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!

I find some stress relief by getting a bit scientific and trying not to leave it all up to chance (as if we really have any control anyway!) The answer of where to hunt changes throughout the season as the deer move from early season feeding patterns, to pre-rut, to rut, to postrut. Of course, when you throw in lunar cycles, temp., and wind direction, there really is a lot to think about!

I don’t want to go in depth on all of this here, but I would like to let you know what I’m focusing on right now. Here in north Missouri the deer are still mostly in the pre-rut stage as they are making scrapes and a few are chasing does a bit, but that’s not the norm as of yet. I’m honing in on the scrapes and particularly the scrapes in high doe traffic areas. In my opinion this is the best time to hunt over a scrape as most bucks are not “with” a doe yet, but are frantically making their rounds to check their scrapes to see if there may be some does coming in. Once the rut hits, scrapes tend to get a bit more neglected as the bucks usually are hot on the trail of a hot doe.

I found this graph on bowsite.com that I found really helpful and at the very least interesting.

*Data Graph by (Kile and Marchinton, 1977)

I realize some of you are old pros, but for others hopefully this information will be helpful. It may be time to go rogue, forget that favorite stand and find you a nice clean scrape to hunt over and just wait to see what comes by – you can bet that’s where I’ll be!

Good luck to you – and by all means, let me know how you do! You can send pics and/or stories of your hunts to hunterbydesign@gmail.com and I’ll see if I can’t get them posted!

“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!

You’ve already saw the doe I shot on Sat the 26th, but this is the rest of the story. I shot the doe around 5pm and heard her go right down so I decided to go ahead and hunt til dark – and I’m glad I did! This buck came in around 6pm and just wouldn’t leave. Once he got in close he was a little nervous as he could smell the arrow that I had just shot the doe with.
He comes in to 10yrds from my tree – I was tempted to shoot just for the great video it would make! Not really…I’m really excited about what we’re doing there at the farm and sooner or later our letting the young ones pass is going to start paying off. That buck stayed within 45 yards of my tree milling around until dark. It was an awesome evening. I love those close encounters especially with a decent buck such as this. Hopefully I’ll have a close encounter with his papa here before too long – I’ll be sure to keep you posted!!

Here are a couple more pics for your viewing pleasure.  These two won’t get your blood pumping,  but pics like these are important as they let you know you’ve got some future.  We may be talking 2-4 years down the road for these two (that’s if we can keep the few in our family that have touchy trigger fingers away from them- you know who you are  

Hopefully I’ll have some stories and some pics or video for you soon – if you wish you can subscribe to my site there on the right and get an automatic email every time I post just to let you know.  This is NOT an email capture scam, it’s only used for letting you know when I post. 

Let me know if any of you have some luck – Happy Hunting!

Ok, so most of you will know the itch I’m talking about.  That first blast of cool air we experienced several weeks ago got the itch started and it’s steadily gotten worse from there.  It’s like you’re dating again and everything else is sort of peripheral as you focus your attention on all the things that will enable this year to be THE year.  The year you and Mr. Big meet face to face at 20yrds with bow at full draw.  If the cool air isn’t enough, it doesn’t help to begin getting pics back of some nice bucks, with at least a couple of shooters.  Fortunately the cure is quickly approaching and I’m as excited this year as any.

Above are some pics that my cousins and myself have gotten over the past week or so.  Trailcams are a great way to really begin getting a feel for what’s out there.  You can see a nice track, but if you know as well as I that a buck track alone can be misleading. 

I apologize for my long absence over some of the summer – it’s been a busy one and I refuse to let this become a job for me – if I’m not feeling it, I don’t write.  I expect you’ll be hearing a lot more from me for the next few months. 

Until next time – shoot straight!

P.S. -  My lovely wife just told me after reading the post that if the itch persists beyond January, that you might try some preparation H!