November Deer Hunting 2009

Deer hunting was a bust this year! We could not hunt the opening weekend of gun season because of a variety of unavoidable circumstances. We got out the second weekend and headed down to one of our favorite, if not most productive spots in the Ozarks. We hunted public land in an area we had hunted several years and always found good deer numbers. We packed in our climber stands and were up in our trees, separated by 150 yards or so, an hour before legal shooting hours. Around 10:00 some bozo comes smack dab through the area we are hunting. He tells my son, "Hey, I have hunted this area for 15 years and never seen another hunter so I guess I'll hunt here today." By the time he got to me, it had only been 10 years and he apologized for messing up our hunt. He then proceeded to a tree close enough to where I could have spit on him (and I should have).

Discretion is the part of valor when all three people are heavily armed and one of them is your son. Consequently we departed this area and still hunted the remainder of a beautiful day. We saw two deer butts cavorting through a pine forest over a hill...that was it. We hunted a bit the next day, the only action being a group of about 25 turkeys that came through.

We left and drove over to Rocky Falls, one of Missouri's most beautiful spots. The weekend was a deer hunting bust, but as always we loved almost every moment of it.

This weekend, as I write this, is the only weekend of antlerless season I could hunt. Two days ago we got a new addition to our family, a beautiful orange stray cat, which my son fell in love with. This morning, we got it its shots and are spending the last deer hunting weekend acclimating another animal to the family.

My wife has solemnly promised me 3 full weekends of deer hunting in 2010. We'll see.