How did everyone do?

[bigdogjr71]

well as soon as i get some picks back i will post mine i got a 9 and 2 does and my son got a six pointer now i cant wait till doe season

[Bloodtrail]

I just got back from 2 weeks vacation. I spent 1 full week in IL bowhunting and then shotgun hunted there this weekend. I killed a nice doe with my bow 2 steps from my tree, spined her and she died right there, and passed on about 5-6 shots at small bucks. Opening day I killed a nice 10 pointer (144"gross)with my shotgun. I would not have got a shot without a grunt call. My advise to all would be never go into the woods without a grunt call, bleat call and rattle bag or horns to rattle with. You may not use them at all, but if the situation is right, they may be your only savior. I am having pictures developed right now, when done, I may need help posting. BT

[PoisonSnake]

Well Chris, a grunt and a bleat plumb fornicated me this year.

[Rafe Hollister]

Shouldn't be using real names on here, Jeff.

[hobiecat]

You either... Jay-Sawn.

[RB]

Grunt and bleat worked great in bringing in a 130 class 8pt but you still have to hit em to be successful.

[GoGop]

http://missouriwhitetails.com/forums/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=10314&pid=112425

Saturday morning I was assigned to "Joe", one of the volunteers for the hunt. He drove me to the blind, which was made from fence posts/pallets/plywood/burlap, and got set up. Then he parked the truck somewhere and walked back in. The blind is on a small finger in the woods, with a valley on one side and a field a short distance away on the other side. The front drops down out of view.
Just before shootin' time, we heard lots of clucks/yelps/purrs around us, and saw/heard turkeys fly down. Cool way to start the day. About 15 minutes later Joe saw two deer on the opposite side of the valley, but I couldn't see them until they were almost gone. Soon two more deer came through, but too quickly for me to shoot. These two dropped down towards the bottom of the valley, and circled around to the front point where it drops away. I was watching that way, when one stepped into view about 45 yards away and stopped to look around. BOOM!!! 7mm mag to the neck, and he's dead on the spot. We just sat and waited, and about 20 minutes later another deer comes from the same direction. He stopped right near the bottom of the valley, probably 75 to 100 yards away, and I shot him in the heart/lungs. (Not clear enough for a neck shot, with some small brush in the way). He just kinda walked quickly out of sight, along the same trail the others had taken.
We waited about an hour, and decided it was time for Joe to gut/retrieve them. He went to the first one, and with just a couple steps could also see the second one. He had walked around the finger and died about 40 yards from the first one.
While Joe was gutting the first one, a six-point walked out from the direction of the field, and stopped about 20 yards from the blind. He walked almost in between Joe and me, and was watching Joe gut the deer. He then turned and trotted away along the same trail he came in on. Pretty cool, because he never saw me.
After the two deer were gutted and had been dragged up near the blind, we saw a couple other deer too far to shoot. Then we started hearing deer grunts, going steadily for several minutes. Finally, we saw a doe hurrying down the hillside, and then the grunting buck on her trail. (He looked like another six point).We watched them go back and forth on the hillside, and when I had a clear shot I fired. The doe disappeared, and the buck at first froze, then walked away slowly. I thought it was a good hit, and he was going to pile up. Turns out I had missed. We saw a few more deer in the distance, but nothing I could shoot.

Sunday morning (today) I got a volunteer named Gary, and went to the same blind. We saw some squirrels, and a raccoon, but no deer at all. Gary said it's like that every year, with the deer figuring out what's going on the first day.

We just hunted the first half of the day, and by then I was ready to head home. I'm tired, but happy. Tomorrow we'll process the deer.

[2BHNTN]

Congrats GOGOP....

[PoisonSnake]

You just got lucky. That's all it was. Blind luck.

[RB]

on you PS.

[PoisonSnake]

I'm just messin' with him.

[RB]

At least he didn't miss a 120-130 class 8pt like I did on Saturday.

[PoisonSnake]

It is probably better that you missed him. Sammich buck.

[RB]

It would have made quite a few good sammich's, big deer. The rack was very symetrical.

[PoisonSnake]

Too brushy?