On Saturday, November 15, 2003, I traveled to Kansas to meet up with Gene Wensel of WBL.  Orientation day was the next day and I was excited to get in the woods and do some hunting. I was bow hunting a 1400 acre farm in Southeast Kansas and was sharing this area with two other bow hunters.   

     Sunday morning I was shown my area and I headed off around 10:00AM to hang some tree stands. I left the car and headed west across a field where Gene Wensel had seen some nice bucks.  As I approached the woods at the far side of the field I jumped a bedded eight point buck that was lying in the grass at the edge of the woods. As I entered the woods I jumped two more bucks that appeared to be eight or ten pointers.  During the next two hours while I looked for a place to hang a tree stand in this area I saw a total of eight bucks. Some of these bucks could have been the same two that I jumped earlier that circled back through this area.  

     The woods were full of deer sign with two nice scrapes located within 20 yards of my chosen tree. This area was perfect for a west wind.  Locating a tree big enough and in the right spot is very difficult in this part of Kansas. All of the trees are crooked and if you do find a climbable tree it seems you always need to cut shooting lanes and trim branches. Buy the time I hung my stand it was 12:00 noon and I left this area to find another location for a stand.  

     Since the wind was out of the south I returned to the car and retrieved another tree stand and headed south west to find a stand location for a south wind.  I located a small strip of woods that ran east and west. On the east side was a small pond; on the west was a large wooded area. The deer traveled between the woods and the pond for water and this area was great for any south wind. After locating a tree along a good trail with several big rubs, I hung my stand. I did not have time to cut any shooting lanes as it was now 3:00PM.

     I climbed the tree and set up to hunt this location that evening. After 30 minutes a doe came through heading toward the pond. After she passed through, a few minutes later a ten point buck followed her trail. For some reason when the buck came through he lost her trail and circled for several minutes as he tried to located her trail. When he found her scent, he followed her toward the pond.  About 20 minutes later they traveled back toward me and crossed the field to the north. This time I got a good look at the buck through my binoculars. He was very symmetrical and had a wide antler spread just outside of his ears.  

     Later that evening a doe traveled toward the pond on a trail about 35 yards in front of my stand. A small spike was standing behind my tree and when he spotted her, he followed at a fast pace. About five minutes later two nice bucks came along the trail following the doe. When they got in front of my stand 35 yards out they also lost the doe’s trail. This area must have been wet for this to happen twice in the same evening. These two bucks circled around in this area for several minuets. By now I was standing waiting for a shot opportunity.

     One of the two bucks was much larger with more antler mass and longer tines. He was obviously a lot bigger then the other buck.  As they circled around looking for the doe they would come into and out of my vision as this area was thick with underbrush. This went on for several minutes.  I wanted to shoot only the bigger buck as the other one seemed too small to shoot.  All of a sudden, the bigger buck came down the trail close to my tree. This happened very quickly, the trail was only 12 yards in front of my stand. When the buck got directly in front of me I raised my Blackwidow bow to shoot while the buck was trotting down the trail. As he turned I saw that the arrow had entered a little far back. The buck traveled across a field to the north and out of my sight.   As I turned, I saw the other buck standing to my right and I realized that I shot the small buck. My buck traveled about 125 yards and dropped at the far side of the field. My buck was an eleven point with a 17” inside spread. The gross score was 110”. I’ll never know how big the other one was, but later that week another bow hunter shot a buck from this same location that scored 150 gross.   

     Well some times even an old guy makes a mistake. 

  George Kerastas

     For information on joining WBL, contact Gene Wensel at genewensel@iowatelecom.net