Double The Fun In MO!

9/27/08 Clear skies and warm temps (58 degrees) welcomed us as we arrived in Cambria, MO on Saturday morning. There was absolutely no wind to speak of. Pete was hunting the hog house set, Brian was on the ridge top and I hunted the upper pond set. Pete saw no deer movement and Brian had some deer blow at him while walking into his set. I guess deer don't like his Old Spice, earth spray and gasoline cover scent, who would have guessed that?

Just after 7:00 AM a had a doe come running directly under my stand from the west. I tried stopping her with a grunt but she kept on working to the east. Seconds behind her was a young buck and my grunts did stop him in his tracks 15 yards in front of me. He was just a 1 1/2 year old 5 pt so he was granted his walking papers. As he milled around in front of me the doe started to work back towards me. She got 10 yards to my north but was in some thick cover and never presented a shot. The young buck then chased after her and both deer went running back to the east.

5 minutes later I had another doe come down the hill directly in front of me trotting from west to east. she worked about 60 yards to my right and stopped on the back side of the pond. After milling around for about 5 minutes she slowly started to walk back towards my set. After taking her sweet time she finally stepped out in front of me and presented a slightly quarter towards me 15 yard chipper. The Doe ran about 60 yards to the Northwest before crashing in site. Archery deer #1 is on the board. Below is a picture of my first deer of 2008.

While sending Pete a quick "Doe Down" text message another Doe calmly walked in from the left (south). She got into the creek bottom and I came to full draw expecting a 20 yard shot. Right before the shot presented its self she turned and walked away from me into the brush. After milling around for a couple minutes she turned around again and came right back towards me on the path I had just shot my first deer. Seconds later I released arrow #2 and double lunged my second deer of the season at 21 yards. This deer was literally standing 5 steps from the same place I had shot deer #1.

2 adult doe in 10 minutes. You have to love MO whitetail hunting. No more action for the rest of the morning unless you count mosquito kills which I am sure I limited out on by 8 AM. Below is a picture of Doe #2.

The afternoon hunt found temps in the upper 70's and a light east breeze. Not a cloud in the sky. Pete and I hunted Ground Zero after moving the Ameristep ground blind. Pete was shooting his Hoyt and I was shooting a video camera. Neither of us touched our weapons of choice. Brian hunted the North meadow and also saw nothing. Below is a picture of my two death sticks from earlier in the day.

9/28/09 Almost identical to Saturday. Clear skies, temps in the low 60's and no wind to start the morning. Pete hunted the low pond set and I hunted the beach. Nothing doing at either location.

We did hang Pete's Secret Set in the late morning. On the way to the tree we came across a shed from last year. A real nice 8 pt that would have been close to 150 last year. Here's hoping he added a couple more points and a lot more length and mass.

The afternoon hunt found Pete back in the Ameristep ground blind hoping for another glimpse of the big boy. I was hunting the North end of the bean field. On my way down the levy I spotted a doe bedded in the beans next to the small creek in the middle of the field. She kept her head down and acted like she was invisible. Temps where in the 80's and after removing a couple fallen limbs I was sweating like a fat kid in a sauna. To top it off the mosquito's where the worst I have ever dealt with. I had to get completely covered up as soon as I was in the stand to keep the bugs off me, which led to more sweat. by 6:30 I had probably lost 10 pounds in water weight and had to stink like road kill in August from all the BO. Of course I had two doe cross in front of me along the hillside and then come over the levy 50 yards to my west. The 2 doe then worked their way directly down wind from me. This lasted for about 2 seconds before they had smelled me and took off running. I should have used Brians Old Spice! The night ended with no more deer sightings and 1 coon "sighting". I got out of the stand a bit early so I didn't spook anymore deer. Simply the most miserable night of hunting in my life. Pete saw no deer in the meadow.

9/29/08 Pete and I woke up to thunder storms rolling in. We weren't able to hunt but got a couple more hours of sleep. My next trip to MO can't come fast enough.

MO Archery 2008 - On the Board!

