People say everything is bigger in Texas and while that is definitely true, Kansas is no second. Big fields, big cottonwoods, big farms and equipment, and BIG deer. Our location was just north of Cheney, Kansas. People talked differently out there; because of the lack of landmarks they simply used North, South, East, and West to navigate. You better bring your compass.
Cottonwoods lined my morning and evening post atop a high ridge overlooking a river where deer were known to cross. Groups of ringnecks came each morning and let me know that the game was moving. It was cold and snow came as well. Lying on the ground my rain suit froze, but I moved my legs undetected and stayed pretty warm. I did not take a deer from this location, but I passed on some that would make you slap your moma back home.
South Carolina affords us the opportunity to hunt with riffles for most of the deer season and in Kansas that isn't the case. However, we came the opening week of rifle season.
Our midday hunts were man drives and we would comb through CRP and cottonwoods looking for a monster buck. It was exciting!
I have to stress how much fun we had on this trip. From the moment we arrived I felt like a family member and another addition to the motley crue. It was definitely a community effort in harvesting these deer and I wish that I lived closer to the group, not just to benefit from great amounts of game in Kansas, but to benefit from the community that was there.
It was hard to distinguish who was related and who was not, because of how well everyone interacted together. At the end of the day the hunt is about passion for the outdoors and the opportunity to harvest game, but it is bred by a community of sportsmen that make the events we share into the wild worth wile.
