The rut is rocking, and big bucks are falling. At least, that’s the case where I’ve been these past few days.
The author's northern Missouri buck filled the dump box on his Arctic Cat 500 ATV and then some!
The location is northern Missouri, which I really believe is one of the best-kept secrets in whitetail hunting. While Iowa to the north, Kansas to the west and Illinois to the east hog the spotlight on monster whitetails, the northern part of the Show Me State quietly keeps producing great bucks of its own.
North American Whitetail Television cameraman Mike Clerkin and I pulled into the area Friday afternoon, just in time to get the gear out of our Toyota Tundra 4x4 and get settled in for the Saturday rifle opener. We’d been invited to hunt a friend’s private acreage, and while we couldn’t stay long — we needed to leave by sometime on Monday at latest — we figured that might give us enough time to lay down some good buck footage, and perhaps even take a trophy on camera.
That hunch proved correct. We saw dozens of deer on Saturday, including a couple of mature bucks that were a bit too far off to shoot. That afternoon, a hunter watching a travel corridor on another of my host’s properties shot a giant of a 10-pointer that might score as high as 170 net inches. The buck he shot, and the ones we videotaped, all were in pursuit of does.
Sunday morning, Mike and I returned to the same tower stand in which we’d sat on Saturday. But by now the weather had warmed considerably; the low was well over 50 degrees. It didn’t seem a good morning for deer movement, and sure enough, we saw far fewer feeding after daybreak. But far in the distance we did see a couple of big bucks with does, and we decided to take a chance on closing the distance for a shot.
We’d cut off 175 yards of the distance when one of the bucks popped out from behind some trees in the drainage east of us. The big 9-pointer was heading back to the thick woods to the south, and he seemed to sense something was wrong. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t act on that instinct quickly enough. I stopped him at roughly 220 yards, in the last opening before he reached the cover. The crosshairs of the Swarovski 3-9x36 scope found his vitals, my new .30 TC Thompson/Center Icon barked, and the deer crumpled on the spot. The 150-grain bullet had blasted through his lungs and caused major damage to the spine. They never run when that happens.
Primland Resort in Patrick County, Virginia, is a sleeper location for trophy whitetail hunting.
Before hunting Missouri, Mike and I were in Patrick County, Virginia, for a muzzleloader hunt at scenic Primland Resort (www.primland.com). This huge recreational property is well known for its trout fishing (the Dan River runs through the property), preserve wingshooting, scenic mountaintop golf, fine dining and cabins with eye-popping views. Of course, our main interest was in taking a Blue Ridge Mountain whitetail.
Although I didn’t shoot a buck in Virginia, I certainly had my chances. Several good deer came within range of my .50-caliber T/C Pro Hunter, but for one reason or another — all of my own making — none ended up on the game pole. (All I’ll say about that is to admit the rookie mistake of having my scope set at 10X when a nice buck walked past at close range. As most of you know, that little error can make an easy shot frustratingly difficult. . . .)
I was surprised to see the rut really hadn’t revved up too much on the ridges we hunted. I expected to see more chasing on those dates (Nov. 5-8), but all of the deer we saw were out in search of chestnut oak acorns. I’m sure that by now the rut there has kicked into high gear. Primland certainly is a great hunting location, in my opinion one of the overlooked hotspots of the region. So here's a big thank you to general manager Steve Helms and all of his staff for a wonderful hunt there in the highlands. I'd love to tackle those mountains again -- even if I didn't now know the hideout of an impressive buck that owes me a second chance!
The Blue Ridge Mountains of southern Virginia were ablaze with bright foliage when the author hunted there in early November.
As I put the wraps on this update, Mike and I are about to point the Tundra and trailer toward western South Dakota, for a rifle hunt with Two Rivers Outfitters (www.tworiversoutfitters.com). We hope the rut is rocking there as well. Meanwhile, Dr. James Kroll (“Dr. Deer”) and cameraman Josh Viste are at Double Arrows Outfitters (www.doublearrowhunting.com) in northern Saskatchewan. Stan Potts is bowhunting several spots in his home state of Illinois, and Don and Kandi Kisky are bowhunting around their home in southern Iowa. NAW magazine editor Duncan Dobie is stuck in the office, wrapping up the January issue, but plans to get into the woods again soon.
By the way, last week Kandi arrowed a massive Iowa buck at 15 yards. I’ve not yet seen the video footage, but judging from the great footage Kandi and husband Don have shot for us in the past, I’m sure this one has all the makings of a great hunt for our 2008 TV season.
The way the rut is going, with any luck on good hunting weather, we should have at least one or two more bruisers on the ground between now and my next update. Until then, good luck to all of you rut hunters out there!
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