Fish On....MO Spoonbill Snagging

3/15/14

The opening day of Missouri's 2014 Spoonbill snagging season was upon us, so the crew headed down to LOZ for the annual opening weekend Snagapolooza! Everyone was on the water by 9am on opening morning and it only took about eight minutes before our boat hooked up the first fish; actually two fish. Nick and I hit our first double hook-up ever; something we've talked about but never accomplished until then. 

The action was steady all day and we ended up boating 13 spoonies on day one, which was a personal best for me. If it hadn't have been for John catching a big male just minutes before the BIG FISH weigh-in, Nick and I would have swept the top three spots. As it was we finished 1st & 3rd and John's fish came in 2nd.

 

Pete's 2nd Fish of the day

 Rusty's 1st fish of the day...

 

Nick with a big female

 

Pete with the BIG FISH...weighed 63lbs at weigh-in time!!!

 

Nick's 3rd place fish

  

 

 

 

 

Rusty and I hooked into the 2nd double hook-up ever....two in one day is crazy!

 

 

 

 

 

John's 2nd place fish....

BIG FISH WINNERS
1st - Pete 63lbs
2nd- John 61lbs
3rd - Nick 59lbs

MO's 2013 Youth Season....Part II

1-3-2014

Missouri's second youth season finally arrived. I invited Pete, Scott, and Logan up to my buddy’s farm in NW Missouri for the weekend. This was my oldest daughter MaKenna’s first deer hunt as a shooter and Logan was on a doe mission. Kenna, Pete, and I arrived at the farm around 1:30pm and hurried up to get our gear unloaded. Pete needed to find a spot and get up set up for the evening hunt and Kenna and I were going to do some scouting for the next day’s hunt. Pete and I found a great spot with tons of fresh tracks in a bean field. Well the afternoon came and went with lots of sightings but no shots. Scott and Logan arrived around 6:30pm and we made a plan for Saturday morning. 

Pete's View from the blind 1/3/14

1-4-2014
After waking up and getting our gear sorted out for the morning's hunt, we were all off to the shooting houses. Kenna and I wen into the center blind overlooking a food plot and Scott, Pete, and Logan headed to the far east shooting house overlooking a huge crp field with cut corn about 1/2 mi.e south of them. The Eisentrager boys morning starting out with good deer movement. Shortly before 8:00am Kenna and I heard a shot from the direction of their blind and followed shortly thereafter with a text saying that Logan just shot a doe! Kenna was happy for Logan however her face showed her disappointment because we hadn’t seen any deer yet. Not long after I looked up and saw eleven does pop out into the food plot. Unfortunately they caught our movement and Kenna couldn’t get on them before they bugged out. About 30 minutes later I look over to the ridge and see thirteen more does and one small buck moving across the ridge. We went into scramble mode and got Kenna all set up. I knew it was a long shot but I gave Kenna the green light to let one rip. Unfortunately she missed, but she was so excited that she got to see deer and take a shot. At that point Kenna was ready to see Logan’s deer, so we packed up and headed that way. After a bit of a hectic track job Logan had his doe and we celebration started. We even got Kenna in a picture with Logan....a boy!

With Logan’s doe down all the attention turned on getting Kenna on her first deer. Pete and Logan grabbed the Double Bull & Hoyt and headed out to a different bean field for a night of bow hunting.   Kenna and I spotted a bunch of deer the evening before using a back corner of the cut bean field.

With the temps dropping and snow on the way Kenna, Scott, and I headed to a field of standing beans that was covered in deer tracks. We knew with the weather changing that the deer were going to move  and after seeing a bunch of deer on the drive over and while walking in, we were all excited and ready for the evening to unfold. Shortly after getting set up Kenna decided it was nap time. As I was sitting there enjoying the time I looked up and noticed a doe pop out followed by three more. It was scramble mode again waking little miss sunshine up and getting her on the gun. The does went straight to filling their bellies and never even looked our direction, so we got Kenna settled and on the shooting sticks. Kenna was just getting ready to pull the trigger when I spotted another deer coming into the field. It was a nice 1.5year old buck and I told Kenna to get on him. The buck read the script perfectly and walked into the field and turned broadside. Kenna settled the cross hairs and the let the .243 bark! The buck dropped immediately but got back up and took off heading for cover. Scott and I both knew it was a good hit and it took everything I had to hold back the tears of excitement I had. Since we had to give the buck time to die we loaded another round in the TC just in case a doe showed herself and Kenna could try to double up. Another doe did come out, but it spotted us and took off before Kenna could get a shot.

