Cody Mohan | Mossy Oak ProStaff
The 700 acres of big timber in northeastern Kansas that my buddy and I hunt has very thick cover. I like to use a climbing tree stand because I hate to hunt from the same stand more than once during deer season. I believe in the first-strike approach to hunting deer and effectively taking deer. These 700 timbered acres we hunt has quite a bit of elevation and a creek running through it. My buddy and I put out a bunch of trail cameras to pinpoint the spots where the whitetails seem to be moving on this ground.
The biggest buck I’ve ever taken with my bow scored in the 160s, and I took him on November 12, 2014. I had decided that morning to hunt down in the creek bottom, because I could see somewhat further there than I could in most of the other places that I could hunt. I thought I could get good shots inside of 20 yards. Just as the sun was coming up, I looked back to the east and spotted antlers silhouetted against the sky. The big buck at the top of the hill, above me, was walking to the east. I picked up my Primos grunt deer call and blew it one time, and the buck turned and started walking straight to me. The rut was on, and that buck walked steadily until he was only 4 yards from the base of my tree, before turning broadside to me.
At that time, I was shooting an Athens bow with a Slick Trick Broadhead and pulling 70 pounds. I aimed right behind the buck’s front shoulder and let my arrow fly. The big buck took the arrow and headed for thick cover before I heard him fall. I remained in my stand for about 45 minutes for a couple of reasons. My heart was pounding, my adrenaline was drumming, and I realized the buck was too big for me to drag him out of thick cover by myself. I started calling some of my friends to come and help me. When I finally got myself together, I climbed down from my tree and saw a big, wide blood trail I could follow. I followed the blood trail to the creek, and that’s where I discovered my big bow buck piled up. This 10-pointer weighed about 225 pounds, confirming the fact that I didn’t want to try to drag that buck out by myself.
I called my dad first but I learned he was in a meeting and couldn’t come. Two of my other buddies didn’t answer their phones, and the one friend, Mark Waller, who did come to help me, never had deer hunted before. However, when Mark saw that big deer of mine, he became very interested in becoming a deer hunter.
Cody Mohan of Leavenworth, Kansas, a ProStaffer of 6 years, was born and raised in Kansas.