9/19/08 - I arrived at the North MO farm around 4:45pm. I talked with Roger a while and he said he's seen more deer this summer than ever before. This got me even more fired up to get the season started. I hunted the North set because of the SE wind at 5-10 mph. I got into the set around 5:30pm and settled in for the evening hunt. There was no deer movement at all. I did have a coon climb the tree next to me around 7pm and cause a racket the rest of the evening. A disappointing start.

9/20/08 (AM setup) - I hunted the Ridge Top set this morning. The wind was out of the East at 7-10 mph with temps around 57, which worked out perfectly for this set. There was heavy fog driving into the farm and it got worse as I headed towards the bottom fields. The acorns were pouring out of the trees and the squirrels were having a field day collecting their winter stashes. I didn't see any deer, but the ridge top was covered up with tracks and sign. The fog moving through the timber made for an exceptional sunrise and morning sit. I got down around 9:45am and hung another set west of the meadow pond and set up a ground blind on the SE edge of the meadow.

(PM setup) - I got into the ground blind set around 4:45pm. The temps were in the upper 70s with a strong E / SE wind, which was perfect for the setup. Around 6:45pm I spotted a good buck working up the levee from the north. When he was about 80 yards out several yotes topped the meadow and appeared to chase after the buck. He was not going to have anything to do with them and took off in short order to the south. He ran by the blind at about 50 yards in the bean field. It looked like a good 140+ 8 or 9 point, I couldn't get a good look at him to be positive. Right at last shooting light I was starting to pack up the video camera when I looked to the West and saw antlers approaching from the back side of the pond dam. I'm almost positive it was the same giant 10 I saw several times last year, but he added a lot of tine length and mass. He stopped on top of the dam at 36 yards, but was facing straight towards me and didn't offer a shot opportunity. He proceeded to drop down onto my side of the dam but took the wash out just South of the blind and passed me at 13 yards, but all I could see was his antlers. So close, yet so far away!!! He made it to the bean field were I glassed him for about 5 minutes until he feed North out of view. It was an amazing encounter. He had no idea I was even in the world, so I'm very optimistic he'll make another appearance before the season is out, and hopefully I'll be waiting.

9/21/08 (AM setup) - On Sunday morning I was greeted by overcast skies, temp of 63, and a SE wind around 8mph. There was a little fog in the bottom fields, but nothing like Saturday morning. I setup in the Meadow Pond set hoping to catch deer coming back from the fields to bed. I had a deer walk up on me right after I was in the stand but it was to dark to make out what it was. There was very little activity besides squirrels and acorns falling. I was only going to hunt until 9am, because several tree limbs had fallen into my shooting lanes, and I didn't check this stand before the season started. I figured I could get the shooting lanes cleaned up before the rain moved in. At 8:53am I decided it was time to get down. I took the arrow off my bow and grabbed my quiver off the hanger and set it in my lap. When I turned to grab my bow I was very surprised to see a big doe walking along the pond bank right at my set. She had me in a bind at this point. My mask and gloves were off, my quiver was laying across my lap, and I didn't have an arrow nocked. She kept heading NE and walked right into the main shooting lane. I grunted at her and she stopped perfectly broadside and looked back in my direction. I decided to give it a go. I took an arrow out of the quiver and got it nocked without her picking me off. I came to full draw with my quiver still resting across my legs and settled the 20 yard pin on her. Lights out, the shot was absolutely perfect and she didn't make it 30 yards before tipping over. The Rage in the Cage was to much for her to try an hold. I got down and picked up my arrow and decided to follow the blood trial, even though I saw her fall. There was literally blood splattered 3-4 ft. high on everything she passed before she expired. It capped a good first weekend to the 2008 MO Archery season. I'll be back next weekend with Scott and hopefully get to catch up with the big 10.

2008 Hunting Season Starts In Western MN

The 2008 MN Early Goose Season opened up saturday (9/06/08) morning around 6:25 AM. The opener found Pete, Logan and I hunting the northeast corner of the island on the north slough. We had mostly clear skies on saturday with a light wind blowing from the south. Goose movement was slow going to start the day. We hardly heard any shooting and saw no geese for the first hour and a half of the hunt. I was starting to worry that Pete drove all the way from MO to shoot doves and clay pigeons. The good news was the number of ducks we where seeing. There where hundreds of Mallards and other puddlers dropping in and out of the slough all morning long.

