Larry and I spent 4 days in North MO, beginning on Nov 4th, while Keith and Eric came up for the 5th and 6th. Temps were on the warm side, keeping deer movement rather low. This hunt did demonstrate the variability of rut associated movement though. While Larry and I saw some rut activity each morning, Keith and Eric saw hardly any activity from their stands, only 3/4 mile away in the same river bottom.

November 4th
Turkeys greeted us all around our stands the first morning and we even heard some gobbling. This spot has been a proven stand for many Novembers. Early on, a lone doe was seen moving off in the distance. No deer were spotted after that, until nearly 9:30, when a doe came busting straight at us from within the timber. This small doe was followed by another doe feeding along. While the running doe acted crazy, doing sprints all around us, I looked at Larry with the "What in the world is wrong with that thing?" look, I hear a buck grunt. Sure enough, a buck was right there and came at the crazy doe at a quick walk. I did want to shoot the buck and was at full draw on him as he went right through my shooting lane at 32 yards. As he went the other way, I noticed that the buck was about 18 inches wide!

He just would not slow down long enough for a shot and eventually all 3 deer scattered away from us. The evening hunt was spent at a new location as the wind shifted to an east wind, forcing us out of my favorite spot.

November 5th
Back in my favorite stand, we didn't have to wait long this morning for action. Larry spotted a buck moving right towards us at about 60 yards. Again, I wanted to shoot this buck. He looked to be a 9 or 10 with decent width and good mass. As the buck came to about 40 yards, he locked up, staring at 3 does that had fed in unseen. I grunted to him and he immediately started our way, only to again want to go to the does.

Soon they wanted out of there and led him away. A smaller buck came cruising by later in the morning, and I called him back 3 or 4 times just for fun. A spike and basket rack pushed and sparred about 75 yards from us for several minutes late in the morning as well.

Several does were seen in the evening, but no bucks.

November 6th
This morning, it was Larry's turn to hunt. A little after 8:00, he smacked my leg and hissed "buck coming." I grabbed the camera, turned it on, and looked up to see a good buck closing the distance quick. I got the camera on him but quickly realized I would have to spin all the way around in order to film the shot on the other side of the tree. As I spun, Larry asked if he was a shooter and I told him "definitely." As I got the buck back in the viewfinder, focused and zoomed in, Larry grunted to stop the buck in a good lane.

His arrow went just low and we both went from excited to disappointed in less time than it takes to type this. No other significant activity was seen that morning and only several does that evening. So far, 3 mornings and 3 different good bucks. Not the rut hunts we all dream about, but certainly worth being out there for.

November 7th
I am back in the hunter's stand this morning. Only 2 deer were spotted, and nothing close. Temps were really heating up, and we had to head home empty handed. Gotta work for a living, you know...

Hoping for some cool weather this week for a suburban hunt close to home.

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