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Hoyt Pro Staffer John Dudley and his Carbon Matrix had an unbelievable run this past fall, tagging trophy whitetails and capturing amazing footage across the Midwest. Here, in the second of two journal stories detailing his epic season, John recaps two action-packed late-season pursuits in Kansas and Iowa.
Kansas Bruiser
After my successful hunt in Illinois, I only had a few days to unpack, wash my camo, spend some time with my family and then head to Kansas. The Sunflower State has never been an easy destination for me. Starting in 2001, I had spent several years hunting daylight until dark in Kansas without any luck. It got to the point where I didn’t even put in for a tag in the regular draw anymore.
But time causes one to forget, and this past year I put in again for Kansas after being offered to hunt with another friend. This guy had an agreement with a farmer where he just paid a trespass fee to hunt this property, but it was a total “DIY” hunt. The reasonable fee was just for the hunting access, but scouting, trail cameras, stands and accommodations were all on your own. None of that bothered me at all; I just wanted a place in the correct area without spending more than I could afford. This area was a proven producer, so I was really excited.
I talked to my contact and told him that I’d put in for the tag and if I drew it, I’d make a trip to Kansas, pay the farmer the trespass fee, and then come back to hang my own stands and trail cameras when I could fit it in. All was good … or so I thought. A few months later, I got my Kansas tag in the mail and my first call was to the farmer. I told him who I was and that I drew the tag, and that I needed to get him paid. He then told me that the normal guys that hunt there had put in for tags for some family members as well as themselves, and that they all had drawn tags. He didn’t want to over-hunt the place, and since I was the low man on the totem pole, I wasn’t going to be able to hunt there. I couldn’t believe it! I was polite because, obviously, the farmer has a right to do whatever he wants to with his land, but I couldn’t believe my luck!
Right away, I started calling a few of my friends in the hunting industry to try to find someone that had a place I could hunt. Some gave me leads to outfitters they knew. There were hardly any outfitters with room to hunt, so the slots that were left were at a premium. I called outfitter after outfitter only to be quoted prices of $500-$1,000 per day to hunt their properties. I tried for several weeks, only to come up empty-handed on a place that had realistic pricing to hunt.
I took my Kansas tag and threw it in my glove box, thinking I wasted $500. But after filling my tag in Illinois in only three days and Iowa not being open yet, my Kansas tag started calling to me from the glove box!
I’m a very confident deer hunter. I’ve done it a long time and have no problem going into an area blindly, spending a day to checking the sign, checking the weather forecast, hanging stands and starting to hunt. This was going to be no different. I decided to start with some Walk-In Access Maps from the Kansas DNR Website. I figured I could learn some new areas, knock on a few doors and maybe make some local connections of my own. My cameraman, J.J., had five days off of work, so why not?
I set my alarm for 12:30 a.m., brewed a few cups of coffee and headed for J.J.’s house. I got there around 1:15 a.m. and loaded his gear in my truck, and we started the nine-hour journey. I was trying my best to follow a state map and the PDF document I downloaded to find some of those Walk-In Access areas. We were only a mile away from the first section of ground when we spotted the first buck. It was a dandy 140-class buck tending a doe only about 100 yards off the road. Definitely a good sign! Never underestimate public hunting!
After checking out all the grounds to hunt, we saw a lot of good sign. In these areas where the terrain is very open with limited timber in the drainages and draws, it’s a good idea to set up in travel routes and natural funnels. The locations were a no-brainer to me; I just needed to be smart about checking the wind. I have a Weather Channel App loaded onto my Blackberry, so I checked the wind for the next three days and hung several stands. Once again, the wind was changing almost every sit, so, luckily, we were able to move around and quickly move stands when necessary. For the first day and half we saw a few doe and a few small bucks, but no shooters. On the second day, we moved our stands at about 1:00 p.m. We made this decision after checking the scouting cameras that I had put out on the first day.
