I shot this buck the evening of November 12th which is the day before rifle season here in MO. It was a rainy, nasty day on Friday. With everything wet, the deer were pretty much like ghosts in the woods – you had to depend on the eyes because you sure weren’t going to hear them. This buck along with a younger 8pt snuck in on me and when I saw them they were at about 40yrds and cruising. I had an eight foot shooting lane that the younger one was in and this one was close on his heels. This gave me about 5 to 10 seconds to make the decision on whether to shoot…
Friday morning I had rattled in a really nice 8pt that came by me at about 30 yrds, but he stayed in the brush offering me no shot. When I saw the right side of this buck’s rack, I made the quick decision that this was the 8 that I had saw that morning and that he was a shooter. He stepped into the shooting lane at 35 yards and I bleated, but he completely ignored me! I practically had to yell, and on the 3rd “yell” he stopped just inside the lane. The arrow released and I heard a loud pop, I knew he was hit hard as he never really ran and barely made it over the next ridge. It was about that time that it started pouring rain again which was nerve racking as I knew that my blood trail was going to be gone soon!
The rain slowed to a mist so I decided to wait. I waited an hour and after making a few phone calls and saying a few prayers, my cousins and I trailed him over the next ridge and found him laying just on the other side. My kids were pumped, both that dad finally got him a buck this year and that God answered their prayers! The shot had been good – I hit him in the very back of the right shoulder and it went through and lodged in the left shoulder putting in right in the boiler room. The shoulder hit explained the loud pop I had heard!
As always, it’s such a great moment to find that deer, but it also was a moment of truth. As I began to look the buck over I began to think that this was one of the deer that I had passed at 10yrds earlier in the week that I had on video. After getting him home we reviewed the footage from earlier in the week, and sure enough, there he was walking 10 yards from my stand on a morning hunt earlier in the week! I tell you this to let you in on a lesson that I learned. If you have a buck in mind that you’ve seen earlier in the day or recently, it’s very easy for your mind to make that jump to that buck when making a split decision. Don’t know if there’s a remedy to this, but it may be something to keep in mind at the very least. In the end, I’m very thankful to have this deer – the meat will go to good use, and my kids are very proud of their daddy – both of which are worthy reasons to enjoy this great sport!
P.S. – Unfortunately with all the rain, I didn’t have my vid camera along.
Tip of the week – rattle and grunt often, I’ve rattled and grunted 5 bucks in just this week! GOOD LUCK!!
I’d like to say a big congrats to my brother-in-law Stephen. This buck has some great tine length and is pretty heavy as well! A great all around mature whitetail. He shot this great buck November 4th up in north MO. He had saw a smaller buck chasing some does early and it wasn’t long before another doe came through with this bruiser on her trail. He shot this buck at 25 yrds and had an easy recovery.
I’ll be heading back up to north MO this evening and I’m hoping to meet a buck of this caliber sometime this next week! Congrats again Stephen, you were deserved this buck!
The time has come that we’ve all been waiting for – it’s the three letter word we call the RUT! I was hunting up in north mo this past weekend and saw a great buck chasing some does. I watched some does come through and filter up the draw I was hunting in about 1hr before dark. It was about 30 min later when I heard the heavy footsteps and saw a doe come flying through the draw. The does came running down to me about 25yrds away, which I was thinking was going to work out perfect. Unfortunately, when he got about 60yards out, one of the does took out – ran right past him and over the hill. It didn’t take him too long to decide that she was the one he was after and so he took out on her trail. I grunted & bleated, but his hormones were just too strong for me!
I’d be surprised if many does are actually ready to breed as of yet, but the bucks are chasing! I just love this time of year. Find yourself a travel corridor, whether it’s a funnel, a ledge on the side of a ridge, a low area across some open – anywhere that a buck would likely travel scent checking for does. Just downwind of a known doe bedding area is a priceless stand location for the next 3 weeks.
It’s been awhile since I’ve had as much fun as I did a couple of days ago. Most of you know me as an addicted bow hunter and I am, but I made a little time a couple of days ago for some fall turkey hunting. My 3 yr old son is constantly asking to go hunting with me and I’ve taken him several times, but it’s hard to make bowhunting fun for a 3yr old! So I decided to take a break and take the little hunter with me and put it on one!
There are a group of turkeys where I bowhunt here in southwest MO that are as predictable to roost in the same area as Nancy Pelosi is to vote for a tax hike! We were able to slip in and set up behind a big brushpile. We weren’t there 15min when they began answering me with some soft yelps and clucks.
Long story short I ended up shooting a little hen not 10yrds away. We hadn’t hunted for more than 30 min! Talk about perfect hunt for a 3yr old! He did great and I couldn’t have been more proud – we were both super pumped! His big sister was awful proud of us too when we showed off our trophy back home!
