COMMENTARY BY DAVE SAMUEL
I’ve often been asked, “Where is your favorite place to deer hunt?” My top five states are all in the Midwest, simply because I like to hunt where my odds are better to see big bucks. Ohio is great. Illinois has been good to me. I’ve gotten my two biggest bucks in Iowa. Nebraska is a bit of a sleeper, but good. However, my best deer hunting adventures have taken place in Kansas.
Last week was my fourth trip to Tall Tine Outfitters in Comanche County, Kan. Tall Tine is just outside of Protection, Kansas (population of 475). We stayed in a farmhouse with a total of seven hunters. Since the hunters were from all over the country (Florida, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, Montana, West Virginia and North Carolina), I was nervous about COVID-19. But the house was totally sterilized before our arrival, and masks were worn. (I still was nervous).
The deer habitat there is mixed agriculture (no corn or beans, but alfalfa) and cottonwood trees. You see lots of cattle because beef production is a major industry in Comanche County. What’s the hunting pressure? There are about 240,000 hunting licenses sold in Kansas and about 20% of those are nonresidents. Bird hunting is big, and they sell about 180,000 deer permits. The annual deer harvest is around 80,000 per year.
Tall Tine Outfitters takes 28 bowhunters per year, with seven each of four weeks. They lease 17,000 acres and have 50 tree stands, ladder stands and a few ground blinds. Thus, each hunter has stands to use that have not been hunted at all. There is a trail camera at every stand, so you know what is using the area. Most stands have at least one huge buck on camera. Some have many more. In essence, you are always sitting a stand where there are several really big bucks on camera. Safety wise, there is a lifeline on every tree stand and ladder stand. Every hunter should have a lifeline on their stand. You attach to that line on the ground and thus cannot fall as you climb or descend from your stand. I love Life Lines. Simple and safe.
On most of the leased land, Tall Tine has a 140-inch minimum antler size, but on 3,000 acres there is a 150-inch minimum antler size. As the hunters reading this column know, the bucks that exceed those allowed minimums are really good bucks. You can’t shoot small bucks at Tall Tines and if you do, you pay a substantial fine. The quality of bucks in all of Kansas is excellent, in part because the buck to doe ratio is often 2 to 1 in an area. In fact, I have previously hunted in two counties where the buck to doe ratio was 2 to 1.
That ratio means in the rut, there is a lot of competition for does and it makes buck hunting all the more exciting. It isn’t uncommon to witness bucks fighting while sitting on stand. Calling and/or rattling deer also creates some excitement for hunters, simply because you have lots of older bucks and the competition for does is high.
On this bowhunt, I saw more buck chasing than on any one week hunt in my 68 years of bowhunting. I’ve talked about this before, but let me reiterate that the peak of the rut is determined by photoperiod and thus is the same every year. For West Virginia and all states in the Midwest, including Kansas, the peak occurs from Nov. 10-Nov. 20. Weather can impact how much chasing (bucks chasing does to breed) occurs early in November, and if there is the right weather, the peak rutting days are not so evident since some mating has occurred earlier. (Note, the peak doesn’t change, but the intensity may).
However, this year we had warm temperatures in early November, and Kansas did too. Bucks do not move much when it’s hot. So once we got near the peak of the rut, bucks were making rubs, and really making scrapes and chasing does. One of the hunters in our camp was driving back from the morning sit and a doe ran across the road followed by six different bucks. Some were dinks, but some were dandies.
One other factor was the wind. It almost always is windier in Kansas than in West Virginia. Deer are used to wind in Kansas, and we had several days with steady 20 mph winds and gusts to 40 mph. Deer movement on those days was good. Another thing about Kansas is you hear coyotes from your stand all the time. They are everywhere. Do they impact deer numbers? Not that I can tell. But they can affect your bowhunt and they did mine.
I made a less than perfect shot on a good buck the third night of my hunt and we decided to return the next morning to search for the deer, even though we knew the chances that coyotes might find him were 50-50. We didn’t try to follow him that night because we didn’t want to jump the deer after dark and have him run away, not leaving a good trail to find him. So we backed out and returned the next morning and found the buck after a short trail. Sure enough, the coyotes had eaten everything but the head. That is fairly typical of what you find when coyotes eat a deer. They eat everything: Entrails, all muscles, including the neck. Everything but the head.
So no deer meat to bring home, but another special adventure in a great place. However, this hunt was bittersweet, because health issues are affecting my bow shooting, and also my ability to get around in the woods. I’ve often said that when the experience is no longer worth the pain, my bowhunting days will end. Well, these 80-year-old bones have reached that time. Some will suggest using a crossbow. I’ve shot them and just don’t enjoy them. They are not bows and shooting them is far different, and just not something I enjoy. So that’s not an option for me. I may get out around my home here, but I’ll sure miss Kansas next fall. One thing I won’t lose is the memories that I’ll carry with me forever.
Dr. Samuel is a retired wildlife professor from West Virginia University. His outdoor columns have appeared, and continue to appear, in Bowhunter magazine and the Whitetail Journal. If you have questions or comments on wildlife and conservation issues, email him at drdave4@comcast.net.
