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.