So I told you I was not in a discriminating state of mind with respect to my 2009 Missouri rifle tag. Regular readers will remember that I ate this tag last year after hunting more than half the days. It wasn’t a lack of opportunities; it was the two studs I saw early in the season. I held out hoping to get a shot at one of them, and it wasn’t to be.
So this year I knew it would be difficult for me to pass a decent buck. It might have been my saving grace that the first thing I saw as it became light enough to shoot was a decent buck. It would be too easy to shoot a 130 class 8 point in the first 5 minutes of the season. After all, I’d packed a lunch and thermos of coffee. I was prepared to sit all day and had cleared the first three days of the season off my calendar. Over the course of the morning I passed a slightly better 8 than the first, and a heavy 6 twice. Every buck I saw was either chasing a doe or looking for one to chase. From 10:30-12:00 I was preoccupied with the poachers. Around 12:30 I saw the heavy 6 yet again. As the afternoon started to heat up this deer came by:
Around the same time I saw a heavy 10 with a doe at the far end of the field I was watching. He was 600 yards away and appeared to be afraid of the half buck above. For the next couple of hours he would appear from the grass slightly closer, and then disappear again. Finally he gave me a chance at 320 yards. I hesitated, not sure of the shot, and he was gone again. With the fading light I figured my chance was gone. I watched the half buck, a spike, and various furry things fiddle around in front of me until it was almost time to pick up… then he was back. He was looking right at me at 125 yards. I didn’t hesitate this time:
Great mass, good length, character… I’m pleased… But now it’s back to work on the Kansas tag…
dukkillr: Good morning. Do you know where you are?
Dirtball local poacher: Where I am I?
duk: Not where you belong. I own from here to the river.
DLP: Oh, well… We were just following deer we shot on our side of the river…
duk: But those deer are dry?
DLP: Oh… well… those kids shot them on your side of the river… I wasn’t with them…
duk: How did you get here?
DLP: We’ve got a boat.
duk: How’d the boat get here?
DLP: We brought it with us.
duk: You left home this morning with the intention of trespassing and poaching?
DLP: Umm…
duk: Well, how many did they kill? It sounded like they shot themselves out of shells.
DLP: Just these two does, they missed a lot.
duk: Gut them and get out of here. If anyone sees you here again we’ll call the sheriff.
You rarely see this kind of dishonest human trash while hunting in Kansas. I’ve thought about the reasons why before, but maybe the answer is simple: Missouri is full of Quantrill loving, moonshine drinking, discount cigarette smoking, MU rooting, rust bucket driving, welfare receiving, wife beating dirtballs.
Or maybe it’s more complicated… Tomorrow I’ll tell you about the parts of the hunt not ruined by the people above. BTW, anybody recognize them?
I’m once again away from my computer chasing deer. This time it’s a Missouri rifle tag that’s burning a hole in my pocket. I’m afraid me recent frustrations with Kansas archery may be bad news for a 130-140 class Missouri buck that has the nerve to show up on opening morning. Hopefully I can hold out for one of those two monsters I saw last year, but I can tell my will power is slipping. I’ll have pictures and updates when I get home, which may be anywhere from Saturday afternoon through Monday. For those of you who are chasing upland birds in Kansas or whitetails in Missouri, good luck, be safe, and have fun.
Ken Scown, 36, and friend Jeff Herbert, both from Nelson, B.C., were spending their third night camping in a tent as part of an 11-day hunting trip near Canal Flats in the East Kootenays region of B. C. when a female grizzly bear attacked them Wednesday night.
Honestly, please explain a factual scenario where this is possible?
Aaron J. Long, 20, of Fairfield, Ill. was killed last Thursday night when his 16-year-old friend and hunting partner mistook Long for a wild turkey and shot him in the back with an arrow.
Wayne County Sheriff Jim Hinkle said Long had been hunting near the Sam Dale Lake State Park with several friends Thursday evening. Long was pronounced dead at 7 p.m. when officers arrived on scene.