By now the snow was really coming down and it was time to get Kenna’s deer. The impact site was covered in blood, so we knew it wouldn't be a tough tracking job. Kenna took up the trail and the buck only made it about 90 yards before piling up! We were all on cloud nine and even Scott and Pete got a giant hugs from the little huntress!! I was so proud of her and is by far the best hunting trip I have ever had!

1-5-2014

MaKenna deciding the snow and 3 degree weather was just too rough to hunt in Sunday morning, so we called it a weekend and headed back home after a pancake breakfast. We had one heck of a youth weekend and I can’t wait for next year. We've already got plans to make this and annual trip.  

2013 Mo Gun Season – Sticker 8 Finale!!!!

In early October I ran my cameras at the KC property and it turned out to be a good card pull.  I came across a nice 8 pointer with 2" kicker on his right G2. He immediately jumped out at me as a shooter.

The Friday evening before the MO Youth season. I took my oldest daughter Makenna on her second  bow hunt and with the new shooting house completed we decided to set up there for the evening. It was a beautiful, cool, clear fall evening and about 90 minutes before dark deer started pouring into the food plot. As luck would have it Sticker 8 decided to show himself. He was chasing does all over the field just begging to be shot that night, but I had already filled my early season buck tag so all we could do was sit back and watch the show.

Opening weekend of the 2013 MO firearms season came and went with no shots fired. I had the Sticker 8 on my mind as I headed to the KC property for a quick morning hunt. I decided to hunt the middle timber stand straight east of the shooting house. Right out of the gates I had two does come in from the direction of the food plot. They fed around a bit then headed south. About 20 minutes later I notice movement to the north. A doe was heading right to me, but she kept stopping and checking her back trail. She angled south and about the time I lost sight of her in the timber I caught another flash  of movement to the north.It was a good buck coming my way so I got myself positioned for a shot. As soon as the buck got into better view I immediately realized that it was Sticker 8 and he was headed straight for me. I tried to keep clam as he closed the distance until he finally made it into 12 yards. I let out a “Meerrrpp” to stop him settled the cross hairs the let the Tikka bark!!! After the shot he took off and I immediately saw blood dumping out of him. He was hit hard and I knew he wouldn’t make it far. In disbelief of what had just happened I text Pete and Scott to tell them that Sticker 8 was a dead deer!

After giving him plenty of time, I got down and started the recovery. The track job was short and sweet and the Sticker 8 was finally down! This is the third mature buck taken off the farm this year and hopefully won't be the last!!!

 

Logan's 2013 MO Youth Hunt

11/2/13
Logan, Scott and Adam arrived Friday evening from Minnesota for the 2013 MO youth season. Scott and I hung a double ladder set this summer just west of The Beach set for Logan. There had been a lot of movement during day light in the bottom for several weeks leading up to the hunt.

Logan and Scott settled into Double Trouble for the first morning's sit, Adam settle into Poachers Pond and I crawled into the Forgotten set. Adam had a small buck work a rub early, but that was the only action for the morning. We headed back to the cabin around 11am for a quick lunch. Adam elected to sit all day and Logan and I headed back into Double Trouble for the evening sit. We didn't see any deer by us, but Adam had four small bucks work past him and Scott had an encounter with a nice 125" eight pointer.

Sunday morning Scott and Logan settled back into Double Trouble, Adam headed into the North Oak Ridge set, and I hunted the Poop Pond ladder. Just after first light I had a spike work into 10yrds before heading back north after three does that crossed onto my ridge. There was a big shooter bumping them around, but they worked back to the northwest. Logan and Scott didn't see a deer again, so we started discussing options for the Sunday night hunt.

Brian offered to let Logan sit over his food plot on a small KC tract he has permission on. Friday evening he'd seen three big shooters in the field while bow hunting. The last hurdle was finding Adam a spot to hunt and our good friend Greg Cole offered to let Adam sit on his KC lease, so we pulled up stales and burned back to KC. We dropped Adam off with Greg and rolled out to meet Brian.

