The Best Buck of the Season 2008

I got the message from Brent as he stood over his 10 point buck. You could hear the excitement in his voice, I knew this was a big one by the tone of his voice and the short breaths caused by the lingering adrenaline still in his system. I told him to give me a write up on the big event. Here it is! ........


Nothing but pure skill brought this buck down on the Brownlee ranch at approx. 4:45pm 12/23/08. Years of sitting in the tree stand for hours at a time constantly surveying the horizon for movement of any kind. Studying the wind direction, following the moon cycle and barometric pressures, bathing with soap without soap, not bathing scent blockers. Watching the bobcats, the racoons, squirrels and birds to see how they react to different scents and noises. Using only stealth mode to walk in and out of the hunting areas as to not disturb the landscape or leave any scent behind. Using only the finest in camouflage apparel to conceal yourself, and learning to use such tools as Lollipop, the chalk line, plumb bob, butt plug, the Hilton the stairway to dear heaven, the Howard Johnson and tripod methods to improve my hunting skills. And then to think that true deer hunters do this with our only means of taking this seasoned adversary with a Bow and Arrow and on rare occasions a pocket knife for backup. Well I could go on and on telling you what it really takes to bag such an elusive seasoned species as the Grand Daddy white tail buck. But I knew that with the lessons and stories that I had learned and listened to from Carl, Wayne, Doug, and Chip that I had the skills to conquer this animal. So here is the story!

I had left work at approx. 4:15pm on the 23rd and had decided that with the weather conditions changing from sunny to overcast and cloudy that this may be the last good day to get to the Brownlee ranch to hunt. I had been thinking about how and where to hunt this evening. Upon my arrival I decided to hunt by the wheat field east of the farm house, I observed that there was still quite a bit of snow around the trees and was unsure how much noise I would make while sitting in the trees. The wind had changed from the south to the north and it was about 20 degrees. At this time I moved up by the old club house and decided to hunt by the old calf feeder, I parked the truck and got to go to the designated hunting areas. Upon arriving I just did not feel the true deer hunting senses that a seasoned hunter such as my self usually gets when you know the feeling is right and it is going to be a good hunt so..... I got back in the truck. At this time I was looking to the south toward the duck pond and I observed a couple of does running south toward the Briar Patch. I felt that with the wind and the temperature dropping that I may be more concealed in the trees at the Tripod, besides I was already cold. While I was driving around the duck pond on the damn I saw some more does running to the south, I contemplated walking to the south and hunting on the east side of the Hilton, again my instincts told me to go down to the pasture and just see how your senses felt there then I could decide. I drove to the area we have dedicated as Carls parking lot. I mow an area here so Carl (who is not a bow hunter, and hunts the easy way with a rifle) can park and does not have to walk very far to his heated enclosed blind. This area is mainly used to prepare for the days hunt and is a meeting place when the day is finished.

I had arrived and shut the truck off, I had not been hunting for a while so some of my vital hunting aids were on the bottom of the storage area behind my seat. I had found my camo coveralls and had opened both the front and the back door of my truck to block some wind while I began to put on my coveralls. While jumping around putting on my coveralls, I saw a big buck walking toward me from the south. @#%^&%$%! My boot was caught in my my coveralls so I could not get them pulled up past my waist or back over my boot with out making a big commotion. When I first saw him he was about 65 yards away walking down the road. I am trying to watch him thru the back glass of my truck while I try to sneak my bow out of its case which is laying on my tool box in the back of my pickup. I was able to get my bow out and an arrow, by now the buck is about 35 yards away still walking toward me, I realize that I do not have my trigger to shoot my bow and an not sure I know where it is. I am able to see the buck walking to the truck, looking at it, wondering who parked this here? I got my trigger on put the arrow in but my trigger was on upside down &^%%)(^&^%$!!!! He is about 8 yards away and turns and looks toward the west. While trying to keep my pants up, shooting with my middle finger ( I feel you pain Wayne) I let the arrow go...... PERFECT SHOT.... just as I had practiced for so many years......? The bucked jumped and turned running to the south back down the road. He ran for about 40 yards where he died... end of story!!!!

Yes I no the ending was kind of a let down. Only those of us that have spent the endless hours watching for the Big Grand Daddy understand the ending!

