Road Crew member, Chad Bennett shares details of his early November Kansas hunt online with Life on the Road TV. After hunting hard for two weeks on private property in Kansas, Chad brought home a big Kansas buck. Filming the hunt proved to be as hard as bringing the deer down with his Mathews bow. Unfortunately even when everything is going right, electronics just don’t want to work! The playback film was streaked making the footage impossible to view. Even with a friend running the camera and ideal circumstances, sometimes things just don’t work as planned. But the story behind this hunt is sure to inspire our LotR fans and we hope the website readers enjoy this as much as we did!
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Nov 8th would be my first day to hunt. I saw quite a bit of movement and it looked good for the rest of the week, but after the 9th, deer movement had all but stopped. I had a bad feeling that we had hit the part of the rut where the deer bed down for several days and you don’t see a thing. Well my feeling turned out to be true and I knew I had to just wait it out.
Finally on Nov. 18th we had the weather I had been waiting for, the temp was going to be in the high 20s with a hard frost. We decided to go hunt a place one of the guys had seen several bucks about a week earlier, hoping we would come across a hot doe with a mature buck behind her. The only catch to this spot was, it was an open field with a draw. We were going to have to hunt on the ground. We arrived well before daylight and I picked a spot to set up near a trail, where we could see the draw below. After light we started seeing deer on the other side of the draw. The deer just seemed to keep coming one after the other, and we knew somehow we needed to get down to the draw so we could get a shot if a mature deer happened to do the same thing.
At 9am we packed our stuff and moved. We found a good spot to sit with good back cover, and settled in. My heart rate had barely come down when I looked to my right and I saw a doe step out with a big mature 8 point right behind her. Now all I needed her to do was follow the same trail as the other deer. Then I saw him jump the fence. I’m thinking he is going to come right where I want him to. Suddenly the doe turns up the hill, and he follows her – taking him further away. Finally he stops and turns broadside. I hit him with the rangefinder at 83 yards. Most people would not take that shot, but I have practiced it a thousand times. I drew my Mathews back and let it fly. The arrow was flying true and I thought it was going to smash him, but I had forgotten about the 3 yards I needed to add to my 80. The arrow passed just low into the grass. The deer didn’t even know what happened. The deer looked my direction and started walking my way almost as if they were trying to see what the noise was. The deer could obviously see me. I’m sitting on the ground in the high grass with the bank to my back. I knew I was going to have to rely on my Lost Camo for the first time to keep me hidden.
The big mature 8 point was looking for me but he could not find me. We were standing eye to eye at 50 yards and I knew all I had to do now was wait him out. Be still and wait on a shot to present itself. Finally he gave up and flicked his tail as if everything was ok. He walked up 10 more yards. I hit him with the rangefinder at 60 yards. I drew my bow and let it fly once again, only this time my GoldTip found its mark. All the long range practice had paid off. I had just arrowed my second P & Y, I had a great story to go with it, and memories that will stay with me for a lifetime. Remember it’s not always about how big the deer is, it’s more about enjoying what God has allowed you to do and enjoying the blessing He has given you.