Whenever I go into an area, I select about three places I think are good. I set stands for the right winds and also set cameras on either a trail, food source or scrape. Each evening, I’ll check the memory cards on the cameras with a portable card reader. This allows me to be in several places at once. One camera showed good traffic and good activity on a scrape. That was where we moved to. The next day we hunted all day and didn’t see much again; however, the sign was there and I knew some does had started coming into estrus. When that happens, I know every buck in the area can easily be on one doe, and sightings may be rare – unless you’re lucky to have that one doe come through. Putting in your time is the only thing that gets it done during this time of year.
On the morning of our third full day, we packed our bags to once again go in for a full-day sit. We made our way very quietly to our stands well before light. Unfortunately, we jumped what sounded like a smaller deer and a large deer from under the stand. It was totally dark so we didn’t know for sure – but it was defiantly two deer with one being heavier-hoofed than the other. Just as sunrise approached, I heard deer coming our way. It was too dark to see or shoot, but I could see them with my Nikon EDG binos. It was a hot doe with a decent 8-point right on her. I could only watch as she cruised by, with him on her every step of the way.
I told J.J. that was exactly what we needed to happen. She made her way around the stand and eventually headed north away from us. An hour later, a weird-looking buck came cruising through. He picked up on that doe’s trail and was off through the woods the way they went, away from us. A few hours passed and it was then late-morning … my favorite time to be in the whitetail woods. I was facing J.J. and whispering something to him when he suddenly said, “BUCK!” I turned around and gulped! A giant buck was cruising through and angling away from us. He was heading north as well and I knew if he hit that doe’s track he would be off to the north like all the others. I quickly hit him with some deep grunts. He stopped, looked our way, and started walking again. I hit him again with some more deep grunts. This time he pinned his ears back and immediately started rubbing a tree. Then he started to head our way. He circled us and got into some very thick brush. I could barely make him out, although he was only 50 yards away at this point. He stared and stared into our timber. I could see in his demeanor that he was not seeing anything in the open timber and was quickly losing interest. He flipped his head away from us and started walking away.
I whispered to J.J. that the buck knew something was up here. As I was saying that, I heard rustling in the leaves and looked over my shoulder. As fate would have it, the hot doe came running in behind our tree at 20 yards and the small buck was still on her. I quickly looked back to the big buck and saw him whip around to give another look. This time he saw what he needed to and quickly came in on a rope. I drew back my Carbon Matrix and followed him with my pins, waiting for a clear shooting lane. I eventually had to squat down on the stand to thread an arrow into his shoulders at 30 yards. He ran away for 60 yards, stopped and looked back for a second. I already had my Nikons up and on him. There was no sign of him being hit other than me seeing with my own eyes my arrow zip through the boiler room!
I wanted to absolutely scream at the top of my lungs but had to contain myself since I didn’t see him pile up. I had hunted 23 years of my life to get a shot at a Boone & Crockett-class buck, and I was sure this was finally my moment. My emotions ran high and words can’t express how I felt. We gave it an hour and then pursued the monster. At first I was really worried because there was no sign. I was almost ready to back out. I felt really good about the shot, and told J.J. that we should just go to where I saw the buck stop to look back at us. I found the back of my arrow and the first blood just before the point where I saw the buck stop to look back. I went a few more steps to where I watched him stand. There was a constant flow pumping out and my uncertainty quickly changed to “Check mate. Game over”.
I followed the “red carpet” right to my buck. I was speechless and fell over the buck and just wanted to hug him! Twenty-three years of hard work and commitment was well worth it to have a true super-stud buck in my hands. I hunt on a limited budget and with limited time. I haven’t got the cash to just hunt four-star places all the time. This buck was hard earned and the soup opera had a fairytale ending. We savored every second of the moment, pulled stands and loaded my buck in the truck. I had to show him off to a few buddies on the way home and take pictures every few hours when I saw a good setting.
I wish I could’ve frozen that day in time so I could go back whenever I want to relive it. It was really awesome and I can’t wait to see him hanging on my wall. Once again, my Carbon Matrix and I were able to get it done after three full days of hunting! The key here was using my cameras and slowly working our way into the killing tree day-by-day. We didn’t just rush right into the thickest cover in the section and blow the deer out. We did it step by step and it paid off.
I pointed my truck back to Wisconsin and the routine started over once again … unpack, wash my camo, hang out with my family, repack and wait for the call that the corn is coming out of the fields in Iowa.
