Question for you Kansas hunters

I have hunted Kansas for probably 20 years but we always go out in December during the general rifle hunt. My 14yr old drew a whitetail tag this year and I'm thinking about taking him out in September for the Youth hunt. My question is, do you think that would be worth it with all the crops still standing? Where we hunt is creek bottoms surrounded by agricultural fields. In December the crops are generally in so the fields are wide open and it's not too difficult to locate deer. Anyway, what do you all think? Are the whitetails going to be holed up in the corn and milo fields in September? Am I better off just waiting for the general season in December? Thanks for any input.

Not familiar with Kansas but knowing whitetail behavior I'm sure deer are using those bottoms to move between fields. I'd hunt the fields in the early morning and late evening and hunt the bottoms during the day to catch deer moving from the fields to their bedding areas. Find a natural funnel or trail and put up a stand downwind of it and I'm sure you'll catch deer moving through mid morning headed to bed.

There have been some years where I wished I had a muzzleloader to take advantage of the that early season for myself. I was thinking the big buck I was seeing on my trail cameras was not going to survive all of the archers until I could hunt the firearms season in December. Now that I have a crossbow, I am one of those guys looking to take a big buck out before the rifle hunters get their chance.

I also have lost my access to the 80 acres of deer heaven that hosted the big bucks. So today I'm a public land cowboy, and I live in Kansas' largest city. So my public land gets more visits than other land out into the sticks.

One huge factor regarding the youth and muzzleloader seasons is prevailing daily temperatures. When it is nearly 100 degrees during the day, deer tend to be nearly nocturnal and aren't moving during the daytime hours. It might happen, but I haven't seen deer in corn or milo (what I think of for NW Kansas crop land in the fall) to take advantage of the standing crops. I have seen them hitting it when the combines have done their jobs. Winter wheat gets planted late September to October, so will not have much of a draw for deer yet during the youth season.

The greatest advantage that I can come up with for the youth season is simply that you are getting first crack at an unsuspecting deer herd. They have had 9+ months of no real human
predation attempts, and therefore may not be quite as wary as they will be come late November rifle season.


PS: take all of the above with the proverbial grain of salt........my success in bringing home deer pictures is pretty good, my success in filling the freezer is relatively dismal.

During Sept in Kansas the deer are only moving for a few minutes in the morning and right as it gets dark from my experience. Cooler weather will help but they are still pretty nocturnal then.