I finally got a deer down in Missouri.
As some of you may remember I moved to Missouri this past June courtesy of a work promotion. Back to square 1 for hunting spots. After knocking on some doors and being turned away by most, I found a farmer that would let me hunt a 40 acre patch of cropland he has fairly close to my home. This wasn't the most ideal spot to hunt as 30 of the acres are row crop, but beggers can't be choosers.
However, after scouting the property I was a little excited about hunting this property come rut time. Initial scouting gave me the impression that not a lot of deer would be living in this spot, but a couple does and fawns did seem to be coming from across the river to feed in the field every night. Where there are does there are always hopes of a buck come rut time. And the river that bordered the North side and the development that bordered the South side created a nice funnel that I hoped would help create a highway when the bucks started searching for a girlfriend.
Due to the size of this property I knew I needed to be careful and be very selective of when I hunted this property. As much as it pained me to not be hunting with every free moment I only had this small property to hunt and I didn't want every deer to be scared of the property before the rut started. Howver, my Wyoming antelope hunt curbed some of myt hunting desire.
I hunted a few times early in the season and saw multiple doe and fawn groups and a couple small bucks but knowing there was plenty of season I never drew back on anything.
The last couple weeks have been magical in this area and I have been seeing bucks chasing does all over the place. Finally, the wind was right for me this past Friday so I made it to my stand as soon as my work allowed. A little later than I would have liked, but I was still in my stand.
As luck would have it I didn't see a single thing until 10 minutes of shooting time left on the clock when a doe came shooting out into the cut corn field like she was shot out of cannon and when she finally stopped she turned right around looking behind her. With such a tell tale sign of what is to come I grabbed my bow off of of the hook and waited and waited and waited some more. After what felt like 10 minutes, but was only probably 1 minute a buck came out chasing this doe. Immediately, I knew that he was a shooter for me. After he followed the doe for a bit he decided he was going to head down the middle of the field and leave her to come to a stop 10 ft from the tree I am in. But, he was still 100 yds from me and looking like that was all the closer he was going to get. I let loose a quick grunt when he turned and walked straight at me. 85....80...75...70 yds.....stop. Dang it. Now he turned broadside and apearred to be more interested in two doe that just entered the field from the other side. I knew he was becoming more interested in them so I gave him one more grunt but nothing. So I gave him one last read with the range finder, set my sight to 72 yds, drew back, settled my pin, on a perfectly broadside buck, and touched my release trigger. WHACK!!! I knew I hit him but not sure eactly where. Well, within seconds I had my answer as he never took another step and fell right there. The shot was a hair higher than I would have liked, but I still hit the top of both lungs. SUCCESS!!! Man I love it when a plan comes together and all my target practice pays off.
Here is my 2015 archery buck. He weighs 202 lbs field dressed and scores just under 150 at 149.5 inches.
As some of you may remember I moved to Missouri this past June courtesy of a work promotion. Back to square 1 for hunting spots. After knocking on some doors and being turned away by most, I found a farmer that would let me hunt a 40 acre patch of cropland he has fairly close to my home. This wasn't the most ideal spot to hunt as 30 of the acres are row crop, but beggers can't be choosers.
However, after scouting the property I was a little excited about hunting this property come rut time. Initial scouting gave me the impression that not a lot of deer would be living in this spot, but a couple does and fawns did seem to be coming from across the river to feed in the field every night. Where there are does there are always hopes of a buck come rut time. And the river that bordered the North side and the development that bordered the South side created a nice funnel that I hoped would help create a highway when the bucks started searching for a girlfriend.
Due to the size of this property I knew I needed to be careful and be very selective of when I hunted this property. As much as it pained me to not be hunting with every free moment I only had this small property to hunt and I didn't want every deer to be scared of the property before the rut started. Howver, my Wyoming antelope hunt curbed some of myt hunting desire.
I hunted a few times early in the season and saw multiple doe and fawn groups and a couple small bucks but knowing there was plenty of season I never drew back on anything.
The last couple weeks have been magical in this area and I have been seeing bucks chasing does all over the place. Finally, the wind was right for me this past Friday so I made it to my stand as soon as my work allowed. A little later than I would have liked, but I was still in my stand.
As luck would have it I didn't see a single thing until 10 minutes of shooting time left on the clock when a doe came shooting out into the cut corn field like she was shot out of cannon and when she finally stopped she turned right around looking behind her. With such a tell tale sign of what is to come I grabbed my bow off of of the hook and waited and waited and waited some more. After what felt like 10 minutes, but was only probably 1 minute a buck came out chasing this doe. Immediately, I knew that he was a shooter for me. After he followed the doe for a bit he decided he was going to head down the middle of the field and leave her to come to a stop 10 ft from the tree I am in. But, he was still 100 yds from me and looking like that was all the closer he was going to get. I let loose a quick grunt when he turned and walked straight at me. 85....80...75...70 yds.....stop. Dang it. Now he turned broadside and apearred to be more interested in two doe that just entered the field from the other side. I knew he was becoming more interested in them so I gave him one more grunt but nothing. So I gave him one last read with the range finder, set my sight to 72 yds, drew back, settled my pin, on a perfectly broadside buck, and touched my release trigger. WHACK!!! I knew I hit him but not sure eactly where. Well, within seconds I had my answer as he never took another step and fell right there. The shot was a hair higher than I would have liked, but I still hit the top of both lungs. SUCCESS!!! Man I love it when a plan comes together and all my target practice pays off.
Here is my 2015 archery buck. He weighs 202 lbs field dressed and scores just under 150 at 149.5 inches.
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