Gerald
John/Jon,
Wanted to drop you a couple of pictures from the 2007 early muzzleloader season in [location deleted]. This was my first muzzleloader buck with MAHA and my 2nd overall in 4 yrs of muzzle hunting (my 1st was the 5pt on my knee). This buck is a nice 10pt, but for this country, still only a young 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 yr old. I spotted this buck about 1pm when he stood up from his grass bedding area 20 yards from a dry, wooded creek bottom. The creek bottom allowed me to stalk to within 30 yards. You can see from the sirloin picture when I processed him, what excellent condition these deer are in pre-rut, late September. Almost 2 in. of fat. I actually had fat left over that I discarded.
Also, with the abundance of rain last year, the landscape changed dramatically from previous years with the tall grass growth on native pasture land (not CRP). I expect it to be similar this year, but I will confirm during scouting over the next 3 weeks. A tip for those hunting this terrain of western Kansas, the tall grass just swallows up deer and with the limited visibility, one really has to find strategic high ground for patient glassing and avoid pushing deer with unnecessary walking.
Thanks for all your hard work in securing great hunting grounds. Just found out both my sons were successful in drawing for Any Deer tags, so we are looking forward to the upcoming season.
Gerald
All who read Gerald's feedback that have never hunted the open lands should read that second paragraph again. We did have a lot of rain from spring through mid-summer.
With all the non-resident tags that were issued this year well above past years there will be a lot of first time western Kansas deer hunters. Our past experience with first time open land hunters 
is they quit glassing too soon, walk onto the land in the morning too late or haphazardly, get up and move too much during light. The next most common feedback is having seen a large buck, shot and nothing happened, typically miss-judging distance on open terrain under shooting the deer. This is one of the downsides of a self guided hunt operation. That is, no guide on the ground well familiar with the terrain to keep a hold on the novice open lands hunter.
Gerald's credentials for his assessment is that he lives in that country, a limited hunting time self employed business owner with businesses in two locations, raising a family and one of those great dads that insured his first son to go hunting harvested a bigger buck than dad. Clayton, pictured at right.
Thanks Gerald for the timely update.