We were settled in the shooting house by 3:15pm and the waiting game started. Within an hour I'd spotted several does filtering through the timber just off the food plot, which was a nice change since Logan had hunted almost 13 hours without seeing a deer. Around 4:50pm Scott said "good buck out front" and we all spotted a nice 2.5 year old ten pointer enter the plot, make a scrape and start bumping other bucks and does around. We got Logan on the shooting sticks but the buck wouldn't stop chasing deer long enough for a good shot. He ended up pushing a group of does off the field. Logan was pretty disappointed, but we told him to keep his head up and more deer would show up. From 5pm on the action was fast and furious...several bucks entered the plot and started bumping does around. We had Logan set up on two other bucks, but the the earlier scenario kept playing out; they wouldn't stop chasing long enough for a clean shot.

With 16 minutes of legal shooting light remaining the last buck in the field pushed several does off and Logan looked at me with tears welling up in his eyes and said " I blew it uncle Pete, that was my last chance at a buck". Right then Scott spotted a small six point enter the back of the field. He started to get Logan set up on the sticks and started glassing the six point. Right when I got the little buck into view through the binos I saw a big set of antlers start to materialize out of the timber behind the little guy and said to Logan and Scott "Holy shit, big shooter coming"  Logan was setting up out the right window, so he couldn't see the big deer and Scott had this perplexed look like...what the F are you talking about, it's a basket racked sixer! He took one look through his binos and realized another much bigger buck was now in the field and told Logan "yep, he's a big 6 point". The big deer worked right down a cut lane in the plot and at 85yrds. he cut right to check on a couple does. I grunted at him and he locked up and looked our direction. Logan was already settled in and touched off the shot. Logan and Scott lost sight of the deer while chambering another round and the deer started clearing the field. I had my binos locked on the buck the entire time and watched the bullet hit home. Ol' Boy pulled up in a small dip on the edge of the field, did a little death wobble and tipped over dead! I looked back at Logan and Scott and said "Buddy you just crushed a giant buck, he's down right on the edge of the plot". Logan went into meltdown mode and Scott and I did a little celebrating ourselves. Brian was actually sitting in my Double Bull blind just behind us and got to see all of the action and help in the recovery process.

Just when we thought the night couldn't get any better we received a text from Adam; buck down! Right at last light a nice young eight point worked into the rye plot he was sitting over. A great shot and short tracking job later and Adam had his hands on his first MO archery deer.

I can't thank Brian and Greg enough for helping us out and getting Logan on his first antlered buck...none of this could have happened without their generosity and Logan is going to owe them both for a long time!!!!

KC Killing

I'd planned to hunt with Greg on his KC lease October, 26 along with fellow MWT member Jeff Reddy. Jeff just started archery hunting this year and had yet to see a buck while on stand. The  evening before Greg texted me and said Jeff shot a young buck that night, but they let in lay because the shot looked back a touch.

Saturday morning we'd planned to hunt until 10am then go track Jeff's deer. Greg had a buck work in early, but he moved off to the north. I was blanked and Jeff had a big doe come into his plot and mill around for a while. Greg and I met up just before 10am and headed to meet Jeff, we didn't expect to find him sleeping in the middle of the food plot....rookies got some learning to do still.

After we woke Jeff up the real fun started. We knew the deer was liver hit at best, so the trailing was slow but steady. After about 90 minutes and 250yrds of tough tracking I looked up and saw a white belly in the brush ahead. Jeff has his first buck down and the celebrating started!

Sunday morning I hit up The U and crawled into The Killing tree. For the first time in ny hunting career I slept right through the alarm, so when Shana woke me up at 6:35am there may have been a 2-3 minute tirade of expletives unleashed. Regardless I wasn't staying home so after a quick shower and excessive speeding. I arrived at my stand about 15 minutes after sunrise and the action started immediately. Little bucks were cruising and around 9am I heard more deer approaching from the northeast. A little buck and two minis crested the ridge and dropped right into my bowl. I've been waiting on a nice mini all fall the the second one was the perfect candidate. All three deer walked within a foot of my tree and let them get about 9yrds away before drawing back. I burned the pin and touched off the shot which hit the mark perfectly....heart shot and little guy wasn't about to pack it. I watched him tip over after a short 50yrd run.

