Heading to Missouri in the morning.

[Lennyjoe]

My buddy invited me to go hunting with him back at his home since we didnt get drawn for rifle here. We are heading out tomorrow morning early. Final destination is Fulton.

I went out this weekend and fine tuned in the -06 and boy is she shooting great. The 165gr Sierra HPBT are cloverleafing at 100yds. A load of 57.5gr of IMR 4350 in Winchester brass with WLRP is awesome out of my Savage 110.

Looking forward to getting my first taste of Missouri deer hunting. Gonna get in on some ducks while we are there as well. I'm stoked!

Anyone else getting in on the weekend hunt?

 

[Subby]

I'm stuck working in the salt mines this weekend. I'm going to WV for the first three days of their rifle season on the 21st, PA rifle season opens up on the 28th. Best time of the year.

Sub

 

[Lennyjoe]

Yea, I actually thought about flying to WVA and hunt on my wifes land in Kingwood if the Missouri trip didn't get offerd.

 

[dakotasin]

good luck!

 

[GunGoBoom]

ooooh, good, there's some big trophy deer in Northern MO.

 

[sumpnz]

Have fun Lenny. I look forward to trying a little venison.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I'm flying out on Thursday, destination Northeastern MO. My property is near Mark Twain Lake. Got 3.2 critters in the freezer already, looking for a few corn fed MO whitetails to round out the tally. Yum.

 

[Byron Quick]

I'll be heading to Texas on the 22nd. Going to spend mule deer season with Art.

 

[stolivar]

big deer here

going to cost you about $135 for an out of state tag for deer here in MO isn't it?

Not counting the out of state tag for waterfowl. Hope you have a good hunt. there are some big deer here. We just had a 27 pt deer hit about 4 weeks ago down around glasgo with a car.



steve

 

[Rock_Steady]

Kingwood, Eh?

You won't be far from my stopming grounds at all if you come up this way - we don't grow 'em so big, but the appalachians have always been more fun to hunt for me than the Ozarks. Hope you had some luck.

 

[Subby]

Alright, this has nothing to do with the topic, but how do you Show Me State folks pronounce it? My old man says "Mizz-err-ahh", whereas I say "Mizz-or-eee". Kind of dumb, just wondering how the locals say it. Good luck to all regardless.

Sub

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Anybody back yet? We did great. I shot a nice 7-pointer and a doe on opening morning, my buddy shot 2 more does opening morning and my dad added another doe and a nubber on the second day. Decided that was enough and quit. I'm really sick of cutiing up deer meat.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I just got back. Took 2 does and missed out on a big buck. I hunted an area in the morning and didn't see anything. We went back to the camp for some chow and me and my buddy decided to go to his property instead of the other property we hunted in the morning. His buddy Richard went to the exact area I hunted and shot the 11 pointer not 15 yds from the area I was sitting in. He hardly got out of the truck when he seen antlers. The taxidermy said it should score in the 140's. Aint that the way it goes.:banghead:

Here's one of the 2 does I poked. She went 110. Not big but will be good eating. The 165gr Sierra Gameking SPBT reloads out of my -06 dropped her on the spot at 120yds.

This is the buck that got away from me and Richard shot. Bummer!

Another picture of me with the one I didn't get

Overall, I had a great time. Weather was a bitch with the wind during the day and the full moon at night. Got rained on too. I shot both does in the eve. The second one was hit with a 165gr Sierra Gameking HPBT at 85yds and she ran around 40yds before she piled up. Had a hole the size of my fist on the exit side.

I think I like the soft point bullets the best of the two.

 

[Lennyjoe]

A couple more pictures.

By Saturday eve we had 6 deer hanging in the cooler. I split the pelvic bone on the one hanging sideways so we couldn't hook her there. So we hung her by the exit wound from the 165gr HPBT.

The processing line. My buddy holding the paper and Whopper, who owns the joint doing the cutting. She can process the deer with the best of them.

I felt like home in Missouri. Everyone was very nice and into the whole hunting deal. All you seen from Saturday on was florescent orange and camo. Old and young were talking about nothing but deer.

BTW, the tag cost me $145 for buck and additional $7 for each antlerless tags. Well worth it to me!

 

[NRA4LIFE]

LennyJoe,

Most excellent, I'm glad you had a great time. Sounds like my camp, everybody into it. The 3 of us, assembly line the skinning/cutting also. We've got it very streamlined. Had the same weather, warm as heck the first day, windy the second. We had 4 skinned and quartered and in the coolers by a little after noon on Saturday. The 2 my dad got Sunday we skinned and hung for the night as it got much colder during the day on Sunday. I too love the $7 doe tags. I messed up too, didn't realize they had new $75 non-resident landowner tags. DOHHH! Oh well an extra $70 donation to MO by NRA4LIFE. Lesson learned.

Looking forward to next year already.

BTW, looks like we did a lot better than the rest of the state, the opening weekend kill was down significantly from last year.

 

[sumpnz]

Lenny - So when do I get to pick up some steaks?

Man, I got to go somewhere like that one of these days. So your total fee to MO was $159, or did they add in some extra FYF's?

 

[Lennyjoe]

They had what they call a "deer camp" the night before the season opens. Sat around watching hunting videos, eating venison and drinking beer and home made wine. The wine was top notch but I didn't get tanked the night before. The warm weather was a bit of a bummer but thats the day I got the 2 does. My buddy shot his two on Sunday eve. Monday was the day the buck got shot and after that I didn't get another shot opportunity.

Sumpnz,
Nope, that was the total cost for the tags. We drove up and then I flew back out of Kansas City since my buddy was staying thru Thanksgiving.

As for the steaks, give me a holler if you get down this way. Will definitely return the favor. If you don't make it down then the next shoot I'll bring some your way.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Sumpnz,

Yep, $159 for 3 tags. My yearly MO deer hunting trip has to be one of the most economical out-of-state hunts that exists. I generally use frequent flyer miles to get a free (or cheap) tickets (Didn't this year as my ticket was only $212, thanks AA). Most people think I'm nuts when I tell them I'm going to Missouri to deer hunt. I tell them I'd be nuts not to because the hunting is so good. Our average success rate is over 100%. I like them odds. We generally only hunt the first 2 or 3 days also.

 

[sumpnz]

NRA and Lenny - Any chance I could tag along on some future trip? BTW, how do you handle getting the meat home when you fly.

 

[Lennyjoe]

I drove up there with my buddy who owns property. His family has a 300 acre farm that we hunted on. I also hunted with alot of his friends.

I flew back cause I have to be at work tomorrow. He is still on leave and will be driving back with the meat next weekend. As for flying with meat, just freeze it solid, pack it in a cooler, tape the cooler closed and check it in with your luggage. I see alot of hunters doing it that way. You might have to pay for being over weight but it's worth it.

I am planning a trip next fall to Alaska for moose and that's how I plan on getting the meat back. Not cheap by no means but like I said before, its worth it.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I have a small soft sided cooler that I pack the frozen meat into and carry it on. It just fits in the overheads and holds about 40 pounds. Works great. If I want to bring more back, I'll get some that my dad drove home to Wisconsin at Christmas time.

 

[El Tejon]

Nice deer.