Experiencing a successful hunt with your kids is a feeling second to none. Seeing their eyes light up with excitement, knowing that you are making a memory and instilling a love that will last a lifetime, well, it just doesn’t get much better!
My advice – take a day off your chase of Mr. Big and get out there with that little guy or gal and really do something worth while! Besides, you can get Mr. Big tomorrow!
Beautiful, beautiful deer. This deer was caught on a undisclosed person’s trail camera at an undisclosed location 😉 Hint, unfortunately it wasn’t mine!! This is a great Missouri buck – this warm weather might be putting a damper on the hunting spirits, but these pics should pull you right back into the big buck fever!
Just wanted to share these with you all – Good luck – Send me pics with your story!!
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Just had a great few days up in north Missouri. We had a bit of a cold snap this last week and it really seemed to have the deer moving where I was. They are all over the acorns right now. The best advice I can give you for now is to find a grove of oaks and get ready! As always, white oaks seem to be the tree of choice, but if you find a tree with a good mast of acorns, stay close!
I was all set to video, but this doe came sneaking in from behind. She made it all the way in to 20yrds before I heard her. The wind was swirling on me and just as I got turned around she seemed to wind me. She trotted a few steps away out to about 25yrds. I knew it was now or never, so I let the arrow fly. She was quartering away perfectly and my arrow caught the heart and at least one lung. I saw her go down about 65 yrds away from where I shot her. That was the 4th deer I had seen that evening, so needless to say, it was a great hunt!
I’ve got video I’m putting together of a really nice 11pt that came right under my stand. Stay tuned …
I’m thinking about making some camo out of bobcat skins! If that cat doesn’t blend in I don’t know what does! This is a pic my cousin Derek got on his trail camera. This is a great cat with a beautiful coat. Congrats to Derek on a great picture and for picking the cat out in the first place – thanks for sharing!
Season is here in the great state of Missouri. I’m not sure when I’ll get to go out for my first outing, but I’m hoping it’s soon – I’ll keep you all posted. In the meantime – GOOD LUCK!!
A Great Missouri Buck - Pick from Buddy - 09 Season
Ok, when it comes to trail cam placement it seems pretty simple – find a deer trail, find a tree to stick your camera to, point it at the trail and you’re done. That’s pretty much it, but I do have a few suggestions that may help you get more than the deer’s behind the next time you check your pics!
Camera distance from trail and camera angle are the only two things you need to think about. Most of us pic up the trail camera that’s on sale and it’s not til we look at about 20 deer butts in a row that we figure out why we got it so cheap – it has a slow shutter speed. To compensate for this put your camera at an angle to the trail, not perpendicular. This allows the camera more time to take the picture as the deer will be within the camera’s shooting range for a longer period of time.
Next thing to consider is distance from trail. Too close to the trail and you seriously limit your viewing area, and too far away, you seriously limit the quality of the pics. A good rule of thumb is to place the camera roughly half of it’s max detectible distance away from where you expect to get the best pic, possibly slightly less than half. This seems to give you the correct balance of a clear pic along with the ablility to catch the whole deer and not just its butt, which is inevitably what you get when you only get part of a deer.
One more thing, try and make sure the camera won’t be facing directly into the sunrise or sunset. These are some of the best times to get the best pics and it’s a good chance you’ll catch nothing but a big glare if placed facing east or west.
An hour presentation can be done on trail cameras and the correct placement, but these few tips here seem to have been the most helpful ones I’ve experienced to help ensure some good pics of your deer.
Most of you have probably already beat me to this, but if you’re like me and have been going 90 to nuthin this summer, it’s time to start setting boundaries, and get that bow dialed in! Here in the great state of MO, bow season starts September 15th – it’s hard to believe that it’s less than a month away!
How great would it be to start the season off with the biggest buck of your life?? I believe that you can and in fact, I believe that the first few weeks of the season could be your best chance. Here’s what we need to be doing in the next few weeks.
1. Shoot your bow! I’ve found that it’s not good to shoot over 10-15 minutes at a time, much over this and your muscles start showing fatigue and you start picking up bad habits. If you’re only shooting 15 min at a time you can do the math on how many days you need to shoot in order to get back in the groove. I can think of no worse feeling than to do everything right to get into range of that buck of a lifetime only to watch your arrow miss it’s mark!
2. Scout scout scout! I may be a hypocrite on preaching this point this year, but it won’t be for lack of desire, but lack of time that may keep me from doing as much scouting as I’d like. Bucks are patternable early season as they are still coming to food sources – a soybean field is a great place to sit along and do some glassing. If you’re short on time, but have a few trail cameras, then by all means, get them out there!
The great thing about this time of year is that most bucks are still in their bachelor groups, meaning if you see one, you’re likely to see five more behind him. Needless to say, this can keep scouting interesting!
Best of luck to all of you this year and I look forward to hearing your stories and hopefully I’ll get to share a few of mine!
