The wife and I plus two friends opened the Kansas duck season south of town.  I’d done my scouting and I expected to have a good shoot.  It was better than I expected.  We were done before I knew it.  Absolutely beautiful weather.

I’m writing from my bed here in South Dakota.  Yesterday we had a fantastic shoot, 4 guys limited in about an hour.  Pictures to follow when I have time.  Also a nice buck was killed with a bow, again, pictures to follow.  For now I’m focused on pheasants.  I should be able to post tomorrow.

I spent the afternoon scouting some ground for the Kansas duck opener and the Missouri deer season.  Lots of deer sign, lots of ducks.  Tomorrow I’ll open the Kansas duck season in the morning, bow hunt Kansas in the afternoon and Sunday I head to South Dakota to pheasant hunt.  I get back Wednesday from South Dakota and then I’ve got two guys coming in from Arkansas to chase deer through Sunday.  Of course the Missouri central zone duck season opens next Saturday too.  Wow, I’m going to be busy.

Posting may be sparse.  I’ll try to throw some pictures up if anything good happens.  Otherwise, get out and kill something.  Send me pictures.

I told you last week that I would introduce the distinguished gentlemen listed on my blog roll as Blogging Friends, so here it is.  Of the 5 people currently listed there I met 4 in law school (but only 1 is a lawyer).  None of them hunt or participate in any outdoor activities at all.  Only one of them roughly aligns with my beliefs set.  But don’t let that stop you.  Each is an intelligent person and good writer.  I enjoy their work and I invite you to stretch your boundaries.

Floyd For Thought:
First off, Floyd is ridiculously, cartoonishly, off the charts liberal.  I’ll disagree with his stance on roughly 100% of topics.  I get around the problem by ignoring it.  Floyd is also a funny and clever writer.  He does his best work when it’s not politically related.  I read Floyd regularly but his posting is somewhat irregular.

Fountain Shots:
FS is written by a fellow attorney but it’s not related to law.  FS mostly covers Kansas City and Big 12 sports.  It has an emphasis on K-State and the Royals.  I read FS regularly and his postings are regular but spread out.

Prima Facie:
Prima is written by another liberal.  He’s also the only person I know who learned Russian without being from Russia.  Most of his work isn’t very political and his current post is worth checking out.  I read Prima sporadically because it’s published rarely.

The Houston Chronicles:
THC is written by former roommate and groomsman The Colonel.  He’s the smartest person I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something.  He’s an actual rocket scientist and my first call when I have any complicated question regarding technology.  The first Daily Limit was set up by The Colonel, thus I owe my blogging existence to him.  His hunting career is limited to a dove or two but it might have expanded had he not moved to Texas in order to work for NASA.  He also shares a set of social and political beliefs that are relatively close to mine.  The Colonel only posts during KU National Championships and natural disasters that strike Houston.  Obviously it’s an occasional read.  I wish he posted more.

Tornado Slide:
Tornado Slide is the longest running blog on my list.  dn is a friend and former neighbor who writes mostly about music and popular culture.  It’s not an area I’m particularly well versed in or care about, but he’s a great writer and I enjoy his postings.  His most recent post is a repost of one of his best pieces.  Tornado is updated regularly and I read it regularly. 

I’ll save my personal thoughts on Ted for a different post.  For the time being it’s good enough for everyone to bounce over to Desert Rat and check out his interview with Ted Nugent.

If you’ve been reading and following my attempt to kill Big 9 you know that I’ve encountered him 3 times now, from the same stand.  I also have passed on several smaller bucks.  It might strike you as strange that the same stand can be hunted to such a degree and still produce.  Here’s why:

Here’s a closer look:

This particular stand is located in a natural travel corridor.  The deer, particularly when it’s cold, bed on the South facing hill, then travel past the stand to feed at night.  Obviously the opposite occurs in the morning.  Good location isn’t the only advantage.  Planting food plots is the real secret.  This plot is a mix of rye, wheat, peas, chicory, and turnips.  It’s maybe 1/4th of an acre.  I’ve hunted this particular stand 10+ days a year for 8 years now.  Most years it produces well, but the difference when food is present is dramatic.  Rather than passing by, at any distance, almost every deer you see is heading straight for you.  Yesterday alone I had 5 different deer walk under my stand.

There isn’t really any secret to getting the plots to work.  There are videos available, but if you’ve ever seeded your yard or planted a garden you have the skills required.  This particular plot was planted just over a month ago but it has been unusually wet here this year.  Most years it would need more time to develop.  Actually part of the reason I’ve hunted this stand so much this year is because the plots South of here are a week behind in development and are just becoming a viable food source.  I’ll post some pictures of them later this week, hopefully with a big buck incorporated.

I chased the Big 9 all weekend. Saturday morning brought an encounter with Broken Beam. He’s a young buck that should be a 7 but his main beam is broke on one side. Obviously not a shooter, but part of the video I took (and posted here) during my first hunt of the 2008 bow season.

The fog was really neat. As it rolled in and out I could lose the deer at less than 100 yards.

Ultimately I saw Big 9 but could not close the deal. I think it’s time to leave him alone now. This week I’ll head South to hunt some areas that haven’t been touched this year. One of those areas is where I found these sheds:

Nothing like Eastern Kansas whitetails eh?

Sorry for the sparse posting. I’ve been hunting every free second the last few days. Yesterday I was invited by a friend to rifle hunt with him on a farm in Unit 19, the only unit in the Kansas Urban Rifle Season. Any deer taken on this hunt counts toward your one buck limit, so obviously I was going to be picky. I did see a 140-150 inch 10 point that would have forced a difficult decision but he traversed the far side of my field roughly 600 yards away. I passed on a 110ish 8 point and had several does feed in front of me for nearly an hour. It was a fun hunt. I was surprised at the number of ducks and geese flying the river. I even had some geese light in the corn stubble not far from me. Hopefully that bodes well for next weekend’s waterfowl opener.

Today I chased the Big 9 point again. Unfortunately it was another close call with no arrows launched. Tonight I was the victim of some bad timing but hopefully tomorrow I’ll get another chance. I did shoot a short video of him this evening.

I also passed on this little button buck:

Check back for tomorrow’s update!

I’ve been stuck in court the last two days, and tomorrow doesn’t look any better.  On the plus side, I spoke to two different people who each said they saw migratory geese yesterday.  We’re only 10 days from the opening day of the Eastern Kansas and Missouri North Zone duck seasons so it’s good to hear that the birds are finally moving.  Generally around here the opening weekend is fun shoot, but it’s all little ducks.  Woodies, teal, gadwall, and widgeon make up the usual early season bag.  Generally it’s good for a pass-shoot or two and then all the ducks are blown out.  After that we wait patiently for what my dad calls the “RDS” or Real Duck Season, meaning that it gets cold enough to move the mallards down. 

I stumbled across this story yesterday in the paper.  I’m fascinated.  First, I must admit that I have no idea what it must be like to consider suicide.  I can’t put myself in that situation and I can’t understand the thought process that would lead someone to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.  But won’t those people just jump off something else?  Or take pills?  Or whatever?  So I suspect that it’s not really going to work anyway.  Or rather it won’t save lives, it may push the deaths elsewhere.  But here’s my favorite part:

The plastic-covered steel net would extend six meters on either side of the bridge and would cost between 40-50 million dollars, local media reported. It is likely to be several years before the netting is installed, reports said.

So it’s going to cost 40-50 million, take several years, and won’t work.  What could possibly be wrong with this plan?  And just to add another wrinkle, apparently there is some concern that the nets will hurt cormorants!  I’m sure there will be general uproar in California about the idea of something that might hurt a stinking cormorant.