Iowa Swamp Monster
With my Wisconsin, Illinois and Kansas tags all checked in and zipped-tied to some horns, I only had one tag left to fill … Iowa! It was a plateful of tags and, to be honest, I wouldn’t have put in for all those tags had I known I would draw them all! Luckily, I did though, and because Kansas ended quickly, I was once again packed and ready to hit the woods for more big buck action. Iowa is always a fun place for me because I stay there with good friends. Years ago I met them while doing some events for a Christian Youth Center, and it’s a great friendly reunion every time we get together. The terrain there is mostly flat – until you hit a certain part of the Des Moines river bottoms, and then it gets really thick and steep.
I normally bounce around between public land and some small private parcels that I have permission to hunt. It’s a strange place to hunt for the first time because you just don’t expect to see deer – since it looks like there just aren’t any deer there. However, they’re there, although the numbers are low in this area, there are still good bucks to be taken. You can count on going days without seeing much but then, all of a sudden, there’s a great buck in shooting range. I sit there all day – sometimes in nasty conditions – and can really test your mettle. But that test has proven to be well worth it. I’ve shot my last two Iowa bucks at 11:13 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. Mid-day cruisers! You have to be mentally prepared for an all-day sit.
I only had about 4 ½ hours to drive, so the plan was to be at J.J.’s house at 1:00 a.m. so we could pull right in and start hunting right away Monday morning. We had actually stopped by here on the way back from Kansas and hung a double-set so that it would be ready for us first thing Monday morning. We pulled into the field at about 5:00 a.m. and were pleasantly greeted with freshly picked corn. What a sight for sore eyes! In this area the timber is very small and many times you have to hunt small oak flats. With the corn being out, the small numbers of deer are concentrated into the timber, so a determined hunter at least has a fighting chance.
We climbed into our stands and, as expected, the action was somewhat slow. We saw one spike in the morning and then went the next six hours without seeing anything. As light was fading, J.J. said we wouldn’t see anything else, and I bet him on that. Actually, I didn’t think we would, but I bet him anyway. A few minutes later, another small buck and a doe came walking along the edge of the corn.
Day two was slow as well. We climbed into that stand to hunt the day. At about 1:00 p.m. I saw the wind was going to change into something that wasn’t in our favor at all, so we climbed out. Just like in Kansas, I had a few cameras doing some homework for me. One camera showed a good buck working a scrape line along edge of a cornfield. Also, about a mile away, there was an area that I had hunted years ago that was perfect for that wind as well, so we headed there to scout. This particular finger of timber is along the edge of a bean field and a lake. The timber strip is only about 70 yards across. The field edge and the lake are two natural barriers that funnel the deer through the timber strip. There were some great rubs there and some very good traffic on the trails as well.
We hung our stands on the west edge of the timber strip since the forecast was calling for an east wind the next day. We cleared a lane all the way across the strip, giving me a 10-yard-wide lane across the entire width of the strip. The idea was to catch any deer passing through as soon as they hit the lane.
It wasn’t the best setup for a camera, but it was the best we could do with an east wind. There wasn’t any back cover for us in the trees, but I figured the deer walking that thick brush wouldn’t see us until it was too late. That night the wind was supposed to be out of the north, so we couldn’t hunt there. We quickly went over to the cornfield where I had the trail picture of the buck working a scrape.
Since this was a last-minute, one-time sit, we threw up two stands on a point along the edge of the cornfield. The wind was blowing hard and I figured movement would be minimal. We sat there for the three hours we had left until dark and – just as last light was fading – an old doe came into the field along with a younger doe. I waited and waited for a buck to come up behind them but I never saw one. Just as the final minutes of shooting came to an end, I decided to take that old doe. I had a buck tag and a doe tag, and I always like to fill all my tags. I let my Carbon Matrix eat one more time, and the arrow flew perfectly. Seconds later there was a crash. That doe could very well be the biggest doe I’ve ever shot … good food and a good deer to eliminate from the herd. We loaded her onto the hitch hauler and took her into camp.
