Here are a couple of early bowhunting bucks from my area. The first one is a huge nontypical a friend of mine shot, here in north Mo. It was officially measured (green) 242 7/8 which will be NO. 2 all time in the state as an archery kill. The second is a nice buck my nephew (brother's son) shot yesterday on our place. He also has killed a 171 B&C typical already and a 188 gross bowkill last year.

Nice!

I miss hunting north MO.

The places we hunted just got over run with people who's mentality is "if it's brown, it's down."

I use to shoot a couple of Does each year that would go close to 200 pounds, if not 200. I haven't seen a Doe like that since 1995.

Doc

Where were you hunting? Our area unfortunately has been leased out heavily in recent years. It's getting where you have to join in or be a landowner. Fortunately, my family has a good farm, and I have access to other good land where they have been managed for bigger bucks, as well as leasing about 600 acres. We usually kill 7-8 bucks in the over 140 class a year.

Thanks for the inspiration! I'll be hunting with family in northern MO Nov 9-12. I'm so excited I'm having trouble sleeping. This will be my first out of state hunt.

I don't know where their farm is, but we'll be staying at a motel in Trenton.

Beautiful - congrats to both...

bja 105

Who are you hunting with in the Trenton area? I am only 25 miles from Trenton. Believe me if you've just hunted in Pa., you'll like this hunt.

Jim

I hunt a little further north of there, East of Bethany, and it is not quite so inspiring. We have seen only one legal buck since the antler restrictions started. They all look like the huge 6 point we saw for a couple years. We saw 10 large bucks last year, all 6 points or below, and of course, they want to protect those. I wish we could get the neighbors to let the small 8 and 10 pointers walk, but they won't so the breeding is done by 6 pointers.

We also have a huge problem with road hunters, spotlighters and folks that turn their dogs loose at daylight. Last year I was walking out of the hayfield I hunt next to at dark and a truck drove through the field spotlighting well after dark. All the warden can do is wait for them the next day, but they didn't come back.

Great deer! I wish I had access to someplace different.

Our farm is between Hatfield and Allendale. Our farm is surrounded by dead-end roads and well-managed leased ground. It is virtually inaccessible unless you have family, etc. and that is the difference between good hunting and bad. The only way to get big deer on a property is to make sure no young bucks are killed, and this is tough in some areas. I hat to say it, but the change in land ownership to managed hunting properties, leased hunting land, and closely held farm family hunting has greatly increased the trophy potential in the area.