The first flock of geese showed up around 8:30 AM. Over the course of the next hour to an hour and half we scratched out 5 geese. Below is a photo of Logan with the mornings shoot.


Later that afternoon I managed to put a pigeon in Pete's freezer and we also added another goose to the bag right before sunset. Hardly any geese where moving during the evening. The wind picked up out of the southwest to about 15 mph before switching to a west/northwest right before dark. The single we killed came into the slough with about 5 minutes of legal shooting time left. Pete and I called him directly into the decoys and put him away with a 10 yard poke. Below is a photo of Logan and Pete retrieving the 6th bird of the day. The retrieve was Pete's first of the day!

Sunday morning had us back on the island in the North Slough. The wind switched back to the southwest and was blowing around 10 mph. The sky was clear after an over night shower had passed through. The goose action started right away Sunday morning. We called a flock of 6 birds in about 10 minutes after legal shooting time. After some less than stellar shooting we had 1 goose in the bag. A couple minutes later a pair of geese came in but broke off right before committing to the decoys. I managed to pull down one of the birds with me best shot of the weekend, a 55-60 yard poke.

Things settled down until around nine o'clock. We had two more singles come in and Pete promptly put both of them into the meat wagon. We saw several other flocks of geese but they wouldn't commit to the island after the wind stopped blowing. The weekend ended with Pete and I putting the tacks to one last goose that tried to settle in just outside our decoys. We finished up with 11 geese for the weekend. We probably should have added about 5 more birds to that total, but you can't complain about 11 birds. It was a great weekend and a perfect start to the 2008 hunting season! Logan and I will be back in Western MN on Saturday to try and add a couple more geese to the freezer. Below is a picture of Logan with Sundays kill.

Pete's Fall 2008 Hunting Road Trips

9/6 - 9/8 - Early Goose Season, Barry, MN (Scott, Logan, Pete)
9/19 - 9/21 - Bowhunting, New Cambria, MO (Pete)
9/26 - 9/29 - Bowhunting, New Cambria, MO (Scott & Pete)

10/10 - 10/12 - Bowhunting, Williamburg, MO (Ralph & Pete)
10/18 - 10/19 - Bowhunting, Williamsburg, MO (Ralph, Bobby, Pete)
10/25 - 10/26 - Bowhunting, New Cambria, Mo (Pete & Brian)

10/31 - 11-9 - Bowhunting, New Cambria, Mo (Scott, Pete, Ralph)
11/15 -11/17 - Rifle, New Cambria, MO (Pete)
11/21 - 11/23 - Rifle, Williamsburg, MO (Ralph, Bobby, Pete, Shana)
11/27 - Bowhunting, New Bloomfield, MO (Pete)
11/28 - 11/30 - Muzzleloader, Williamsburg, Mo (Ralph & Pete)

12/6 - 12/7 - Muzzleloader, New Cambria, MO (Pete)
12/12 - 12/16 - Bow & Rifle Hunt, Throckmorton, TX (Scott & Pete)
12/20 - 12/21 - Duck hunt, Rockville, MO (Brian & Pete)
12/24 - Duck hunt, Rockville, MO (Pete, Shana, Brian)
12/25 - 12/28 - Bowhunt, Williamsburg, MO (Ralph & Pete)

1/3 - 1/4 - Bowhunting, New Cambria, Mo (Pete)

Scott's 2008 Hunting Schedule

-September 6 -7- MN Early Goose Hunt- Barry, MN (Logan and Pete)
-September 13- MN Early Goose Hunt- Barry, MN (Logan)
-September 14- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN
-September 26-28- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Macon, MO (Pete)

-October 4-5- MN Duck Opener- Barry, MN (Logan)
-October 11-12- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN
-October 25-26- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN
-October 29- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN

