MO Antlerless 12/8/07

Brian and I hunted the North MO property on opening day of the 2008 MO Antlerless Season. We had freezing rain and snow Thursday 12/6 and the forecast was for more of the same later today. Winds where out of the E - NE at 15-20mph and the temp was 26 degrees. We arrived just before legal shooting time and planned to still hunt into the sets. Brian hunted the Wheelhouse Set in the S meadow and I was going to hunt The Beach set.

You could see for several hundred yards into the timber with all the snow, so I was taking my time going down the main road. I only made it about 90 yards when I spotted a deer on the opposite ridge just S of the barn. I sat down in the road, got a steady rest and took the shot. The deer snow plowed about 10 yards then flipped over backwards and slid down the hill. LIGHTS OUT!! I ranged the fence after I shot and it was a 148 yards.

There were a bunch of deer & turkey tracks at all of the usual crossings on the road. The Beach bottom was covered up with tracks and sign from the last 24 hours. About 30 minutes after getting setup I pickup movement to the E coming off the meadow. It was a young doe. She worked in behind a big dead fall at 85 yards and then I lost sight of her. I figured she had bedded down and was just going to sit there for the morning. About 15 minutes later I picked up movement again near the dead fall and a 2nd young doe jumped in front of the dead fall and started milling around. I was watching her through the nocs when I noticed the 1st deer stand up and start to work North. She fed into an opening about 90 yards out and I took the shot. Deer 2 down in her tracks. The other doe ran past the downed deer and stopped about 5 yards further north. I had a perfect head/neck shot and let 30-06 bark. She ran in a circle and stopped almost in the exact spot she had just been standing only a little farther N and in a good opening. I took another shot and she piled up where she stood. 3 deer down in about 55 minutes.

Brian, who had already packed it in for the morning after a solid 45 minutes of hunting, was already heading my direction and was almost at the N tree line of the meadow when I shot. I sent him to get the four wheeler. When Brian returned we loaded my 2 deer up and were heading to get the first one when I spotted a big deer standing on the bank of the Middle Pond. Brian hopped off the 4 wheeler and took a shot. "Spinebuster", the big bodied deer dropped in it's tracks. Brian's deer was just another memorable disaster in a long list of his blunders in 2007 and throughout his hunting career.

Overall it was a great morning with the fresh snow, cold temps, and a new personal record of 3 deer in a day (Actually under an hour). Roger was very happy about us taking the does and I told him we'd be back up next weekend with Logan, for hopefully another good doe shoot!