Nebraska 2013

October 12 - October 18, 2013

Rob, Seth, Darrin, Scott and I headed back out to NW Nebraska for a week of chasing mule deer, whitetails, and turkeys. We arrived late Saturday afternoon and headed out scouting. A lot of the burn areas from last year have started to rebound, which meant more areas to hunt for us this year.

Seth and I had a close encounter the first morning out with two shooter mule deer in the canyons, but high winds and their ability to scale canyon walls that we have to walk around saved them this time around. We ended up seeing 20-25 mule deer that morning in the canyons, compared to zero last year the entire week. We hunted some private ground that evening, but nobody killed.

Monday was a virtual washout with heavy rains overnight and all morning and afternoon, so we took in some local sight seeing and museum tours. That evening we headed back to the private ground and sat through several hours of rain, sleet, and wind...no deer were killed.

Tuesday morning found Seth and I back in the canyons chasing mule deer. We had several deer work through, but no shooters this time around. That evening we all hit up private ground again. Seth killed a doe and nubber on Dexter's place and I was covered up with deer at the Columbia ladies; both mulies and whitetails. I had several whitetails work inside 2' of the blind before one finally angled out front and offered a good shot. My arrow entered on the last rib and exited the off shoulder. There would be no holding it for this little guy, he took a dirt nap 80yrds into his death run. I had several more close encounters that evening, but my blind should have been facing straight west, instead of north mule deer would have been shanked.

Wednesday we had high winds to deal with...so Seth and I headed back into the canyons. We had 4 bucks and several does below us in a bowl. One of them was a tank and decided to start a fight with one of the younger bucks. We had a front row seat to a 4-5 minute brawl. All the deer ended up skirting around us and working back up into the bedding areas on private ground. Seth and I headed back to the Columbia ladies that evening and readjusted the blind based on the previous evenings travel routes. Unfortunately the farmer who leases the hay field decided it was a good night to stack round bales on the south end of the field. He finished about 10 minutes before legal shooting light ended and deer started to pour out, they were just too far away.

Thursday we encountered high winds, rain, and eventually rain. We tried spot & stalking a nasty draw, but the high winds and snow made it virtually impossible to see. That evening we all hunted private ground again. I had 18 whitetails feed into my field, but they stayed about 70yrds out until shooting time was up. On the way to pick up Seth that night I saw eyes in the ditch as a rounded a corner. To my surprise it was a herd of 16 elk with a huge 7x7 bull leading the way. It was a cool way to close out our trip. We still had a great week despite the weather and I look forward to going back in the future.

Two Does Hit the Dirt

Good friend Greg Cole and I headed up to the north MO property October 5-6 with the goal of killing some more does off the farm. Saturday morning's hunt was basically a washout. The rain moved in as we were walking into our stands and kept after it most of the afternoon.

Saturday evening we focused our efforts around the cut corn fields. Greg hunted in the "Coon Pop" stand and I crawled up into the "Do North" stand. Almost every deer I saw the weekend before fed right in front of the stand Greg was hunting. Around 4:20pm the first deer popped out in my corner of the field and the parade continued for the rest of the night. Does and minis kept filtering into the field and working in close without offering a good shot. Finally around 5:50pm a doe and mini broke and walked directly into my 17yrd shooting lane. The Hoyt did it's job and the nanny didn't know what hit her. She piled up 70yrds into the field.

 

We celebrated by the fire pit a bit too long Saturday night, so Sunday morning's start was a bit rough. Greg headed into the "North Oak" stand and I settled into "Double Trouble". Just after legal shooting light I spotted deer working off the fields to the east. A nice 140"s ten point and a younger eight point worked into the bottom, but their path kept them about 55yrds out and in cover. I just watched them head into the security cover. Before my adrenaline slowed down I had more deer headed my direction. This time two big slickheads were on the move. They took a closer trail than the bucks did, so when the lead nanny put her head down to browse at 33yrds, it was all over but the crying. The arrow hit the mark and the ol' girl only carried the shot 40yrds. 

 

For three years in a row I've tried to get Greg on a deer while hunting this farm and for the third straight year...he was jinxed. At least he got to watch me shank the doe Saturday night from across the field; sorry brother!