-November 1-8- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Macon, MO (Pete)
-November 15-16- MN Rifle Hunt Whitetail- Garrison, MN
-November 22-23- Archery Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN
-November 29-30- Muzzleloader Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN

-December 7- Muzzlelaoder Hunt Whitetail- Annandale, MN
-December 13-17- Texas Deer/Hog Hunt- Throckmorton, TX (Pete)
-December 24- Pheasant Hunt- Western, MN (Logan)

MO Turkey

5/3/08- I started out the morning hunting at Green's farm. I set up on the west edge of the timber where Scott & Josh had seen several birds the previous weekend. The temps were in the low 40s with strong west winds gusting 20-30mph. There were 5-6 toms roosted along the creek about 100 yards to the east of my setup. They were gobbling great all morning and responding to all of my calls. I heard them fly down around 6:20am, but the birds were hesitant to move much. Around 6:45 a pair of toms finally committed and starting closing the distance, they were gobbling every 10-15 seconds. Then they just shut up. About 3 minutes later I spotted movement to the north, only to see Brian walking down the fence row. I'm guessing the birds saw him and bugged out. I got on him pretty good about screwing me again and not staying put. All this after I told him I'd come get him around 9am. I'm pretty sure he knew I was pissed by the time I got done laying into him.

We decided to move to Glen's middle farm and on the way in spotted 7 birds in the corner of the field. We snuck around the east side of the property and got into the creek bed that paralleled their position. The conditions were perfect with strong winds and the location of the birds. We worked our way through the creek bed south and popped up were we thought the birds should be. Our guess was on the money. 1 tom and 6 hens in field about 60 yards out from us, the game was on. We crawled out of the creek and into the grass leading into up to the field. 4 of the hens started to feed west and past us at 20 yards without ever knowing we were laying there. One of the hens had about a 7 inch beard. Once they fed past us I continued the sneak. I got to within 30 yards of the tom and the other 2 hens, and stopped to make sure Brian stayed put. There was no need for both of us to keep going. There was a small drainage ditch in the grass and it was the perfect route to get even closer then we had planned. I crawled into the drainage and followed it for another 15 yards and was literally 5 feet from the field edge and still undetected. I could make out the tom through the grass as he was just standing in the field watching his lady friends. I stayed put for about five minutes hoping he'd work west and follow the other hens right past me, but he was locked on the 2 remaining hens. The tom gobbled one time and I decided it was go time. I took the safety off and slowly started to raise up above the grass. The birds had no idea I was even there. The shot absolutely stoned the big tom in his tracks, not even so much as a wing flop out of him. I was twelve steps from him when I let the Benelli bark. It was a huge relief after having a pretty frustrating season to this point. The bird was a solid 2 year old weighing in at 20lbs. with a 9 1/2 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs.

To top the day off we hammered fish on Big Pond for the rest of the afternoon.

MO Turkey Opener

4/21/08 - Brian and myself started the MO 2008 turkey season out at Green's Farm in southwest MO. The first morning started out with a bang. The blinds I placed several weeks ago had blown down during the storms we had the week earlier, so our first line of business was to try and locate them. After finding the blind about 100 yards down the tree line and resetting it, it was finally time to hunt. The temps were in the mid 60s with overcast skies and a slight south wind. We only heard 4 gobbles on the roost, but nothing close. We had scouted the night before and watched 6 big toms strutting in the field we were set up in.
Around 8:30am we finally heard several gobbles from the east field, and the game was on. The toms were fired up gobbling at almost all of our calls. The first bird entered the field about 300 yards to the north then a second, third, fourth, and fifth bird followed suite. All of them were big toms and they waisted no time closing the distance on our position. It was awesome to see all of them strutting, spitting, and gobbling the whole way in. I was hunting with my Hoyt and Delany was supposed to be running the video camera. I ended up filming the birds until they were about 40 yards out, and then handed the camera over to Brian (big mistake!!!!). The birds came right into the set and then everything went down hill, and fast. Brian couldn't get the camera on the birds and was moving the camera all over the joint, all the while I had 5 toms strutting between 14-22yards. Brian finally got the camera sorted out, and then knocked the camo cover off the camera. The fist bird of the group saw this and the gig was up. All the birds started bugging out and I had to hurry a shot at about 33 yards. Unfortunately I didn't account for the blind being unlevel and my arrow hit right below the shooting window and missed the bird. Brian proceeded to try and take a shot with his gun, but forgot to click his safety. He finally got it sorted out, and took a fleeting attempt at about 50+ yards. The only thing that accomplished was educating all 5 of the birds.
We didn't have any action for the rest of the day, and couldn't get a bird to gobble at any of the farms we went to.
What should have been a great day in the turkey woods ended up being one of the biggest disaster in my hunting career.

