Some call it networking. I simply call it finding a place to hunt, and last season I applied my "finding a place to hunt" skills when my friends and I went to town for supplies. It was the fourth day of our Kansas hunt, and we hadn't seen one shooter buck, even though we were hunting proven properties. A few years before, while speaking at the Kansas Bowhunters Association's banquet, I'd met a farmer named Lynn Leonard, who turned me onto some great lands where I later shot a 9½-year-old deer with a gross antler measurement of 155. And two years ago, my friend Steve Keithley had shot a tremendous nine-point that measured 167 inches, and I'd dropped a 140-inch 10-pointer. Given this history, our expectations were high.

But given our low results this year, I was feeling a little desperate. So, in the midst of our getting supplies in town, I did not hesitate when I noticed a hunter walking into a house.

Immediately I decided to stop in to ask him if he was seeing any good bucks.

"C.J., you can't just walk into a total stranger's house and ask him where he's hunting," my buddy Dr. Dwight Guynn said.

"Why not?" I asked, knocking on the front door. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Answering the door, the man explained that he was from Alabama. For the last three years, he had been hunting with Richard Blakeslee, the owner of the house and Triple Creek Outfitters. That very morning, the Alabama man had killed a big buck on one of Richard's properties.

Richard Blakeslee (above) of Triple Creek Outfitters and I shared the joy of putting down a very good, 3-year-old eight-pointer.

We were so impressed with the hunter's stories that we decided to stop back and talk to Richard after we'd finished buying our supplies. My friends and I agreed that a change of scenery would be welcome.

Shortly after we had talked to the hunter from Alabama, however, he left for home, and he never mentioned our conversation to Richard. Thus, when we returned to the house for more information, Richard wondered what planet we'd come from. It was one of those awkward moments we all try to avoid, but adhering to my "nothing ventured" approach, we worked our way through it and eventually negotiated an agreement with Richard.

"I'll put you on some shooters," Richard said as we were leaving his house. "The rest is up to you."

The next day Richard directed us to one of his leases, which turned out to be only about a mile north of the property we'd been hunting. Given the close proximity, Richard was surprised we had not seen any good bucks on our original hunting grounds.

Taking new stands on new property heightened our spirits, but on our first day on Richard's property, we continued to see only small bucks. For whatever reason, some of Richard's best stands went cold for all of us. Richard was a little perplexed, but since it was only one day, none of us felt any real concern.

Over the next couple of days, our streak continued -- nothing but small bucks. Our concern grew.

On the last day, however, our concerns were put to rest. My buddy Kurt Cassell had a solid 140-class, 10-point buck at 20 yards -- but no clear shot. Later that morning, while trailing a doe, the same buck stood at 35 yards -- still no shot. In late afternoon, that same buck showed up a third time, at 40 yards. You guessed it -- no shot, again. Can you say frustration?

That same day, Dr. Dwight experienced his own brand of bad fortune when he was drawing on a buck -- and his arrow fell off the rest. "It was a rookie mistake," Dwight said. "I kept looking at the 125-class buck and forgot all my fundamentals!"