Our November hunt in Missouri was a bit slower than expected, but still a good time. Our biggest hurdle all week was the weather. We had unseasonably warm temps (mid to upper 70's) the majority of the week along with 5 days of south to southeast winds blowing at 20-40 mph. Once we finally received some cool weather on Friday and Saturday we started to see the deer movement we had expected to see all week.
10/31-11/2/08- The first three days of the hunt we saw very limited deer movement. The deer we did see where early in the AM or late in the evening. Ralph saw a small spike buck up on the meadow ridge top on the evening of 11/1/08 and a descent 8 pt buck walking the ridge top of the upper pond set the morning of 11/2/08. Other than that it was very slow. Temps all three days where in the mid 50's in the AM and upper 70's in the PM. We had very little wind and when it did blow it was out of the south.
11/3/08- Woke up to warm temps and clear skies on Monday morning. Pete was hunting Poachers Pond set in the AM and I was hunting the Beach set. At 7:15 AM I heard grunting and the sound of running deer coming from the ridge across the road in front of me. Seconds later I saw a doe running full out with a huge buck and a small buck right on her tail. The doe jumped off a 8 foot washout alongside the road without breaking stride and the buck was right behind her heading directly for my set. While at full draw I tried stopping the deer several times. It got to the point where I was actually yelling at them so loud that Pete could hear me in his set. None of the deer even flinched and ran right past me at 10-12 yards. Hopefully the big boy got to pass on his genes later that morning. He looked like a wide 11 or 12 point with split brows and other junk sticking off his rack.
5 minutes after those deer had passed I heard more grunting and running coming from the same area the last group of deer came from. This time I saw another good buck with another small buck in tow. Both deer where on the same trail the doe had just been running. Once the two bucks hit the road I grunted at them which caught their attention. After a couple of seconds they both started down the road and I called to them with the can. This instantly turned the bigger buck and he came trotting into my set on a rope. At 45 yards he hung up and was looking all around for what had just made the bleat call. As the buck started away from me I hit him one more time with the can call and the deer came directly to my tree. He stood facing me for a good minute before finally turning broadside and heading to the south. I stopped him in my first shooting lane at 20 yards and made what looked like a perfect quartering away shot. My arrow hit about 6 or 7 ribs back in the high lung and passed through the deer on the crease of the opposite shoulder. I could hear the deer coughing up blood as he ran off. Try and hold that!
Pete came and met me an hour later and after a bit of an odd track job we located the buck. Other than blood at the point of the shot it didn’t start bleeding for a good 30 yards. This was very odd because the shot was perfect. Once we located the blood trail it was an easy trail to follow. Again the Spitfire had opened up another deer proper. We ended up finding the buck floating in the upper pond and I had to wade in up to my waist to fish him out. Nothing like 40 degree water in November. The deer ended up being a nice 9 pt buck that would probably score around 105-110. No Missouri Tragedies Here! Below is a picture of Pete and I with my biggest archery deer yet.
11/4-6/08- After the action on Monday morning things really settled down again. The temps remained warm and the wind was now blowing from 20-40 mph all day and all night. Other than 4 doe I saw while sitting at Trespassers pond, deer movement was zero. One Pope and Young Possum did fall victim to Pete’s bow on Thursday night. It was a true trophy possum and a no doubter for the book. On top of its size the Possum also held Pete's arrow like a champ!
11/7/08- The wind was still howling, but the temps finally dropped into the low 30's at night. Pete was hunting the beach set and I was on the upper pond set. Right out of the gate I saw 2 small bucks in the first hour of the hunt. Later that morning Pete rattled in a descent buck that had lost half his rack and his right eye in a fight. The deer offered both Pete and I numerous shot opportunities. If only he was one year older he would have been riding home in the back of Pete’s truck. Below is a photo Pete was able to snap of the beaten up buck. I left after the morning hunt and Pete stayed to hunt Friday night and Saturday morning.
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