I’d intended to spend opening day of Kansas’ 2009 firearms season babysitting the south end of a heavily wooded draw where I’d been seeing a very nice, tall and wide 14-pointer. The buck with the striking white rack usually left the area in the early morning and returned an hour or so before sunset.
The temperature plummeted the night before the opener, however, and the wind was roaring. Figuring the neighborhood deer would remain in heavy cover and that walking would be warmer than sitting, I changed plans and decided to stalk the brushy draws and edges.
Soon after parking my truck, I headed into the first east-west tree line and turned north at a fence three-quarters of a mile into my hike. I followed a deep gully choked with tall grass, hoping to see that 14-pointer bedded in it. I didn’t think it would be hard to spot. That huge white rack would surely stick out in the brown grass.
I continued to follow the draws and hedge rows about a mile or so...