The next day we took the stand along the lake and hunted for the day. Action was very slow until the last hour. I was fighting a terrible migraine and could barely stand being there until dark. There were a few does and a smaller buck feeding 50 yards out in the field. I just sat with my head in my hands wishing it would be over. I had some pills in my pack that I never leave home without, but they didn’t even knock a dent in my headache. I got down as fast I could and went straight for to bed. The alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. and, luckily, I woke up feeling much better. We packed the Badlands packs full of goodies for the day and headed back to the lake stands.
We climbed into our set and waited for the sun to rise. The wind was very light for the first time that week so I had high expectations. Just as the first bit of light hit the horizon, I could make out some deer in the bean field. There were five does milling around, getting an early-morning breakfast. I stood there watching them with my binos when suddenly I saw a doe come running around a point with her mouth open. I scanned into the timber behind her and after a few minutes out popped a nice buck. The buck looked like a true swamp monster with a dark hide and chocolate horns. I watched for over an hour as he pushed the doe all around that point. Eventually they bedded down on the edge of some thick scrub oak along the fence line. The wind at times was perfect but occasionally it would swing toward them.
For nearly 30 minutes I seriously contemplated a stalk. The buck was in a perfect position for a stalk, but the wind was not steady enough. I debated and debated. Finally I was about to get down to go do the stalk when a heavy machinery convoy drove down the nearest road about ¾-mile away. The buck stood and watched for 10 minutes as that convoy went through. I was kicking myself at that point because if I had even gotten close to the buck’s location on a stalk I could’ve stood up and walked straight to him when his attention was focused so much on the convoy. After the last truck passed, the buck walked into the scrub oak and jumped the doe. He then pushed her back into the timber about 300 yards south of us.
I was unhappy about not doing the stalk but still happy to have a hot doe in our timber. I told that J.J. today was the day. We sat and sat and the clock ticked by. The magic hour of 11:00 a.m. came and I told J.J. that this is when the magic normally happens. We waited and waited but nothing was happening. I reached into my pack to get a sip of Gatorade and looked toward J.J. Over his shoulder I caught a glimpse of a dark body walking, nose to the ground, through our strip. I pointed and said “Deer… right here!”, and turned fast to grab my Carbon Matrix off of the EZ Hanger.
By the time I was spinning back around, the buck was popping into the small lane I had cleared across the timber strip. I saw good horns and jerked my bow back. I quickly guessed the range at 51 yards since he was next to a tree that I knew the distance of. I made a quick grunt and he stopped and looked. I saw my 50-yard pin sitting on his elbow and the before I knew it, “Thwack!” He went like a wheelbarrow through the timber for about 60 yards and was done. I turned to J.J. and said, “You didn’t get any of that, did you?” He replied, “Nope!” I laughed and said, “Oh well, that’s a sweet buck!” He pointed to his watch and, sure enough, it was 11:30 am. That was the third time I got my buck when everyone else wants to be back at camp eating. Mid-day cruisers! Don’t ever get out early! Not in November.
We climbed down, walked over to my buck, and saw that he was really gnarly-looking, with some really long and curvy main beams. A certified swamp monster and a perfect buck to end the rut with! I got my doe and a sweet buck once again in Iowa. Man, what a year! I give a lot of credit to shooting a lot of arrows all year long and getting my new Hoyt Carbon Matrix dialed in so that I’m ready for a shot at any moment. Practicing good fitness and making workouts a part of my lifestyle is also a big help. It helps one learn to endure, and it helps you mentally to build that confidence to stay in there when no one else wants to. I also credit good scent prevention since I’m always on the move and almost always have two people in my tree. I give credit to my Lone Wolf stands that let me be mobile and continue to close the gap between where I start my hunt and where I end the hunt. Finally, I’ve got to give props to good clothes. Without proper layering with my Under Armour gear, I wouldn’t be sitting like I do around the clock. I wouldn’t be able to jump down, rip out my sets and relocate to another location in an hour’s time without smelling like Bigfoot.
Thanks, everyone, for reading. Hopefully you and your Hoyt had a great year in the whitetail woods as well!
To learn more about John Dudley, visit www.dudleyarchery.info and www.ddbowhunting.com.