The highs and lows — and the lessons learned — from this deer season in Kansas

I did one last sit on my wife’s family farm before hanging up the bow for the season. I saw several does but no bucks.

I plan to try and shoot a couple does during late season to put some meat in the freezer.

Bow hunting is still pretty new to me. This was my fourth season. I got a buck the first season, didn’t the second, got a nice one on the third and this year came up empty again.

But it doesn’t really bother me. Hunting is a new hobby for me. It’s helped me reconnect with the outdoors that I loved to be in as a kid — a passion I lost for so many years.

I love watching the woods wake up as the sun rises and love seeing the beautiful Kansas sunsets.

Still, it’s not all about enjoying God’s creation. I did learn some valuable lessons this year:

• Don’t put on the heat: I grew up in Florida, so I’ve struggled with the cold. Chance, my buddy and coauthor, recommended that I leave off the heat when I drive out to hunt. I was forced to do this since my truck’s heat went out for most of the season, but it fortuitously helped a lot. Sounds crazy, but this has been a game changer. I felt like I was warmer with less clothes even on the coldest days then I have been in the past. I am already cold from being in my truck, so it was almost a relief to put layers on to walk to the stand.

• Check your gear at the start of the season: On what looked like the first rutty morning for my season, I was walking to my stand in the dark when I felt something dangling from my bow. My drop away had come undone. It was kind of a nightmare of a day. It ended my hunt before it started and led to half day spent readjusting my sites after I screwed it back on. Chance and I have talked about the drop away before; he uses a whisker biscuit, which I think is more rugged. Both have pros and cons, but I am leaning toward a whisker biscuit being better for deer hunting.

• I need to work at extending my comfort range with my bow just a little bit. I feel very effective at 25 yards and would consider a 30 yard shot. I had a nice buck broadside at 35 but didn’t feel comfortable letting the arrow fly. I still think that’s the upper range anyone should shoot a whitetail with a compound bow, but I just need to feel more confident, even at 30 yards. The arrow flies too slow and deer react too quickly to take much further shots.

• DON’T MAKE A MOVE: I knew this, but it is cemented for good after this season. I had a doe stare me down and that same buck who I didn’t shoot at 35, came toward her. I decided I could move very slowly and clip in my trigger, but she busted and he stopped dead in his tracks. He was 10 yards away, but behind some thick cover. I should have waited until he was in the clearing before clipping in.

• Don’t hunt just because: I need to be content not hunting when the wind is wrong. The woods where I hunt are just too small to stink up the place. I need to be content just resting on the vacation day or not hunting on my weekend if the wind isn’t right.

- Michael Stavola

Highs and lows

The 2023 Kansas hunting season was full of highs and lows. Looking back, here are a few of the things that stood out.

Highlights:

• Goose, my year-old silver lab, got his first taste of Kansas hunting this year. It was a blast putting him on his first doves, ducks, pheasants, quail and geese. I’m not a great trainer, and he’s not the most obedient dog. But he has exceeded any expectations I had going into the season. I’m excited to see him grow up in the field once he grows out of his overgrown pup stage.

• On my first whitetail hunting sit of the year, I saw more than 70 deer and watched them for hours without getting busted. I didn’t see any mature bucks, but I knew they would show up eventually.

• In November, I rattled in two mature bucks in the freezing rain. I couldn’t get a shot at either one, but knowing they were around helped keep me hunting when deer movement showed.

• My dad and I doubled on big bucks, shooting two wall-hangers on the same day in December after three long months of hunting.

Lowlights:

• My season started off horribly. I cut limbs and cleared the area around my treestand in September without treating my clothes with permethrin. When I got home, I realized I was covered in hundreds of seed ticks – barely visible, newly hatched creepy crawlies. It was a nightmare situation that’ll haunt me for the rest of my life. Lesson learned: Don’t go into the woods without protection from ticks.

• I got beat to spots I had scouted on public land multiple times without having a good backup plan. Lesson learned: Have a plan B, C and D when hunting on public land, and show up early enough to change plans before shooting time.

• The weather was dry and warm throughout the fall, which was good for dove season but less than ideal for every other game species.

Thank you to everyone who tagged along this year for the Open Season newsletter. We look forward to what lies ahead in 2024.

Please let us know what you might be interested in reading about in the future. What could we improve? What did we do well? Is there anything you’d like us to cover in the future?

Email us at cswaim@wichitaeagle.com and mstavola@wichitaeagle.com.

– Chance Swaim

This story was originally published December 27, 2023 at 2:36 PM.