Two-Way Radios for Hunting

Midland Adventures - Hunting in the Heartland

Have you heard of White City, Kansas? If not, that's ok you are not alone.

Having grown up a short distance away in northeast Kansas, I sure never heard of the small central Kansas town of 572 residents nestled squarely in the beautiful rolling Flint Hills. A little-known secret; land around White City provides world-class whitetail deer, and believe it or not, elk hunting. Well shoot, now you know!

A few weeks back I was presented with the opportunity to go hunting on a 2,000 acre ranch with my father. Since we missed buck season we decided to take advantage of the antlerless deer season. A week before our hunt we took a trip to White City to scout the area and come up with a plan to tackle our communication needs on this large plot of land.

SCOUTING

The ranch owner let us know that we would lose cell phone service the moment we took the White City exit off of I-70. In fact, the only way he was able to communicate with us was by connecting his cell phone to the WiFi in his home.

After scouting the land we decided the best chance for us to harvest a deer was to split up. At the same time, we knew that communication was going to be an issue. Being a millennial city boy I never really thought of life without a cell phone. Thankfully my father had a genius idea; two-way radios. We headed to Cabelas and picked up the X-Talker T75 FRS two-way radio in Mossy Oak Break-Up Country camouflage.

DAY 1

We made the decision for me to set up along a tree line overlooking a large corn field. The rancher had a Moultrie M-999i trail camera set up in the corner of the field which had shown a high level of traffic. I had my dad set up a mile south of me in a cedar tree grove along a creek bed. We had a good feeling about these locations after our scout day when we jumped a herd of eight deer in the area.

Something to note; my dad is in his mid-sixties and had numerous back surgeries as I was growing up. This caused me to be concerned about leaving him alone for the entire day. My mind was put at ease when I was able to signal him using my X-Talker T75 two-way radio. I was impressed with the clarity of his voice even through the heavy timber that separated us on that mile stretch.

At about 3:45pm I heard a shot ring out near where my dad was hunting. I waited a minute and then radioed him to see if he had taken the shot. He replied immediately that he had taken the shot and downed a doe. He asked for my help field dressing the deer before sundown and I was able to receive his communication loud and clear. With a deer hanging, we ended day one of our trip.

 

DAY 2

We made the decision for me to go back to the corn field while my dad drove the truck around to scout out other areas.  He used his Maven B.1 binoculars to look for deer we could potentially stalk.

I had been in the stand for over four hours without seeing a deer. The temperature had begun to dip into the single digits as I waited, so I radioed my dad to see if he would pick me up in the truck. At this time I was unaware that he had driven into town, four miles away, to get coffee. He was surprised and delighted that he received the transmission from that distance.

After he picked me up, we decided to walk a large wooded draw out. It was an easily manageable grove where we could remain in each other’s line of sight. We had only been walking for a few hundred yards when a doe popped out of the timber. As soon as she saw me she took off running up a hill. I drew my gun and followed her as she ran. As she approached the crest of the hill she stopped and turned back to look at me. At that moment, I squeezed the trigger. The doe ran a few yards and then fell. My dad and I field dressed her and took her back to the rancher’s barn to hang her along with the deer from day one.

AFTER THE HUNT

We had a successful hunt, bagging two deer, and were able to effectively communicate with each other using the X-Talker T75 two-way radios. Without these radios, I would have been in the dark about the well-being of my dad. I wouldn't have known if he had taken that shot or not, and worst of all I would have had to wait it out in the cold single-digit temperatures.

This city boy has a better appreciation for the importance of having an additional mode of communication when cell phone coverage is not available. I would highly recommend the X-Talker T75 two-way radios, they worked like a charm for us.

Learn More: Hunting Radios & Products

- Andrew Kinsman, Midland Adventures Contributor