Christmas 2008

Well, Christmas has come and now we are looking at the new year. I am writing this because it is December 28th in Afghanistan and Bobby will fly his last mission over there today! The 101st Airborne Division year tour in Afghanistan has ended...all but a few have returned to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for Christmas...but Bobby is one of the last few to remain there and train the replacements. Tough break! Bobby has had quite a year over there. His unit is being put in for Army Aviation Unit of the Year! And Bobby is told that the Unit should get it hands down. Bobby has been put in for the Army Aviation Soldier of the Year and is told that he might just very well receive that honor. What an accomplishment to go with his medal of valor along with the other medals he has be awarded. The 29th of December he will fly to Bahgram, Afghanistan and wait for a flight out of Afghanistan to a place he can catch the military charter flight that brings him home to Fort Campbell. There, many of us will wait for him to land and greet him in the hanger with the other families greeting their loved ones...the last to arrive home. Bobby is planning on getting out of the Army in the next couple of months and moving to Colorado. We are so excited to have him home. I don't think I can ever express enough thanks for the support I have receieved from Sharon and the support Sharon and I have received from family and friends. It was a tough year for me and I was just sitting around feeling sorry for myself...while Bobby was the one taking the risks and working day in and day out doing the job this country has asked him to do to protect Freedom's Frontiers. So it has been quite a tough year for Bobby I am sure...he will have to process the experiences he has lived and place those awful war sights and sounds where they let him live his future life knowing he has made a difference for many! I know this family is proud of him.

He has flown with his Chopper ....

In the flat lands of the the USA

The deserts of Iraq....

To the high mountains of Afghanistan!

It has been one heck of a ride for Bobby!

Two Quarters short of a Buck

Chip, Woman Runs Him, came to the farm for the deer hunt this season. First to hunt with his newly aquired bow, and then to hunt the rifle season. He drove all night and the next morning practiced shooting the arrows with the new broadhead points attached. And oh how that guy could shoot! Thwaaaack....and the arrows entered the target, all neatly around the bullseye....all good kill shots! The man was ready for the hunt!

The next morning, the two new Colorado bow hunters rose and went to the Howard Johnsons Blind. Woman Runs Him sat on the deck as Once Was a Man sat inside the blind armed with his camera. Once Was a Man had already missed his big buck, it was his brother's turn at the bow!

The beauty there just south of the Briar Patch is something to behold in the Kansas Morning....looking closely in the trees to the east you could see the turkeys in their tree roosts!

As the morning sun brightened the sky, our archer sat on the deck and watched as does passed by, all within easy reach of his deadly shot. But our hunter wanted the buck so he waited and waited. It was late afternoon when his luck finally took a turn. There he came...the buck...moving down the draw...in the trees...but coming toward our hunter. Like Appollo, the Greek God, our archer stood, poised to make the perfect shot. He drew back his bow and lined his arrow toward its mark. With camera pointed, Once was a man waited...and waited...and waited....but no arrow sprang forth.

The buck turned and walked away...our archer, like a statue stood...bow raised...bow string pulled back and touching his cheek as he looked down the shaft of the arrow...still trying to fing the peep hole in his sights! And when he finally found the picture of the buck in his sights...all he saw was the back end of the buck!

Buck fever can take a man quickly, leaving even the simplest of tasks that are taken for granted lost in the moment. Slowly our hunter released the string on his bow to the rest position. The look of a greek god was gone and replaced by the look of a gothic gargoyle!

But unbelievably, the buck turned around and came back! Our hunter sprang into position, no time to waste...the buck was broadside...he drew back his bow and...................pfffffft........the arrow left his bow like someone had just peed it over the edge of the deck! How could this be? The buck looked up, confused....what was that? He looked toward the blind and perhaps could hear the muffled laugh of Once Was a Man! Our hunter had quickly ducked and loaded another arrow...yes...he had goofed and hit the release trigger while drawing back his bow string...but perhaps there was time!

The buck however figured it was time to leave and turned and walked toward the blind!

