Well, the fat lady is warming up her voice by the time the sun comes up on Friday morning.  It was just as humid as the rest of the week and we were tramping back and forth in the CRP verifying that I had indeed the missed the big half rack from Thursday night.  After an hour or two criss-crossing the field on foot and 4 wheeler, we were soaked to the bone from a heavy dew and headed back to camp to get rested up for our last hoorah.

For our final hunt, dad and I both decided to go back to the stands that we had hunted on the first 2 nights of the week.  I had early action out of the ‘widowmaker’ stand when a doe and a buttonhead came charging through the woods at 5:45 p.m.  I’m not sure if a coyote bumped them out or what.  Regardless, 20 minutes later, they poked their heads back out of the woods and came out to feed on the beans.

About 15 minutes later, I looked behind me and a yearling basket racked buck was walking through the beans.  I have no clue where he came from, but he was alone unfortunately - no bachelor group.

Then it happened, dad sent me a text message…

“Gabe, i am sitting here in tears thankful to have had this week together. what a great time!”

Wow, I replied…

“Amen to that.  hunting with you is the highlight of every fall. thankfully success isn’t measured by antlers on the ground.”

The tears hit me shortly thereafter when I realized just how blessed I am to be able to spend time in the outdoors with dad.  He instilled his love for the outdoors in me, and it has never slowed down.

Dad - hunting in Kansas was a great time.  We may have not gotten a deer, but I can assure you that a trip can not get anymore successful that the one we just experienced.  I am already looking forward to our next time in the woods this fall, and all the trips we will experience in the future.  It doesn’t get any better than that.

So, long story short, after shedding some man-tears, I looked up to see a 150″ 10 pointer that had just stepped out from the woods, but I couldn’t see through the tears to get a clear shot through my scope…no just kidding….I didn’t see another deer the rest of the night…I didn’t care.

Dad did see a few more deer though, but his willpower stayed strong and he passed up a 115-120″ 8 pointer as darkness fell on our last evening in southeast Kansas.

Well, that my friends is how you define a successful hunting trip!  Great time spent with family, making great new friends, laughing (even crying), eating ourselves into a coma on a daily basis, and just enjoying God’s creation…does it get any better?!?!

Don’t think so.

Hope you all enjoyed reading about our trip to Kansas as much as I enjoyed writing about it.  I’ll be giving a pretty dose of North Carolina hunting for the rest of the year.  Check back often and please send me pictures of your success throughout the fall!