Got lucky and drew a very hard to get Muzzleloader Mule Deer/Whitetail permit in Units 2/17 in western Kansas. Got there early to scout ranchland for a day. Not much moving except doe and young bucks till mid week.
Sunset the first day with farmers planting wheat


Views of the ranch land around me.





Mid week pics

That's awesome, congrats on the draw. Looks like amazing country covered with amazing animals.

I then went and scouted some farmland to the south. To much standing corn to hunt but hunted an afternoon and morning. On Friday the local hunters started scouting for Pronghorn the next day and traffic was high and deer on the move looking for cover. Saw 44 deer that day with a herd of 20 or so Mule Deer in one field of standing corn on private land about 1.5 miles from me. One buck looked really good at sunset but never got another sighting of him the rest of the trip. Deer movement turned off the next 3 days.
Mule Deer doe chasing a coyote ( in top left corner of pic)

Sunset midweek

Buck midweek

Buck bedded in draw





Made a call on Monday and was going to stay till Wed and come home but could not arrange it so was going to have to leave the next morning early. The farmers whose land I hunted earlier had some land about 5 miles to my west. He had told me it had standing corn but it was really not any good. So I drove over and looked at it. It was off the road about 1/2 mile and corn was about knee high to 5.5' high and had pasture land on one side of it. It was loaded with tracks and I knew I had made a mistake by not looking at it early on. Trails every where. So I made the best of one afternoon. At 6 pm. I started to see Mule Deer bucks get up. I then went up to the top end of the field and started to walk and stalk in the corn. I walked up on a 2yr WT buck that did not see me. I then walked up on 2 younger mule deer bucks. Saw a total of 7 Mule Deer bucks, 1 WT buck and 3 WT does before dark and only hunted 1/4 of the standing corn. So I made the decison to get up and hunt for 3 hours max the next morning then drice 11 hours towards home (home was 16 hrs). Got there early and waited on daylight. Started seeing Mule Deer bucks at good light. I went up to top end of field to stalk into corn. Saw a WT doe right away. Decided to move on and pushed her hoping she would jump some MD. Nothing got up so I stalked on moving south in the field. Found 3 young MD bucks feeding or bedded in the corn rows at 40 to 70 yds from me in the rows. Land was terraced corn was taller in between terraces. On top it was very short and that is were deer trails were. Deer beds were every where. I decided at he next terrace to walk on top for no real reason and headed east. Went about 75 yds and saw a does ears in the corn about 70 yards from me. I thought it was the doe I had pushed past. With limited time I pushed her hoping she would jump some bucks. She bounced off and nothing moved. I moved 20-30 yards and glassed back to my left and there was the first doe standing looking at me. I heard the corn leaves rustle and heard a deer running. I turned back thinking doe and there was a huge WT buck moving out at 30-40 yards. I could see wide and 5x5 and though "160". I had set a personal goal to hunt for a Mule Deer only of 180 of better or a huge WT (180+) since area was 90+% Mule Deer suppossedly. I still had 2+ hours to hunt. When the buck turned I put my binos on him. HOLY CRAP! Main frame 6x6 with some base points. 20-21" inside and heavy. Fully mature buck 5.5+ and huge body and neck. I immediately said 180+. I ranged him got 69 yrds. Again 69 yds and then 61 yrds. Said no way. I finally got 139 yrds but looked farther. I set up my sticks and no clear shot for corn stalks or leaves. I move a step and then set up. All this took place over 60-90 seconds. Buck did not move but was locked on the doe to my left and me. He was looking away and quartered hard away. I knew the buck looked at least to be 150 yrds so I shot for that distance. I settled crosshairs middle of mass on opposite shoulder and shot. Smoke clearded and seen buck bound to me left about 45 yards and stop. I thought he was going down. I scramble to reload. He bounded off about 100 yrds and stopped again. He then licked his leg above his knee. I had shot low and grazed his upper leg in muscle only with no broken bones or anything vital hit. He moved out to 300 yrds from me and stood again looking at doe and then at me. I realoaded as he walked out of field into neighbors field. He was standing with the doe then at 450 yrds. I moved to them and they started to trot off. When I got almost to the edge of the field I jumped a Mule Deer doe. She went full tilt their direction. They stood watching her at about 1/2 mile from me. I got my best look at the buck as he was on the horizon and walking and looking around. Mule Deer doe made the next field over and they trotted to her and followed her over the horizon. I caught movement ahead of them and saw 4 bigger MD bucks on the skyline about 1/2 mile ahead of them. I watched the buck walk on and out of sight at over 1200-1500 yrds from me into land I had no access to at this point and over the hill not knowing where they went from there. I felt terrible sick about the whole ordeal. The buck was hit but not nothing more than a flesh wound thank God. I am still not sure what happened with my shot- either range was farther than I ranged, I hit corn stalks/leaves or I just pulled low and left on a severely quartering away buck.

