[Oxford]

Ok...got my bags packed and loaded in my vehicle along with my guns, ammo, cold weather gear, wet weather gear, food, my new home made knife for cutting/sawing, bright orange hat/vest, water bottle, and much more. In about 20 minutes I'm picking up my SIL and am driving 90 miles north to Maryville, MO where we'll stay for the night before traveling further west about 60 miles with another of my SIL's. We'll be around Rockport area at our campsite by an hour before sunup tomorrow morning. The weather report is for warm (60-70 Deg F) and/or wet...not my favorite kind of weather for hunting deer.

If I get a chance to post on G&G tomorrow evening I'll try to report on the day's adventure.

My tag is for "either/or" but naturally I would prefer a 10 point buck :nod: :right:

 

[Apollyon67]

Good hunting there Ox, Happy trails too.

 

[jerry]

good luck Ox!

 

[chester12]

Good luck.

When you get back I would like to see a pic of that home made knife.

Chester

 

[Guest]

naturally I would prefer a 10 point buck :nod: :right:

I hope you get a 12 pointer :right:

 

[ash]

Let us know how the knife works out.

 

[gunssb]

Good luck Ox!

 

[Oxford]

Hey...thanks guys! Appreciate the encouragement. Ok...now we've arrived in Maryville, discussed our plans for tomorrow morning. Ugh! Looks like 4:00 a.m. gett'in up...heading to Mac Donald's for coffee and roll and then driving west about 60 miles to Rockport, MO where we'll hunt in the hilly, tree lined bluffs next to the Missouri River Valley.

We're still expecting some rain tomorrow so that's not good. However, one SIL thinks that would be a good deer hunting thing and the other SIL thinks otherwise. As for me...that'd be an excellent time to head back to hunting camp and down some more coffee. Hey...maybe it'll be sunny so why worry about it. Can't do anything about it so just make the best of this first deer hunting weekend of the season. I've got plenty of rain gear, if needed, but I'm not fond of wading into that area through mud, getting my rifle messed up royally, etc. so like I said before...I'll probably opt for the coffee should the skies open up to rain.

Still...we expect to be in our tree stands at least 1/2 hour before sunup (6:00 a.m.) and a half hour before we can legally hunt deer. And...we've gotta make sure bambi has at least four points on one side that are at least three inches long. So that means using binoculars and making sure of what we see...or else :nod:

If (and that's a big if) we get lucky (we're talking deer this time...not dear's :kinky: ) we're allowed to phone in our harvest code number instead of hauling the carcass to a "check-in" point which will save lots of time for us. But...we'll still need to haul the deer to the location of our butcherer. He's set up in a refrigerated truck trailer about 30 minutes from our hunting site.

So then it's time to reverse our tracks and drive back to Maryville where our wives are huddling placing bets on who will get their deer first, if at all.
And then it's another night with the process repeating itself.

I'll report later on the meal we fix in our campsite. Umm Mmmm Good. There's nothing like campsite food.

Talk to you later guys.

Ox :cheer:

 

[Despoiler]

Good Luck Ox, Bring home a big one! Yes Ox I am talking about a deer!

 

[wirehunt]

Good luck Ox and remember HAVE FUN

 

[jerry]

An old timer once told me a light rain was actually good. Apparently a deers hide will shed a heavy rain, but a light rain will soak to the skin. This makes them cold, so they have to get up, move around and start feeding to keep energy and stay warm.

If you end up with rain, hope it's a light steady rain.

 

[Oxford]

End of first day...bottom line...no deer were harvested by the three of us the first long day. But there's plenty to tell about what happened throughout the day.

6 a.m. in our tree stands... No rain...temps about 55 deg F. About as nice as it gets.

9:10 a.m. I saw my first doe on a hill about 100 yes away and while starting to slowly squeeze the triger of my Win 30-30 I saw another deerj, a buck, to it's right. Scanneed it with my binoculars but observed it only had three long spikes on one side along with one button...which disqualifies it according to the MO Wildlife Hunting Code. It's got to have at least four spikes 4" long on one side to be harvested. By that time the doe was long gone :jaw:

Heavy mist started falling...enough to need my clear plastic poncho...but it ended within 30 minutes and that ended the rain for the day. Thank God! All of our worry for nothing...but we enjoyed the clear weather until wind gusts up to 50 mph started whipping the 100-150 ft tall trees around up...enough that many of their branches started falling down close enough to our deer stands to make me head for a safer hunting location along a creed where I'd seen deer earlier.

11:20 a.m. Finally saw about 4-5 does being rounded up by one big buck. This was happening about 120 yds from me in fairly clear view most of the time. So...I raised my trusty Win 30-30 to my eye...took careful aim... and fired at the buck. BANG! What? Deer the didn't fall down! :nod: It simply hopped and posed even better with a broadside view to me. So...took what I though was even a better aim, being careful to squeeze the trigger slowly and with the sight squarely on the chest area of that buck. Result: Same thing...it simply hopped again and trotted off with it's tongue hanging out mocking me because I'd missed him again. :insane: And...he took his harem with him leaving me to weep in my beer if one had been handy after that display of terrible marksmanship.

As I cussed under my breath for missing him...I decided I'd leave my Win 30-30 at base camp in the afternoon and use my Rem 700 with 3x9x40 scope in case I got another opportunity to fill my hunting permit.

Lunch: homemade venison chile, hot dogs, soft drink, apple pie and lots of tales about our morning adventures.

In the p.m. I only saw one doe and just briefly as it was jumping up out of the creek area out of my sight. The rest of the entrie afternoon went without sighting even one more deer. We about got clobbered with tree limbs falling from the heavy gusts of wind but luckily none fell on us. Arrived back in Maryville about 6 p.m. Now that was one fun filled 12 hour day. Now we're gearing up ready to be up again at 4 a.m. and try to fill our deer tags with legally bagged deer. :nod:

 

[OldTimer]

I don't know MO law, but here in Conn I love still-hunting deer on rainy/stormy days! Get them in their beds!
Good luck, Ox. Git-r-done!

 

[OldTimer]

Hey now, Ox!

How did you make out, did you fill your tag? I hope you were successful.

 

[Oxford]

Had opportunities to take several doe's but passed on them. One buck with three points and a button on each side kept teasing me but our hunting code requires four points at least three inches long on one side...so he was allowed to grow for another season.

But...overall I had a great hunt. Didn't fall out of the tree stand, the expected rain turned out to be heavy mist, the temerature was between 40 and 65 deg F, saw plenty of deer (but not qualified bucks), had fun times in our deer camp, plenty of excitement when heavy winds started blowing down trees and broken limbs overhead, sooooooooo I'm not complaining... :guitar: but...no summer sausage or jerky this year. :nod: