Mo Managed Hunt...13 Pointer Down!!

With 5 preference points built up for the MO managed hunts I decided to roll the dice and put in for the for a local hunt that is full of deer! The area hasn’t been hunted since 1995 (legally) and Pete and I knew if we were lucky enough to get drawn that the chances of shooting a good buck would definitely be better than average.


As luck would have it I got drawn for the first hunt and Pete, Nick, and Greg got selected for the late hunt. My hunt was right smack dab in the middle of the rut and I had high hopes of getting a crack at a good buck.


10/27/12
Opening morning was slow and I botched the one opportunity I had on a doe and hit her high in the back; we couldn't find her. Not feeling confident in my first set after walking the area for the doe I lost, I decided to sit in my second set. 

After making the long walk in I was finally settled in for afternoon by 1:45pm. Tree rats were moving everywhere but the deer were nowhere to be found.Around 5:30pm a doe worked into to 30 yards and I crushed her. She only made it 60 yards before piling up. Since this hunt is an earn a buck, it was time to focus on putting some bone down.

10/28/12
I decided to hunt the same stand as the previous night. It was another beautiful morning in the MO deer woods. Luckily I made it into the stand without spooking any deer and I had this gut feeling that it was going to be a really good morning. At first light I heard walking and spotted two does feeding back to the east of me. They stuck around for fifteen minutes before working out of the area.

About 8:35am I got a text from another hunter on the property. He was asking if I'd been seeing anything yet. I hadn’t put my phone away for more than a minute when I looked to the west and noticed another doe feeding around. As I was watching her I heard a deer come crashing in from the east. She came right into 10 yards and stopped and started looking over her shoulder. I didn’t hesitate and immediately stood up and grabbed the bow. As soon as I turned in the direction she came from all I could see was this giant buck come trotting over the hill heading directly at me. The doe took off and he came right into 12 yards and stopped broadside. I was already drawn back so I took a deep breath and settled in. As I touched off the shot I watched the arrow hit home. The buck did a mule kick and took off. As he ran past me I could see blood pouring out of him. Shortly after making it out of sight I heard big crash and everything went silent.

At this point I was shaking like a little school girl and had to sit down and compose myself. I grabbed my phone because I had to let the boys know I just smoked a big buck.

After about ten minutes had gone and me still in disbelief of what had just happened the sun started to poke through the trees more.  I was looking through the timber and I spotted a white belly laying there and I knew he was down for the count! I decided the wait was over so I packed up my gear and headed over there to see how big he really was. As I got closer I couldn’t believe my eyes. All I saw was a giant bodied deer with a huge rack sticking up.

The buck ended up having 13 scoreable points and will easily be in the mid 150s class. By far my biggest buck ever.

With the MO firearms, MO youth, and Round two at Managed Hunt coming up there are sure to be more stories and bone hitting the dirt soon, so stay tuned.

Double Down....

9/29/12 - Seth Trinklein, Greg Cole and I headed up to my Macon Co. property for a weekend archery hunt. Saturday morning I put Greg in the Booner set, Seth in the Beach set, and I settled into the North Ridge stand. It was a beautiful morning with temperatures in low 40s and a northwest wind, but the deer movement was pretty slow. Greg had seen a couple of does and minis work through east of his set and Seth and I had an encounter with the same yote, but neither of us could shank him.

Just before 8:30am I heard deer walking down the ridge from the north. I stood up, grabbed my bow and started scanning the ridge behind me for the source of the noise. I spotted three does walking down the middle of the ridge right on the trail I cut in August. The first nanny was the biggest and she worked past my cover tree on the right of my stand at 10yrds. The other two does stopped about even with my tree on the ridge and began eating acorns while the lead nanny continued down the ridge. When she was 22yrds out I gave her a soft grunt and she stopped and looked back at the other deer. My arrow was on it's way instantly and it hit home perfectly. She exploded down the ridge towards the road and Seth's stand, but the lights went out about 30yrds from the road.

The other two does just stood there and watched the first doe tear off down the ridge. They were a little nervous, but they had no idea what was going down. Almost immediately the next biggest doe started down the ridge towards where I shot the first doe. About half way there she did and about-face and started back up the ridge. I slowly nocked another arrow and  came to full draw. I let her get into 11yrds before softly grunting at her and when she stopped, I touched off arrow #2 in under 30 seconds. The arrow hit home and blood instantly starting pumping out of both sides. She took off headed north up ridge, but after 40yrds she couldn't hold it any longer and tipped over in a small ditch west of the main ridge top. The blood trail was beyond impressive and I could visibly follow it from my stand all the way up the ridge to where she fell. 

Saturday evening I sent Seth to the North Field stand, Greg was perched in the Washout stand, and I headed over to the South Meadow stand. Around 6:10pm the land owner came down and started cutting corn about 250yrds out from Greg's position. We all saw deer right before dark, but I'm sure the combine limited the amount of deer activity on the field, but a farmer is going to farm!

Sunday morning Seth sat in the Retarded Genius stand, Greg hunted Poachers Pond, and I sat down at the Beach. I had 3 long beards work in from the north ridge around 8:30am, but I could hear them gobbling the entire morning as they moved closer and closer to me. They never got inside of 40yrds, so they got walking papers. Greg got shutout at Poachers Pond and Seth had a great encounter with a doe and mini, but they didn't appreciate his shadow puppet show. With the deer at 10yrds Seth started to draw back and noticed his shadow was about 18" in front of the doe; who had her head down feeding. About the time Seth noticed it the doe came unglued and bolted north into the cover. It was a great weekend with great friends, I just wish I could have gotten them on deer instead of me.

We just got back from a Minnesota duck/goose hunt last night and we'll get that story posted this week; before I roll out to Nebraska for a mulie/whitetail DIY archery hunt with the Cole County Crew!