Like to Hunt - Like to Fish - Like to Draw
21 lbs- 9" Beard - 1" spurs
A good friend of mine, Brandon got his first Tom Saturday, April 21, 2012. It was a fun filled hunt filled with many twists and turns. We had a “pack” of jakes that kept running our Tom around and almost ruined our hunt, but in the end he was able to get it too close and Brandon put the hammer down! The video pretty much tells the rest of the story.
Hiking With the Kiddos
She Thinks She's Hidden
I had to share these pics with you right off the bat. I was hiking with my family at the Nature Center (Springfield, MO) when we had all sorts of neat encounters with the deer there. My kids absolutely loved it and my release finger just kept twitching;-)
My hunt this last Friday (Oct 21st) was a great one! I was hunting down in southwest Mo, on a property that is fairly new to me. My strategy this year was to hunt the edges to where I could see a lot of ground and sort of be scouting while I’m hunting. I’ve learned the hard way that going into a new property and hunting a small area in the middle of the timber that looks really good can lead to many deerless hunts and nothing learned of deer movement in the process. It’s better to hunt a more open area that may not be as conducive to bow range, but at least you can get on the deer soon as you begin to see some patterns emerge.
This video pretty much says it all for the hunt – Enjoy!!
Can’t believe it’s finally here! I tell you, there’s not much that gets me going more than spring turkey season! Here in Missouri the season starts April 18th and runs through May 8th. I’ve taken my kiddos out a couple of times and have had an awesome time videoing and spending quality time.
This season we’re going to do our best to get you some top notch video of some hunts both in north and south Missouri. Enjoy the above video of some great footage from the past and some footage from just this past week.
Stay Tuned!
This has to be one of the most exciting hunts I’ve been on in a long time! The vid pretty much says it all!
Turkey season has finally arrived and as always it was met with great anticipation. It started for me a few weeks ago when I was fortunate to be able to take out a teenager on the youth hunt. A few hours into the hunt and after some serious sneaking, I was standing next to a teen smiling ear to ear with his first bird! And not just any bird, it ended up having 4 beards – a true trophy!
My second success happened this Tuesday when I was able to harvest a trophy of my own. Long story short, I called in a Tom that happened to be by himself from roughly 300yrds away. I was able to get him into about 80yrds, but couldn’t get him to cross a dry creek to seal the deal. I ended up crawling, and crawling, and crawling….until I was finally able to take him at roughly 50yrds. The whole ordeal took about 2hrs so needless to say this bird was earned! He ended up weighing 24.5 lbs, had a 10 in beard, and 1 1/4″ spurs. I’ll have some pics to post shortly.
My third success happened today. I went out this morning with my cousin. I did the calling the and videoing while he did the shooting. It was an incredible morning. The birds talked great and we ended up getting a great video of his bird as it came in strutting and gobbling. Congrats Bryan on an awesome turkey! Below is the video from this morning’s hunt – Enjoy!
I had to share this with you guys. This trout was caught in my back yard down at lake Taneycomo in Branson. Lake Taneycomo is a great place to fly-fish. I’ve caught several nice trout there, but this is pretty incredible! I knew a few of you fishermen would get a kick out of this anyway!
I haven’t done this before and don’t plan to do a lot of this in the future, but I wanted to share a youtube video that I really enjoyed. These guys do a great job videoing and editing, but it’s the storyline that I believe many of us bow hunters can really relate to. I contacted bowhuntingdotcom before posting anything and of course, they didn’t mind me spreading the word by sharing this with you! Enjoy!
You fellow Missourians know what November 14th is, but for the rest of you that is the beginning of rifle season. Unfortunately, it is also the peak of rut here in north Missouri, meaning we have hunters coming in from all over the place! I really don’t mind the hunters for I’m one of them, it’s just the fact that there are many of us native north Missourians that do a lot of deer managing – passing on the young ones etc etc, only to see them same deer killed a few weeks later. A little frustrating, but part of the gig, I understand.
I saw a couple of good bucks really early Sat. morning, but it was just a bit too early to tell enough about them to take a shot – I couldn’t even get good video. I did get some video of a nice 8pt that a hunter on the neighboring property spooked by me. Saturday evening I hunted in the timber and I saw a lot of deer, but all does and a couple small bucks. Needless to say, I have yet to seriously consider pulling the trigger.
Most of my entertainment came from the neighboring hunter who had trouble sitting still. It was just a little after 8am when he decided to start making his rounds and that’s exactly what he did. Kept seeing him move in and around the patch of timber he was hunting. I even got some video of him just for kicks 
I guess that’s yet another reason why I love bowhunting, it’s more about reading deer sign and getting right up close. Luck is definately a factor needed on your side, but much less so than stomping through some timber and blasting a deer 200 yrds away. Nothing wrong with that as long as your confident in your shot, it’s just much less intimate of an experience.
The 12th the 13th I hunted with some cousins and did some videoing of them bowhunting. I rattled in a couple of bucks on one evening hunt, one young 10pt and a young 7pt. I got some great vid of the 7pt, but my cousin made a good decision in letting him walk as he was young with some good potential. Saw the young 10 the next morning not 100 yrds from the night before, got some more video, but it still wasn’t what we were looking for.
So far it’s been a great bow season. I’ve been fortunate enough to harvest a doe, a nice buck, and a turkey, all of which I caught on camera! Now that is where the luck comes in, I still can’t believe I got all of these kills on camera! I’m going go out tonight, but this will probably be my last chance up here in north Mo, at least for the rifle season, I’m going to have to be getting back down to south Mo.
Here are some clips of the video I’ve been able to catch here in the past week, mostly while bowhunting. Enjoy!
Great hunt! The video pretty much says it all – especially after I got done rambing! The rut is coming right on. I hunted with a cousin this morning and watched a small buck chasing a doe. You can’t beat deer hunting this time of year!
Very thankful and happy to have harvested such a beautiful deer – Good luck to you all!
Unofficial score done by myself is: 125 3/8″ Gross – 117 6/8″ Net
Wildlife Biologist friend just aged this deer at 4 1/2 years old – great mature whitetail!
“It’s ok daddy, you’ll get one next time.” That’s the “consolation” my two year old son has been giving me after returning from the last few hunts empty handed. Much to the pleasure of my wife I might add! They’ll all learn someday that bow hunting is not a sport of instant gratification, but when that gratification does come, it’s all the sweeter!
This afternoon before I left my boy told me good luck and to kill a turkey. I told him I would, that tonight I would get him a turkey. God must have smiled, cause these turkeys came in perfect at 25yrds!
I feel so blessed to get another harvest on video. I should get some kick-back from the gorilla-pod as much as I endorse them, you just can’t beat them for videoing while you’re solo. These turkeys started yelping about 80yrds away up in the brush, so I just softly yelped back ever so often. I knew I was in their roosting area, so I figured they’d be heading my way. Sure enough – the video pretty much tells the rest of the story!
Beautiful evening – fun, fun, hunt in southwest Missouri!
Thanks for reading!