Great pics and beautiful country

Wow great story. Could picture in my mind while reading it. Sounds like great times.

You should have taken me and I could have been your range finder boy. I'm fairly tall, could have gotten the rangefinder up enough.

Great story, sorry you didn't connect. But sounds like fun and a great experience.

Sad thing is I went soley with Mule Deer in mind. When he jumped up I was disappointed it was not a MD buck. I said "Oh crap a WT" and "160" on a 5x5 frame running away at 60 yrds. When he turned and stopped and looked back I changed my mind real quick. He was probably larger than my second guess of 180 to be truthful. He was 1.5-2" past his ears on both side and very mature. Heavy mass and long beams. Tines were:
5" on G1s
10" on G2s
10" on G3s
7" on G4s
5" and 2" on G5's
7"+ of NTs that I could see (I let him stand for 30 seconds before I came to my senses and set up to shoot him).

Great story, like you I wish it had a better ending.

Not all hunts result in a harvest but how great is it to spend time in Western Kansas and no doubt you met some great folks there.

I have personally only hunted NE Kansas, may have to look into the western hunting someday.

Better luck on the next round.

I am 6'1" tall and was standing on a terrace looking down on him in 4'+ tall corn. I have Leica Geovids but standing corn between me and him was the problem. He gave me all day and would have probably just walked off if I had given him more time since he was more worried about the doe off to my left he was looking at. Hindsight is a beach. I am going back for the rifle season but can only hunt ML then again. If I had a rifle I would have killed him dead when he stopped again the first time after I shot. He was in shorter corn then, but the fun of ML. Even with speed loader it took time as I was locked in a severe case of buck fever at that point and watching him and reloading.

Been a dream of mine for the last 18 yrs to go. People are very nice and laid back. Farmers for the most part hate the deer and view them as pests. I love hunting wide open land and was reluctant to hunt the standing corn alone. But learned in a short 30 minutes how to hunt it. I saw 11 mule deer bucks and one doe that morning and 2 WT bucks and 2 does in less than 1 hr of hunting and only hunted 40-50 acres of the field. I am going back for rifle season for sure. Still will look for Mule Deer first but will go into same area to look for this buck again to see if I can at least find him. I know corn will be cut for silage or shredded down at that point. I will apply every year from now on for the same area.

Great pics and great write up

At least you know how Bobo feels now...nick em 1 and nick em 2

Sounds like a great hunt and plenty of animals.

Nickem 2 lol


Stx- sounds like a great hunt and some New great country...I have a feeling ks will call you again.

Thank you for sharing

How did I know you would waffle on those deer

With those measurements, I think your estimate of 180" is conservative.

Great read. Too bad it didn't end with that buck coming back to Tx. Maybe next time.

Great pics as usual too.

November 27th and booked a hotel for 13 days already.

Do you know when the rut for the MD is up there? You going back for WT or MD?

No waffle on him. My scores always tend to be low and conservative. At 30-40 yrds running away in standing corn he was big but I had my mind set on a Mule Deer and was not even expecting anything this big as far as WT. I set 180 minimum on a WT thinking I would not even see one in all that open country to get close to that in score, hoping it would keep me focused on MD. I saw one WT on Friday of last week that was a 2 yr old 4x4. Then saw one Monday evening at 30 yrds feeding in corn that was a 2 yr 4x5. Saw one early that morning in wheat stubble out about 500 yds that was a 4x4 looking deer and ear wide but looked like a 3 yr old. Did not even put a spotter on him still looking for MD.

Great story. Good luck on your next time out. Hoping to see a big boy down when you return.

Oklahoma is dual tag to.. makes last day even tougher

No I don't but gonna guess same as WT and late Oct or Nov. I am going back to hunt "deer" this time. I now know what the area can produce. Was told WT needed more "cover" by locals so not to expect much in the area as far as size. 5,000 acres in South Texas has more cover than the whole area I hunted. Standing crops and terrain changes are the cover. Not many trees except around farm houes/barns and along river. Few scattered ones on drainages but all them were tall no undergrowth.

At my age it has gotten to be more about the hunt and not the kill. I chose to not hunt with an outfitter and learn how to hunt the area and the deer alone. What I took from this hunt would not have been any better if I had killed the deer. The hunt was my trophy.

Beautiful country. Nice bucks

Great pics & write up! I especially liked the sunset midweek & buck in the draw...he looked pretty awesome!

Great write up Stx. Glad you're back. And danged sorry to hear that you didn't connect. Sounds like a heck of a hunt.

Well said,Great pics and story. Good reason to go back.