Share your thoughts on deer baiting, and get through the early October doldrums

Early October is the roughest part of the hunting season.

I’ve had all the target practice I can take. My gear is ready. My stand is cleared. I feel dangerous.

But it’s early. And hot. And dry. I have to keep a close eye on the calendar to see what seasons are open and whether I need to wear hunter’s orange (it’s required during muzzleloader and early antlerless rifle season, even if you’re bowhunting and even though there’s so much foliage this time of year that a hunter couldn’t see another hunter on the other side of the woods if they were wearing a tie-dye clown suit with flashing lights).

The doves have thinned out, the ducks aren’t here yet, and I can’t seem to stop running into pheasant, quail and turkeys — none of which are in season.

I don’t like cleaning deer on 80-degree days, so most of my time spent in the field has been scouting. I’m not one to waste gas money, so I always hunt something while I’m scouting.

In the past week, I shot a few doves and missed a blue-winged teal in the Low Plains Early Zone. (My silver lab, Goose, was not impressed).

I saw several deer on highly pressured public hunting land near Wichita, including a nice buck in a milo field at about 9 a.m.

On private land, I saw more deer on a single hunt than I’ve ever seen before. Not a single one was a mature buck.

We need a cold front. Or a good rain. Or both. It looks like we might be in for a good weekend, with temperatures dropping.

Last weekend, a “cool” front moved in, and I decided to get in the woods with my bow. There was hardly any wind and it was “cold” enough to wear a hoodie. I saw more than 70 deer within 100 yards of my stand between 7 and 11 a.m. Only one of them saw me (pictured below), but she obviously didn’t view me as a threat and went back to crunching on dead leaves.

Here’s what I learned:

▪ The area I’m hunting is loaded with does and yearling twins. That’s a good sign. But it also means the mature bucks in the area won’t have to do much searching during the rut. In my area, that usually means the bucks will go hard and heavy for a couple days and then seemingly disappear for several days.

▪ Deer are using the trails I cleared out with a machete last month. My stand has good cover on three sides. But a deer approaching head-on will likely spot me if I move at the wrong time. I’ll have to watch that. The past few years, I’ve had more success hunting on the ground than in a stand. But I don’t like to start ground-hunting until November (I feel like I spread a lot less scent when I’m sitting in a tree stand).

▪ The property I hunt is a short-cut field between feed crops, a creek and prime bedding areas. When the big bucks start chasing, maybe a doe will run one right by me. Fingers crossed.

— Chance Swaim

Do you bait deer?

Let’s talk about baiting deer.

A Kansas legislator recently threatened to defund the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks for even considering a ban.

Wildlife experts say feeders and bait piles speed the spread of chronic wasting disease (not to mention a host of other diseases). It’s an always-fatal disease that is spreading across Kansas, could decimate the state’s deer herd and would likely lead to further restrictions and regulations if it’s not stamped out.

Although Kansas has lots of feed fields, feeders are different because they concentrate more deer and bring them into closer contact with each other, spreading diseases through saliva and other means.

But a ban could hurt the bottom line for feed sellers, rural land brokers and hunting lodge owners who make money off the controversial hunting tactic. They are fighting any potential restrictions (which haven’t been proposed).

We want to know what everyday hunters think about baiting deer or banning deer baiting. Let us know.

Here’s KDWP’s Sept. 21 forum, if you need some background.

I don’t bait deer. Do you? Why? Send me your thoughts at cswaim@wichitaeagle.com or call me at 316-269-6752.

Send us your stuff

We want our Open Season newsletter to be interactive. We want to hear your stories. We want to see your stuff.

Have a hunting dog? Send us a picture.

Did your kid shoot a deer? Send us a picture.

Did you shoot a nice buck? Send us a picture.

We’d love to share it with other Open Season subscribers.

Do you have questions? Ask us.

Do you have complaints? Send ‘em our way.

Is there something you want us to dig into? We’ll check it out.

Email is the easiest way to reach us.

Chance Swaim, cswaim@wichitaeagle.com

Michael Stavola, mstavola@wichitaeagle.com

Please, tell your friends.

This week’s recipe: Vegetable deer stew

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs cubed venison

1/2 large onion (whatever color you like), diced

1 28 oz. can of peeled Italian tomatoes, undrained

2 cups beef stock. You can substitute water.

1 head of cabbage, roughly chopped

1 bag of frozen soup vegetables

Salt and cracked black pepper to taste.

Saute cubed and seasoned stew meat with onion in a dutch oven or stock pot. When brown, add tomatoes, stock or water, cabbage and vegetables.. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes to an hour.

In other hunting news around the state ...

⛺ Kansas releases hunting forecast for pheasant and other upland game birds

If you’d like to have our free Open Season newsletter emailed to your inbox, you can sign up here.