Our hunter sprang back into action, this time worrying not if he was sighted...a shot had to be made and quickly or the buck would soon realize his situation and run for cover! Our hunter stood up and quickly drew back his bow string..........pfffffft went his arrow.....just over the edge of the blind and lifelessly to the ground below. He had hit the release as he had drawn back his bow again! The buck, oblivious to it all...slowly walked toward the north and disappeared. Both hunters now were in fits of laughter.....with pauses interupted by spasms of surpressed laughter. They realized that this days hunt was over...it was not meant to be. They had bothed "passed the buck" and could only laugh at their missed opportunities. The rifle season would come and things would be different....or so Once Was a Man thought.....!

The First Bow Hunt

Well, with names like "Once Was a Man" and "Woman Runs Him", hunting deer with a bow was a necessity! With the encouragement and the gift of two compound bows, Chip and I practiced and prepared for our first bow hunt this season. No better place to hunt than the "Farm" that has been in the family since homesteaded by our Great Grandparents in the 1800's. With successful rifle hunts, the challenge of a bow hunt was exciting.





Our bow hunting mentor, Doug, met us out there and showed us how it was done by shooting a big 4 by 5 buck that was standing under his tree blind!

I was lucky and shot my doe after she danced and played around and under my stand for several minutes. But how about the big buck? Is there a story there? Of course....


Let's start with Wayne....Once was a Man...did he have his Buck? Well it went down like this...


It is in the dead of the rut. Doug was in his "lollipop" stand. Brint was in the tri-pod. Wayne was in the newly built blind with the "bow hunter deck" installed and ready. Yes, a stand with a deck built just for the bow hunters. Now Carl was the great stand builder...he and Brint had built the "Hilton" just a couple of years before. Carl named this new stand the "Howard Johnsons"! Upgraded...sounder foundation...great sliding window...shingled roof! Inside was the heater, front opening measured perfectly for the rifle to lay on for a great shot. Carl was pleased...but Wayne begged for a deck on which bow hunters could sit, surrounded by camo, and able to shoot the bow at a moments notice. Using Vick's old tent blind platform...Carl attached it to the new blind and the deck was set. Carl really only did this because he could use this deck for turkey hunting! It goes against his nature to aide bow hunters!






From this perch, Once Was a Man watched as bucks chased does all over the place. Behind him they went. Around him they ran.....surely.....a shot would take place. What a sight...Brint and our hero watched as the bucks got closer and closer. Then, looking to the west, our hero saw two beautiful bucks...trophies each...chasing a doe. The bigger of the two moved in chasing the other buck back. Wow...witnessing this love triangle was like watching friday night late TV! The buck had the doe where he wanted her. He came up from behind....she...a look of innocence in her eyes but her body told a different story. She was arching her back....a look over her shoulder said she knew what was to come...but there was the feeling still that it was her first time. And oh what experiece was shown by this older male deer. No quick thing for him...he was cherishing this moment as he put his tongue and tasted her. Gosh...what was happening! My heart was pounding! What do I do? Do I end this before they fall even deeper in the process of this love making? Do I not give this big male a chance to win the prize...no doubt hard fought for during this rutting season? No...I thought. I was not fooled by that innocent look in her eyes! She had drew many into her web of deceit only to run off and bare her young with the big guy not ever knowing if it was his or not. I had to stop this here and now before this guy got attached to this vixen of a doe! So I drew back my bow for I could see an opening in the branches that crossed between them and me...yes...I had a shot and I should take it soon. I looked through the peep hole and laid the sights on the place just behind the front leg and half way up the body...the sweet spot...just where I had been practicing for weeks. My wounded trigger finger (another story) pointed uselessy forward as I took my middle finger and placed it on the string release lever. I pulled gently and watched my arrow fly...straight toward it's target who was still in the act of foreplay with this harlot. And just as it reached the opening in the branches, the arrow took an immediate turn downward, cutting off a small branch with its razor sharp blade, the arrow went to the ground at the bucks feet. No one noticed, but the doe I think sensed something happened out of the ordinary and took a few steps and moved into the Briar Patch with the buck following "tongue in cheek" so to speak.


I stood there in shock....the trophy was gone...the x-rated scene was gone...my chance for the "best buck of the season" was gone. I however still had high hopes that another chance would appear...but I was wrong for I waited and waited for another big buck and passed on so many others that the bow season left me without a buck...(my wife had put me on an allowence)...and without a big male deer as well!


But how did Woman Runs Him fare this bow hunting season? Stay tuned! But for now...the sun sets on the Farm with the view of the lake as we leave the evening hunt and return to the Deer Camp!