“Mr. Long was sitting on a small ridge when his 16-year-old friend walked up on him and mistook him for a wild turkey,” Hinkle said. “He was struck in the upper back and died at the scene.”
The accident is being investigated by the Illinois State Police, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources and Wayne County Coroner Jimmy Taylor.
Exactly what sequence of events could lead you to confuse a human adult male with a wild turkey at archery range? Horrible, for everyone involved, but such an incredible waste.
I’m aware that there is now a competition for everything. I’ve been to the World Championships of Duck Calling. I have a friend who competes exclusively in mounted practical field trials for pointers. Obviously if two guys get together with the same hobby someone is going to need to decide who is best. Even saying all of that, I was still surprised when I discovered that there was a coon hunting championship. My first thought was, “They have vehicles that can drive on the interstate?” followed closely by, “Could the World Championships of bad Orthodontia be held at the same time?”
Anyway, apparently Kentucky is being unseated as the long time location because an ice storm has left too many limbs on the ground. I can only assume the contestants are unlikely to run too many marathons in their free time.
According to The Professional Kennel Club Kentucky will lose approximately $3.5 million from the 7000 or so expected visitors. For those mathematically challenged, that’s an average economic impact of $500.00 per visitor or 6 months pay.
We can only hope that Kentucky is able to put this behind them. Maybe Ashley Judd could help?
I hit the Missouri urban season yesterday morning with the intention of killing a few does and evaluating my new 6.5 swede. Mission accomplished. I saw a pile of deer but I limited my shots after the first two because I knew I had to drag each deer a long ways by myself. I was pleasantly surprised with the rifle. Two simple one-shot kills, one at 80 yards and one at 120. Nothing especially exciting, but both deer fell within spitting distance of where they were hit and had good exit holes. The only negative is that I decided the black Ramline needs to go. Maybe a brown laminate?
I half-ass hunted last Friday afternoon. I had intended to spend the afternoon on stand before I let my visiting brother’s idiotic 4 pound guinea pig dog escape and get lost. A massive doghunt was ultimately successful before it became a tasty coyote hors d’oeuvre but I was left with 30 minutes to hunt and I stunk like a guy who’d been chasing a ridiculous squirrel sized dog in 800 gram thinsulate rubber boots.
So I’m not counting that effort. That means my first real hunt will start tomorrow as I head south to meet friend and non-resident CA-Chucky. He wanted to get an early start filling his first Kansas whitetail tag and his job keeps him busy in November so we’re going to get after it for the next few days. On Friday evening I’ll head to Southern Missouri to take part in the urban season there. I’m planning to make a dent in the doe population there with my new 6.5 swede but it’s going to take a regional record to get me to burn my Missouri buck tag this early. Regular readers will remember that I always open the Missouri rifle season on this small farm where my ancestors homesteaded generations ago. The farm has a special place in my heart but crappy trophy potential. I’m hoping a more aggressive doe harvest can help.
I’ll try to post updates as we fill the meat pole up but reception will be spotty until Saturday. Then comes the Kansas urban season, then my trip to South Dakota, then another pair of out of state visitors, then the duck opener in Kansas and Missouri… and so it begins…
Pat over at Bowsite has done another interview with Tred Barta now 4 months after he first lost feeling in his legs. Take a look and listen here. Like before, it is candid and emotional.
The big bulls are starting to roll in. This mega bull came from private ground in Western New Mexico. It was also taken on video so keep an eye on the Outdoor Channel in the coming months.
Wayne Carlton, host of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s “Elk Country Journal” TV show, has hunted and guided for elk for more than 32 years. He recently took a bull elk that unofficially scored 410 points on Boone and Crockett. This bull was the biggest he’d ever taken with his bow and the biggest bull elk ever filmed by Hunter’s Specialties “Primetime” video crew.
