, but he did not stop until he reached the base of my tree. Directly under me!
He stayed there for 30 seconds sniffing every last molecule of scent he could gather. I could le see bright red blood dripping from the top of his left after tip. My son would tell me later he witnessed a heated battle between this buck and another 70 yards from his stand.
I decided I would to shoot him straight down through the spine. As I raised the bow to Shoot he caught movement.
His first bound was mighty and large. 15 yards of space in one leap.! The next jump was just at large. Within a blink of an eye he was 35 yards away and running.
I yelled at him loudly Hey deer!
He made a fatal mistake. He stopped for a brief second and looked at me. I knew the knoll where he stood was he was 35 yards away. I was ready. I sent the arrow a-flight in an instant.
I heard a hollow thump.
He mule kicked 5 feet off the ground like a bronco. And then proceeded to walk away steadily with a low flicking tail.
I saw him disappear into a ticket where the Doe originally was.
He did not leave that ticket.
I waited until it was dark where my son met me. We looked and found my arrow..
We found blood. It was bright and bubbly! A good trail.
We followed blood for 70 yards, ever increasing. At the end of the line, right in a huge scrape, lay the buck.
He dwarfed me by 100 pounds. His antlers wide and high. They still were dripping with the blood Of his rival!
It was one of the most exciting hunt of my life. This stuff does not happen on my home turf. It was the stuff dreams are made of.
He weigh 230 pounds on the hoof. Has thick, sharp antlers. An old bruiser My biggest buck by far.
I am happy to be going home with such a memory. For me that is what is really about. No score can fade the golden memory I will cherish for a lifetime. These are the gilded edges that make life ever so sweet. t
The stone post buck.
As my truck rolled down the last stretch of a long gravel road in central Kansas, the grey dust plume trailed off into the sage for a quarter mile behind me. It was the final leg of a 1400-mile journey that brought my son and I to a place so different from our coastal plain home in Southern New Jersey. The landscape was an achromatic hue of greys and brown in Early November. Golden Prairie grass, greying cottonwoods, and the slate colored hillsides parched after a dry summer and fall. However, this was the land of Giant Whitetail. Ethan and I had seen several enormous 200 pound plus does on our ride from the highway to the quaint and tidy farmhouse . Even at several hundred yards they looked like small cows out on pasture. My education was just beginning however.
It was to get on the fast track early the next morning . It would culminate in Ethans first deer he has ever killed. And it is was a beautiful Kansas giant. The buck was chasing a doe. And Ethan made a good shot through the ribs at 7 oclock AM. After he shot, I explained to him thats a dead deer. He was excited.
However, we watched the buck walk off to 70 yards, stop and get wobbly. But he did not go down. We could see blood coming from the arrow wounds.
A doe happened to walk by him, and he slowly sauntered after her. Disappearing into a patch of thick Cedars.
We eased out and came back to camp. I boned out my deer that I shot. Then we had lunch.
Ethan and I went back expecting to find a dead deer in those Cedars. We found a good blood trail for 40 yards to a fence line.
I saw the deer get up and run from his bed! However it was on private property.
We went back to camp and My host worked on obtaining permission to track, which he did.
He and I went back several hours later and after following a good blood trail we found the buck piled up next to an old Stone fence post.
The shot was quartering away right through the ribs but just slightly back. However only one lung was cut. I have no idea how he Managed to get away with that! Maybe the buck was exhaling when he shot? I have no idea. The liver was also nicked and diaphragm cut.
He is a beautiful nine-point buck. 220 pounds. Heavy and perfect. Its a heck of a deer! Congratulations Ethan.
I guess this one is headed for the wall!
View attachment 8F52408A-BB0F-44C5-A6D9-4BD961D8BBE4.png
View attachment 58E104AA-F541-4513-85DB-FBB07080631C.jpeg
View attachment 85DF40D1-7F84-4199-BB1F-AFFF4D5C35A6.jpeg
View attachment 88AF472F-2401-4CCB-B95F-9A4D8F958D79.jpeg
View attachment 3DE85BD6-32D3-45E0-8217-127FA101EBE9.png
View attachment EE39941C-D5F2-45A9-A14B-4DB3FCF2070F.png
It was quite and eye opening experience. After 9 days, 3000 miles and some wonderful experiences, we are home. Both of us having tagged out,( on 220 lb+ bucks) and Ethan Killing his first deer, AND a buck that is the largest the Hillman household has ever seen. Way to one up me son!
A short write up of each hunt as well as a few pics are below, as well as a few pics of ducks and geese we found.
Blood and Water
Well Kansas did not disappoint. After three hard days of hunting, and seeing some small bucks and many huge does, I decided to do a little scouting. I hung my climber in Cottonwood tree by a very pretty river bottom. I Was on a high Bluff situated between the river, and oil-gas access road. I could see for quite a country mile on both sides of the river. Even if no deer were deer were sighted, it was still going to be a great afternoon.
At 4 PM a family of raccoons came out of a bank den and foraged around me. A little while later a Kestrel went after a sparrow in the sagebrush. Bass and catfish were eating mayflies out of the river. Quail were calling.