4/22/08 - We headed back out to Green's farm for the second day of the MO turkey season and hoped our luck would be a lot better than the previous day. We had decided to hunt the north field, and got to the farm extra early in order to make the long walk up there. A storm front had moved through the night before and there was an unbelievable lightening show to our north. We reached our setup and as we were putting out the decoys the first bird gobbled on the roost not 150 yards from our setup. The temps were still in the mid 60s with south winds, but the turkeys decided to gobble early and often today. We had two big toms roosted right off the field and they gobbled at everything. Around 6:50am I spotted a bird roosted about 70 yards from. It pitched into the field and landed about 20 yards out from the decoys, unfortunately it was a jake. He came straight into 7 yards and decided something wasn't right. About that time the 2 toms pitched down and landed right on the field edge, and instantly began to strut and gobble. The jake started to putt and I think that prevented the toms from committing to the setup. They just worked their way north gobbling the entire time.

Around 8:30am we decided to make a move and worked our way north east through the creek bed. We struck a bird about 9am and he was about 60 yards in front of us in the bottom. We set up and started calling. Two more birds responded and the game was on. The birds acted like they weren't going to move, so I decided to work around to the south and sneak up on them through the creek bed. The birds were gobbling the entire time and around 10am I had finally made it about 30 yards from their location. The underbrush was thick and I was trying to get a visual on the birds, when I heard Brian calling directly north of my position. He decided he didn't want to sit at the first location and snuck down the north edge of the bottom. About two minutes later Brian shot twice and showered me with BBs from about 50 yards. He got the bird, but I chewed his ass for not staying put and almost shooting me. I wasn't very happy about the whole situation.

Turkeys Farm #1

April 13th Pheasant Farm Shoot

I went to Gold Meadows Pheasant Farm on 4/13/08 for a little spring time shoot. Our group of 3 bought a total of 12 birds and we bagged all 12. Above is a picture of Logan with a couple of the birds and below is another of Logan cleaning his first pheasant. Get after it boy!

2008 MN Starling Season Starts With A Bang

I made it out for my first Starling hunt of 2008 on Sunday afternoon (4/6/08). The wind was blowing from the south at 10-15 mph, overcast skies and light rain. Because of the weather I decided to hunt from the kitchen blind at my parents "farm". Right off the bat I had several Starlings come into my feeder. Finally after 2 or 3 minutes I had a hen starling give me a 13 yard broadside shot and I just happened to have a hen tag in my pocket. Smack! Hen starling pinned to the ground.

5 minutes later I missed on a mature male starling before getting out of my blind to go shoot at the Gander Mountain Range. I returned to the kitchen blind around 4 PM to hunt the late afternoon. After 5 minutes I had a couple starlings come into my feeder, but none where shooters. I had a perfect wind so I was undetected. Finally, the Starling I had been dreaming my whole life about dropped from out of the trees and under my feeder. I came to full draw, but the starling stepped behind the feeder. I stayed at full draw and waited for what seemed like hours for my trophy to give me a shot. Finally the Starling cleared the feeder. I took careful aim and "Smack!" My first record book bird was lights out immediately!

As you can see I got great penetration with my cabelas field tip and Carbon Express Maxima Hunter arrow. They are a lethal combination when teamed up with a Hoyt Vetrix and I highly recommend that setup when hunting record book Starlings!

My first "book"bird and a great start to my 2008 starling season!