27 November 2008
BBD! My Nice Whitetail Buck from Opening Day of 2008 Missouri Firearms Season
Posted by Darrell under: Whitetail Deer .
This monstrous buck was taken by me at about 1:30 in the afternoon on opening day of Missouri’s 2008 Firearms Season. This is the biggest whitetail buck I’ve ever taken. When I first saw this buck poking his head out from the woodline my heart probably skipped a couple beats. Even at the distance and with the naked eye, I could tell that he was a good buck. When I pulled up my binoculars and got a decent look at him I was stunned. Even with all my trail cameras and scouting, I had never seen this particular buck before.
It took 2 shots to drop him. I took the first shot at 320 yards. After the shot he turned and ran back into the woods. A few moments later, several does burst out of the woods and headed across the field. They were at about 270 yards. Much to my suprise, this bruiser was right behind them. My first shot would have dropped a lesser deer. This one acted like it hadn’t even phased him and I was worried that I missed. In fact, I didn’t realize that my first shot hit him until I caped him!
My second shot hit him dead center in the chest just behind the front leg. It was 270 yards. I was shooting my Browning X-bolt Medallion .325 WSM. After the shot he ran about 50 yards and fell over dead. His antlers didn’t get any smaller the closer I got.
As you can imagine, I was (and am) quite excited. You don’t see deer like this every day in SW Missouri. We’ve been managing the property I hunt on for whitetail and turkey for the past several years. It seems that our efforts are starting to pay off. There were 3 large bucks taken off the property this year. I saw at least 10 other large bucks during the firearms season! Caleb, my son, got close to getting shots on two of those monsters. Maybe next year?
On the 800+ acres I hunt, the following deer have been harvested through firearms season: 3 mature bucks (8+ pts, 4+ years old), 3 button bucks (not intentional), 8 does. So, about 1 deer has been harvested for every 60 acres or so. I’d have preferred if we had not harvested any button bucks and if a few more does had been taken. However, I’m overall pleased with the results of 2008. We’ve still got a few weeks before archery season ends.
11 Comments so far...
Blessed Says:
29 November 2008 at 3:04 pm.
Congratulations on a very nice deer!
I’m hoping my hubby’s luck turns better soon!
Deerslayer Says:
3 December 2008 at 6:12 am.
Darrel; That a really nice mature buck you’ve taken and a great shot you made. Alot of hunters would prefer not to chance a shot at that distance. Congradulations on a fine buck and good luck on the rest of the season.
Phillip Says:
4 December 2008 at 1:45 pm.
Hey Darrell, that’s a really nice buck! Congrats on that.
Also sounds like your management program is starting to pay off.
Chad Says:
16 December 2008 at 1:01 am.
Great Buck! Here is mine I shot opening day except this was in NE MO. One of those big IA-MO Line bucks! This is my first buck too! Shot him at about 200 yards away dropped him first shot!
http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02
/10/l_0d4ce3eb8e5e4ac090dc31aeb4b4df25.jpg
Marylouise Says:
17 December 2008 at 10:26 pm.
You are a great teller of stories! I really enjoy your writing style and I got caught up in the action. Congratulations on that VERY long first shot!
Dakota Says:
18 December 2008 at 3:56 pm.
We have been hunting every day this year and have been lucky to even see does. I havee never shot a buck before but I will sometime. We hunt up by daviess county(public land). There is deer sign everywere but we don’t see the actual deer. We think they are nocturnal because all the hunting pressure. Any ideas?
Jerry Laird Says:
27 February 2009 at 9:16 pm.
Nice buck!! I entered this blog to check if anyone knows of an outfit called Benders Outdoor Adventures in Greencastle Mo. Am looking at booking a hunt there. Any info is appreciated.
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