| Patience and persistence pay off! Six days into the Kansas deer season, during the archery/ muzzle loader season, I shoot the biggest buck of my life, thus far. The day was a bit windy, but I know my stand was hung in an updraft area. I reached my stand at about 3:30 in the afternoon and kicked back, knowing I was gonna make something happen. At about 5:00 a small spike entered the area and fed just under me for about an hour and departed to the west. Just before he got out of sight, I seen him stop and posture, looking back to the south, towards known bedding areas. He stood there for about thirty minutes snorten and stomping every so often until he finally headed off. I thought he might have been standing off with another button buck I seen the day prior, so I didn't pay no mind to what he was doing.
My stand was hung over a creek facing south. I had good trails to my left, where the spike went and to my right. At about 6:00 pm I was looking over my left shoulder when I started to gaze towards my right. As I scanned across, I noticed some weeds shuffling about 60 yards directly south of me. At first I thought it was racoons playing, but then, suddenly, I seen the biggest set of antlers rise above the greens shrubs. I knew instantly he was a monster. My heart instantly started to race. The first thought in my mind was to calm myself down. I sat and watched him, hoping he would feed my way. After a while, he did turn north and casually walked my way, stopping every so often to get a wiff of the air. He was on the west side of the creek, so when he came within 40 yards, I stood and turned myself for a shot. When he got to about 20 yards, I decided that when he walked behind a cottonwood tree between us, I would draw my Hoyt Alpha Max. But, just when he got to the tree, he stopped and sniffed again and took a step to his right, towards the creek. At this time, I had no shot do to limbs. I knew exactly what he was about to do, jump the creek and come up my left side. So I then slowly turned to my left and reset myself for the shot. My heart was racing, I knew that I was about to take a monster Kansas buck.
He jumped across the creek and stood straight on to me, quartering slightly to his right. When he made his jump, I took advantage of his distraction and went to full draw. After he jumped and stopped, he paused and sniffed more. I waited and waited and waited, but he wasn't moving an inch. He was in no hurry and it showed. Unfortunatly for me, I held at full draw for what seemed like eternity, but more like two minutes, when I felt my arms shake wih fatigue. I decided that I had to take the shot or risk blowing it with strained arms. So I lined my pins up behind his shoulder and like a sudden surprise, my arrow had connected with its target. He busted off to the west and out of sight. I instantly became overwhelmed with relief that i could finally relax my arms and excitement, that I just shot the biggest buck of my life!
I called a buddy to come help me track and I climbed out of my stand. I knew for certain that I made a perfect shot. The bloody arrow stuck in the ground was my proof. To excited to wait, I began to track. I follwed the bucks tracks for about 65 yards when I heard him crash and take his last breath. I waited a couple minutes and passed through the bushes between us, and there he was, bigger than I could have ever imagined! As I kneeled down beside him, I thanked our lord for blessing me with food for my family and for the best hunting memory and trophy I have had.
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