JD Outfitting

Rob Shaw of Oregon, 175 B&C, 2004.

Hunt report by Tom Shaw of Oregon: My son, Rob, and I drew Kansas deer tags in December 2004, we chose Dan as our outfitter because he was small, returned our phone calls, and his references indicated he was well-liked by his clients and the local landowners. We spent our first morning in Kansas in box stands. It was 18 degrees with a 10 mph wind. We saw some smaller bucks and does, and Rob spotted what he thought was a large deer some two miles away. The buck bedded for the day. The buck was on a neighboring property. Dan called the landowner and got permission to stalk the buck. We closed the distance to a fenceline that was about 50 yards from where we had last seen the buck.Suddenly Dan dropped to the ground and gave my son the "thumbs up" signal. The buck was only 10 yards from Dan, who grunted for five minutes, trying to get the buck to stand. He would not. Dan finally circled around and crawled to within 10 feet before the buck bolted and my son was able to put him down. The rack turned out to have 15 points and grossed right at 175 Boone and Crockett points. The mass and all his sticker points were impressive. He had been in a severe fight with another buck. A large 3x3 inch area of hide around his left eye was completely gone and had a two major tine puncture wounds in his back nght leg that wasn't healing. All in all it was a great hunt. Dan put us in front of quality animals every day. We sat in ground blinds (hay bales, pop-ups, and box blinds) and tree stands, and we did some spot-and-stalk hunting as well. The variety of hunting styles and the opportunity of seeing quality animals made for a great hunt. Everything Dan had promised held true. He lives to scout deer and has impeccable knowledge of the area and most of his leased properties. I was impressed with how the landowners and other locals also offered help when bigger bucks were spotted. This told me that he had the type of reputation that we were seeking in a guide. After speaking to other hunters in other areas that were on his leased lands, they too were impressed and most all of them were return customers. Dan offers do-it-yourself, partially guided hunts to fully guided hunts for archery and rifle whitetail. His properties have some great mule deer, too. He hunts a variety of units in Kansas and normally has landowner tags available to those who do not draw outright. Dan also offers turkey, waterfowl and upland hunting opportunities. I ended up taking a management buck with a narrow high rack during one of the last few hours of the hunt, but I had the opportunity to shoot a handful of bucks in the 140-inch class and chose not to take a buck (split second decision) that would have been closer to 160. But that is what one has to do when one seeks that buck of a lifetime. -- Thomas J. Shaw, Oregon.