Final Day Success - Minny-Mo Buck #4

11/25/08 - Today was the last day of the 2008 MO modern firearms deer season. I've been hunting hard all season, but haven't seen any shooter bucks except the one I wounded during the archery season. I decided to hunt the BS70 farm, since Pete and I have taken 6 deer off the BS155 farm in the past couple of weeks. There was a slight east wind and the temperature was 26 degrees when I climbed into the south set.

Just before 7am 2 does and 2 doe fawns entered the field to my north. They milled around the field eating and playing for about an hour. Around 8am one of the big does headed south down the field edge, while the other three cut into the timber and walked right under my set. I kept thinking that a buck had to be here somewhere.

About ten minutes after the does filtered into the timber I looked to the south and spotted a deer feeding just around the point of timber I was set up in. The deer was about 75yrds away, but I couldn't tell what it was. I assumed it was the doe that had headed south earlier. To my surprise the deer turned out to be a buck and good sized buck at that. He continued feeding around the point of timber which was going to bring him within 30yrds. of the set, so I sat back and waited for him to get out in the open. Once he cleared the point I could see five points on his left side and that his right side was busted up pretty good, but he was a mature shooter. I was starting to get a pretty good case of buck fever as he approached my shooting lane. As the buck entered the lane I softly grunted and he stopped perfectly broadside at 25 yrds. I squeezed off the shot, the buck jumped and ran right at me and stopped 10yrds. from the set. I couldn't see blood or any sign of a hit, so I chambered another round. The buck had started heading south at this point, but he stopped about 40yrds. out and looked back in my direction. I took the opportunity he presented me and anchored my second shot right in the wheelhouse. Ol' boy could only hold it for about 20yrds. before taking a dirt nap right on the field edge.

I was extremely jacked-up about putting a mature shooter down and instantly started burning up the phone lines. The land owner brought his kids outs to see the buck and Pete & Brad showed up about 20 minutes later to take photos and help get the big guy loaded up. The BS farms have been great score for Pete & I this year. We have harvested 8 deer (2 mature bucks, 2 mature does, 2 doe fawns, and 2 bbs) of the two tracts this year. We only hope Dennis will keep allowing us to hunt out there!

MO Firearms - 2nd Weekend

11/22/08 - Brian and I headed up to New Cambria Saturday morning. The weather was perfect with 30 degree temps and a slight SSW wind. I had a doe and yearling doe come running by from Brian's direction around 7:00 am, neither of them ever stopped for a shot opportunity. That was the only action to speak of for the morning sit. I did jump a yote on the way out, but he never gave me a shot.

We decided to head back to the Blue Springs farm for the evening sit. Roger's brother-in-law gut shot a "big, big buck" behind the pond on the North meadow. He ran across P-Hwy and we never found him. Not sure if he was recovered after we left or not.

Brian hunted his ladder set in the P.M. and had a couple of does milling around. About 5p.m. the land owner and a buddy shot at a 9 point just NE of Brian's set. Brian saw the buck run out the south end of field about 200 yrds. out.

11/23/08

I met Brian at the parking area of the Blue Springs farm around 5:30am. The temperature was 32 degrees with a 8-12 mph SSW breeze. The morning started out very slow with no activity other than turkeys clucking until 8am. I had a small doe prance across the field from the SW corner by my set. She never stopped, but something most have scared her because I could hear her running in the timber for about 30 seconds before she popped out on the field. I went back to Yatz and continued scanning the area every couple of minutes. At 8:30am I spotted 2 deer working south just inside the east treeline. The two young deer eventually came out in front of my set at 150 yrds, and began to devour beans. I watched them for about 15 minutes in the bino's, it was pretty cool watching them eat anything they could find in the field. My goal going into the day was to shot one more small doe for the freezer, and one of these poor souls was going to be the unlucky recipient! I couldn't be 100% positive if the bigger of the two was a doe or a button buck, so instead of making the same mistake I did last weekend I opted to shoot the one I knew was doe. Brian sent me a text at 8:43am saying he'd seen a spike and that he had to leave by 9, and I replied "cover your ears". I made a perfect double lung shot at 141 yrds. The little girl tried to hold it, but after 40 yrds she went down right in the field.

In all it was an extremely slow weekend for deer movement, but I accomplished my goal of harvesting a small eater doe and deer #7 of the 08 season is in the freezer.

Shana came out on her 1st rifle hunt ever Sunday night. We hunted the BS-70 farm and set up on the North fence line in a ground blind. We didn't see any deer, but we had fun. Shana was dominated by Yahtz, welcome to the club! Hopefully we'll get her out a few times durning the ML season.

Minny-Mo Buck #2 down in MO!

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.