Northeastern Missouri - Gun Season - 2nd week of November 2009

We returned to Missouri for the 2009 rifle opener which always takes place on the second Saturday of November. We were fortunate to be able to hunt the same farm we have been hunting for the last 5 years. It borders one of the Drury properties - a 1200 acre sanctuary. Over the years you have read about our experiences on this uniquely situated farm. It is right in the middle of a large wooded oasis consisting of several large wooded properties surrounded by miles of farm country. The area holds a lot of deer normally but as soon as the shooting starts, deer are pouring into these wooded cover areas.  I have seen some amazing deer over the years but always after shooting something way smaller than what is standing in front of me. We have always sworn to each other not to shoot until we see one of the true monsters. Then, we would see what we thought was a great deer and take it. Soon after along would come one of the gaggers and we would be kicking ourselves.

This year we absolutely vowed to hold off until we saw a monster.  No excuses accepted!  Well, that strategy paid off for only one of us. The first morning came and went . We heard a ton of shooting on the surrounding properties but we didn't see anything big. We knew it would just be a matter of time. We knew they would be there eventually.

I sat the whole first day in the ladder stand I always use. I was seeing some deer but nothing close to what I wanted. The afternoon dragged on and I was losing my determination. Right at 3:30 PM, a big 10 pointer came out of the woods at the end of the field 150 yards away. He shook himself off like he was just getting up from his bed. I believe he was bedded back on one of the fingers in that piece of woods. I am sure of it. He walked out to a low-hanging tree in the field and was raking his antlers in the branches. He was 96 yards away and I was looking at him hard. It was decision time. The buck was getting ready to leave on his nightly foray and I had to decide "yes" or "no". I had him in the scope clear as a bell. He looked really good but I didn't think he was that much better than some of the ones taken in past years. I decided to pass him up. I thought to myself, "I hope I don't regret this" but I had a feeling that I would.

My friend, Dan, was having the same experience on another part of the property. He also passed on his buck. However the next day, in the pouring rain, he was rewarded with a giant 14 pointer. It was truly one of the ones we had been waiting for. For me the heavy rain moved in and I never saw a another big buck the whole time we were there. The rain was almost constant like the previous hunt over in Illinois.  Nothing was moving and the rain kept on coming. It got so bad that the cattle crossings that we used to get to the different hunting spots were totally flooded out and totally impassible. We tried to go out and just sit in some other areas that we could get to but we were quickly drenched.

We looked at the weather forecast that showed heavy rain the rest of the week. For the first time ever, we decided to pack up early and go home. A disheartening but practical decision.

We'll see what happens in 2010.