Kansas hunter lands a huge buck

Nick Simon should have Nov. 10 circled on his calendar.

First, it’s his mother’s birthday. Second, it’s the date he has taken two huge bucks with his bow in Kansas.

Bow hunting on land leased by the Mid-America Hunting Association, he shot the first of those big boys in 2009. Then Monday, he shot one even bigger.

Sitting in a treestand on club land north of Topeka, he took a 20-point buck with a nontypical rack that he green-scored at 197 inches, a total that takes into account a series of measurements. It won’t be officially scored until a mandatory waiting period to allow the rack to dry is over. All Simon knows is that it’s the biggest buck he has ever taken.

“I consider Nov. 10 to be the heart of the cruising phase of the rut,” said Simon, who lives in Harrison, Ark., and travels to Kansas each fall to hunt on Mid-America Hunting Association land. “That’s when the big bucks will be out looking for does.

“There’s a good chance they’ll be out in daylight hours. That’s when you can take a big one.”

It didn’t happen the day before. Simon sat in his tree stand from dawn until sundown and saw only one buck. But judging by the line of scrapes and rubs, he knew there were deer on the land.

On Monday, he watched from his stand as a monstrous buck emerged from the cover and made a scrape. When he called several times, the deer walked close enough that Simon was able to get a shot off.

Later, Simon called his taxidermist to inform him that he would be adding to his collection.

“I have other bucks hanging on the wall,” he said. “But this one will be the biggest.”

Where to hunt

When Missouri’s firearms deer season opens Saturday, the harvest map again will be dominated by the deep Ozarks, wildlife officials with the Missouri Department of Conservation predict.

Years ago, southern Missouri was in the spotlight, a symbol of the state’s rugged deer hunting. But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, rapidly increasing whitetail herds in northern Missouri overshadowed the Ozarks and produced the state’s best hunting.

Now the situation has come full circle. Deer numbers in northern Missouri have declined sharply after years of liberal limits and an outbreak of hemorrhagic disease. Meanwhile, whitetail populations in the Ozarks have been on steady increase.

All three of the top counties for harvest during last year’s November hunt were in the Ozarks. Texas was the best, with 3,309 deer checked in. Howell was second with 3,292 and Oregon third with 3,227. Howell led the state in the two years before that.

Avoid the crowds

Some deer hunters think you have to be on private land to stand a good chance of taking a buck.

But that’s not necessarily true, say wildlife biologists with the Missouri Department of Conservation.

There are big deer on public land, particularly large tracts such as the acreage surrounding Truman Lake. It’s just that you may have to put in some work to find them.

First, get as far off the road as you are willing to walk. Experts advise walking in at least a mile and getting away from the crowd. Look for the heaviest cover and search for scrape or rub lines.

At conservation areas such as Truman, some hunters even go by boat to remote areas. It’s important to remember that many of the largest bucks avoid the crowds by either becoming nocturnal or by retreating to the most-secluded heavy cover they can find.

Donate your venison

The next time you shoot a deer in Missouri, you might help feed the needy.

In the state’s Share the Harvest program, administered by the Conservation Federation of Missouri and the Missouri Department of Conservation, hunters can take the deer they shoot to a designated meat processor and indicate how much they want to donate. The processor will then package the meat, and it will be taken to a charitable organization for distribution.

The first step is finding which processors participate in the program. There is a list on the website mdc.mo.gov/hunting-trapping/deer/share-harvest. The Conservation Federation of Missouri reimburses processors a set amount for each whole deer donated. But in some cases, hunters may have to pay a portion of processing costs.

In 2013, 4,487 hunters donated 227,358 pounds of venison to the program.

A ducky dilemma

The Saturday opener of the main portion of the duck season in southeast Kansas is filled with uncertainty.

The good news is that the ducks, including good numbers of mallards, have been piling into public hunting areas such as Marais des Cygne and Neoso.

The bad news is that the same cold front that has brought the ducks into the region is starting to freeze the marshes. Ice already covers 80 percent of the marshes at Marais des Cygne and Neosho. By Saturday, waterfowl managers fear that the marshes could be totally iced in.

At the least, that would make hunting difficult. At the worst, it could send those recently arrived ducks migrating south.

Here come the chickens

The cold spell has come just in time for Kansas prairie-chicken hunters.

Conditions are best when cold weather makes it difficult for the chickens to find insects on which to feed on the grasslands, sending them flying to grain fields for their meals. Hunters then hide in cover along those fields and wait for the gamebirds to arrive.

Hunters are hoping that’s the case when the season opens Saturday.

The Smoky Hills region of north-central and northwest Kansas should have the largest number of birds, according to surveys by the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The Flint Hills region should have improved populations compared to last year.

This story was originally published November 13, 2014 at 3:36 PM with the headline "Kansas hunter lands a huge buck."