It was a perfect afternoon. It only lacked one thing , The intended quarry, a mature white tail buck.
Shortly thereafter I saw a small eight point buck, probably only a one and a half year-old. I had seen him many times previous.
He walked by. Hours passed uneventfully.
About 5:15 central time I spied a large body deer working its way through the brush. I glassed it, and to my surprise it was a giant doe. I watched her feed in the green grass for 20 minutes. But there was no buck to be found.
I decided it was highly unlikely she was alone at this time of year. I had brought with me a pair of sheds I had found in New Jersey, along with a grunt tube.
I figured it was now or never. I started by tickling the tines lightly, then I laid into them. I smashed them together violently . I also began breaking branches of the Cottonwood and blowing short bleats and grunts into the tube call.
I continued this for a solid 40 seconds. And then I set the antlers down and waited
Within one minute I heard crashing and thrashing through the river bottom . A large buck left the cover of the brush where the doe was located. He ran directly at me full gallop, saliva flying from his mouth!
I had the bow up and ready, but he did not stop until he reached the base of my tree. Directly under me!
He stayed there for 30 seconds sniffing every last molecule of scent he could gather. I could le see bright red blood dripping from the top of his left after tip. My son would tell me later he witnessed a heated battle between this buck and another 70 yards from his stand.
I decided I would to shoot him straight down through the spine. As I raised the bow to Shoot he caught movement.
His first bound was mighty and large. 15 yards of space in one leap.! The next jump was just at large. Within a blink of an eye he was 35 yards away and running.
I yelled at him loudly Hey deer!
He made a fatal mistake. He stopped for a brief second and looked at me. I knew the knoll where he stood was he was 35 yards away. I was ready. I sent the arrow a-flight in an instant.
I heard a hollow thump.
He mule kicked 5 feet off the ground like a bronco. And then proceeded to walk away steadily with a low flicking tail.
I saw him disappear into a ticket where the Doe originally was.
He did not leave that ticket.
I waited until it was dark where my son met me. We looked and found my arrow..
We found blood. It was bright and bubbly! A good trail.
We followed blood for 70 yards, ever increasing. At the end of the line, right in a huge scrape, lay the buck.
He dwarfed me by 100 pounds. His antlers wide and high. They still were dripping with the blood Of his rival!
It was one of the most exciting hunt of my life. This stuff does not happen on my home turf. It was the stuff dreams are made of.
He weigh 230 pounds on the hoof. Has thick, sharp antlers. An old bruiser My biggest buck by far.
I am happy to be going home with such a memory. For me that is what is really about. No score can fade the golden memory I will cherish for a lifetime. These are the gilded edges that make life ever so sweet. t
The stone post buck.
As my truck rolled down the last stretch of a long gravel road in central Kansas, the grey dust plume trailed off into the sage for a quarter mile behind me. It was the final leg of a 1400-mile journey that brought my son and I to a place so different from our coastal plain home in Southern New Jersey. The landscape was an achromatic hue of greys and brown in Early November. Golden Prairie grass, greying cottonwoods, and the slate colored hillsides parched after a dry summer and fall. However, this was the land of Giant Whitetail. Ethan and I had seen several enormous 200 pound plus does on our ride from the highway to the quaint and tidy farmhouse . Even at several hundred yards they looked like small cows out on pasture. My education was just beginning however.
It was to get on the fast track early the next morning . It would culminate in Ethans first deer he has ever killed. And it is was a beautiful Kansas giant. The buck was chasing a doe. And Ethan made a good shot through the ribs at 7 oclock AM. After he shot, I explained to him thats a dead deer. He was excited.
However, we watched the buck walk off to 70 yards, stop and get wobbly. But he did not go down. We could see blood coming from the arrow wounds.
A doe happened to walk by him, and he slowly sauntered after her. Disappearing into a patch of thick Cedars.
We eased out and came back to camp. I boned out my deer that I shot. Then we had lunch.
Ethan and I went back expecting to find a dead deer in those Cedars. We found a good blood trail for 40 yards to a fence line.
I saw the deer get up and run from his bed! However it was on private property.
We went back to camp and My host worked on obtaining permission to track, which he did.
He and I went back several hours later and after following a good blood trail we found the buck piled up next to an old Stone fence post.
The shot was quartering away right through the ribs but just slightly back. However only one lung was cut. I have no idea how he Managed to get away with that! Maybe the buck was exhaling when he shot? I have no idea. The liver was also nicked and diaphragm cut.
He is a beautiful nine-point buck. 220 pounds. Heavy and perfect. Its a heck of a deer! Congratulations Ethan.
I guess this one is headed for the wall!
View attachment 8F52408A-BB0F-44C5-A6D9-4BD961D8BBE4.png
View attachment 58E104AA-F541-4513-85DB-FBB07080631C.jpeg
View attachment 85DF40D1-7F84-4199-BB1F-AFFF4D5C35A6.jpeg
View attachment 88AF472F-2401-4CCB-B95F-9A4D8F958D79.jpeg
View attachment 3DE85BD6-32D3-45E0-8217-127FA101EBE9.png
View attachment EE39941C-D5F2-45A9-A14B-4DB3FCF2070F.png
Last edited:
.
