Upcoming Kansas hunt


wildthing

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fellow hunters...I am headed to Kansas this upcoming November 11 thru the 20th to do some bow hunting for whitetail. I will be hunting in units 4 and 6. How anyone have any insight on the follwomg:

- What type of terrain / topography can I expect?

- Are those heavily hunted units?

- In general, how is the rut activity that time of year in Kansas?

Really...I am just looking for any helpful insight. All input and info is welcome.

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I'm not too familar with those units, but it looks like tallgrass prairie, cedars, river bottoms, and ag. If you keep in touch I'd be more than happy to keep you posted on the which phase of rut they might be in. I hunt in southern Kansas, ALOT, the rancher/farmer is a good friend and he keeps in contact with me, lets me know where and what the deer are doing. Super nice guy. So far, they was still grouped up as of last week. Should start splitting up and fighting within the next week or so.

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I've been hunting in Unit 14 for the past 10 years or so. Before that I hunted in the unit south of you twice.

I can't say what kind of terrain/topography you'll face. It seems the further west you go in KS, you're less likely to find a straight enough tree to use a climber that's in the right spot. I'd plan on using hang-on stands or ladders if I were you. Crooked trees means hang-on sticks like Lone Wolf's or screw in steps too. A ground blind will sure come in handy.

Can't say how heavily hunted those units are...there may be some information on the KS W&P website.

I personally prefer to hunt KS anywhere between Nov. 13th & Nov. 25th. The way my schedule is this year I'm having to hunt Nov. 20th through the 26th. I killed my KS B&C buck on 11/20. In general, best rutting activity begins about a week later than Iowa or Illinois. This year it appears the drought conditions they've had will make water sources good spots to hunt. I've seen that a few times in the past. If you find there's only a few places they can get water, I'd sure consider hunting them! Even if bucks are rutting deer need water there...if a buck isn't going to drink, they'll still check them out for does passing through.

Edited by Rhino
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The young bucks are still grouped up, went out yesterday 10/26. We had a cold front move through, saw 6 bucks, 4 does, only 1 of the bucks was decent, the others where young and still hanging together. The older one responded to my grunt. Which obviously the older machure bucks are starting to get territorial. I had a spike come in hard to my rattling last week. By the way I hunt unit 13. As far as tree stands go, I keep tree spikes, a rope and bow hanger with me. I usually find a good fork on a larger tree on a funnel, ridge or tree line seems to be the best. Keep some prunes with you to cut a cedar branch to help with cover scent!!

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It's been a couple years since I hunted Kansas, I hunted units 9, 10 & 14. Your timing should be spot on for the rut. My best week was the week before Thanksgiving. I believe the terrain you are going to be in is about the area that the terrain starts to move from hardwoods to more of the plains. But a mix of both. Concentrate on the breaks, fence rows, creek beds. Have some good binos for the open areas. Hunt the does.

My advice, take your climber with some climbing steps like mentioned above. Something like the Ameristep Non typical rapid rails. 3 independant sections, incase you can't find a straigt tree. You can always use the steps to hang your climber. So that way you don't have to haul around a climber & a hang on.

Good luck! Keep us posted.

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