rifle season opens this coming weekend and it sure seems the rut will still be in full bore. looking forward to decent movement/activity, i just hope something graces me with its presence. to all my fellow Missouri hunters good luck this weekend and by all means be safe.

I am not a Missourian...but I will be there. I live in Oklahoma, but have been hunting the opening weekend in St. Clair County for most of my life. This is my favorite weekend of the year...

Same here- Kansas resident, but hunt MO every year. I'll be hunting the Lamine River Conservation area in Morgan County. I've had good luck there in years past.

I'll be hunting on my property the first half of the season, and then going to Kirksville area for the second half. Been travelling up there to hunt for 19 or 20 years.

I plan to hunt with my .223 and my granddad's m94 30-30 at home, and then my 257 Roberts in north MO.

where abouts is home? kirksville has some big deer! I'll be in the Owensville area myself.

Public land for me all season. The farmer north of Hannibal who let me hunt sold all his land this year. If it's brown it's down!

Good luck from Nebraska, Jim.

You hit Stone Hill while you're in the area?

ill be on my farm in Callaway with member HUGH.

stonehill is 20 mins. from my farm

Not during deer season. And to be honest, I’m more of a Napa guy!

Macon county will be a hot spot for hunters again this year. I'm ready

what part? had a farm north of new cambria

Wife and I will be splitting time between our home place in southern Boone, and our farm in Moniteau county. We've been disappointed in what we've seen on trail cams and while bow hunting. Our best was a really nice (wide and tall) 9 pointer that we believe got killed on Hwy 63 which borders our home place. Hoping for a rut surprise - they happen. Be safe and shoot straight to all.

bludog

I own land near Lone Jack, east of KC Metro area. I plan to drop a doe asap, and then shoot as many coyotes as I can for 3-4 days. This year the coyote population has been ridiculous. I hear 3 different packs from my patio every night.

packing up tonight, leave first thing tomorrow morning. my son has wrestling practice sat morning and wont be joining me until the afternoon by which time i hope to have something hanging from a tree to rub in his face.

I’m headed up to hunt in the northwestern part of the state. Hope the deer herd has rebounded. Love hunting in the Show Me State!

Planning to kill a Boone and Crockett buck in Daviess county. Or maybe not. Good Luck

I almost got run over by the biggest doe I've ever seen in my life while bird hunting in Daviess county. Got within about 5 feet of me and I had to say "hey" before she knew I was there. Big deer in that part of the state.

Be hunting northern Cooper County (grew up there) this weekend and then next weekend might be back there. Or see if my buddy will let me whack a doe on his place is southern Cass County.

I hunt the big blocks of public forest ground in the Ozarks.

Hunting our property in Benton County. Be an all day sit today.

Very windy this morning. Didn’t see a deer. Headed back out in the afternoon looking for better luck.

8 different bucks and 4 does opening day. Had a 7 point and doe within 75 yards for almost 4 hours, makes a tight sit. No hunt today.

Well early fri morning as I turn onto hwy 28 at Gerald MO I see a nice nice buck just strutting across this field. I figure that can’t be a bad sign. Anyway deer movement in the Owensville area was good on opening day yesterday. However no bucks were seen by yours truly. Had a great weekend and headed back down fri night with at least one, possibly 2 of my boys in tow.

Bagged a nice 8 pointer yesterday morning in Lafayette County on my friends farm. It's a nice big one. Got him with the old reliable 30-06. It was the first deer i saw. The shot was at about 40 yrds.

My 2017 Morgan County public land 11 pointer. Got him on the 2nd morning with a Kimber Montana .300 Win Mag while he was chasing a doe.

Love to be in Randolph County MO with my two sons for the week.....one of these years.

good stuff

My wife killed a 4pt. yesterday morning. Son missed a whopper 8 pt. this morning. I've seen a bunch of does, but haven't actually hunted much because of taking care of the others. We'll see how things work out if I can get time off work to hunt.

I'm hunting about 6 miles NE of Macon

Nicely done!

Some nice deer on this thread.
Just got back from three days up in Benton County. A better year than average. Two more inside the truck.

Here is my buck taken in the Ozarks with my AR15. It is a .223 shooting the 70 gr TSX handloads. He was shot at 150 yards and was DRT.

That's a really pretty buck right there......

tylerw02 -

That's a dandy - congrats.

Thanks guys I am pretty excited!

really really nice Ozark buck! congrats!
whats the inside spread? looks decent.

Whereabouts in the Ozarks do you hunt?

Just heard the news. Macon County #1 in the NE region so far. I'm about 12 miles NW of New Cambria.

Thanks! I honestly haven't measured. I was busy all day taking care of other family members deer with them and had seven nieces and nephews running around to help keep an eye on...and this guy neglected to bring a tape.. On my way home I dropped it off at the taxidermist...never had one done up before.

Well, I struck out completely. Never saw a deer on the hoof after Friday scouting. The area we have hunted for years has been overrun with KC Folks 'looking to get away,' and the Amish. I knew when the Amish started rolling in a few years back it was going to get bad. This year seems to be the proof. I am going to have to either find another piece of Corps ground to hunt, or give Missouri up all together. I may just start bowhunting it the week prior to rifle.....before the orange (and flat hat) army shows up

Nice buck, tylerw02!

Check out this monster shot around O'Fallon

http://fox4kc.com/2017/11/13/missouri-hunter-bags-39-point-buck/

I killed this buck Saturday evening right before dark as he came slipping through the woods.

Nice, crappie! Good mass!

He was a 5.5 yr old. We had him on camera just once in the past 2 months. I was moving just down from the peak of the ridge that was over looking a dry creek bed. The bottom of the hollow also contains a small overgrown field. I was watching two separate buck/doe chases in front of me when he came up behind me headed their way. First shot was a only 30 yards at which he jumped and then took two more leaps before stopping. The second shot hit him high on the shoulder and took him down instantly. This is a new farm to me, but has been in the family for close to 100 years now. One of my older brothers had first shot at buying it, but declined last year when he purchased my parents place. It then dropped to me and I scooped it up as fast as I could. It has never had cattle on it and hasn't been hunted for over 25 years. No roads, so if you want to hunt it, you have to walk it.

That's a dandy MO buck.

CK-
What a gorgeous buck!!!!

CKiller,
Very nice deer, and rifle.

Thank you, I bought that rifle (7x57) off of the campfire last summer and took last years buck with it also. It has an incredibly smooth action and shoots very good with the PPU Thunder ammo. I bought the factory stuff for the brass, but it has performed very well the last two years.

Nice picture especially when an M-70 in 7X57 in shown after doing the deed.. Congrat's.

got a doe and button buck. back at it tomorrow

6.5x55 Swede FW
Wife's 30-06 pre 64 FW

The top one was my 2015 deer, the wife's was last years 2016 deer killed on the next farm over from the one we just bought. Just a bunch of Ozark acorn bucks. All joking aside, we are 15 years into management of our deer in this area on a what was once a self induced 8 pt rule. Now we look strictly at age structure. We are just off of the Gasconade River where row crops are available, but it is the terrain and age structure that allows these bucks to realize their potential. It is difficult hunting that most are not willing to endure, at least in my experience in this area. Most want to drive up to their stand and sit on their cooler. I was forced to hunt that way for several years until I was able to obtain our own hunting grounds. I really don't give a dang about the size of the horns or score. I much more relish the hunt and experience. But there is no denying that letting a deer reach an age of 4.5 years or more will yield a vastly superior horn quality. My biggest fear is that we have raised a generation of hunters that ONLY care about the size of the antlers/score. They lose the art of the hunt and joy of out smarting a mature deer. They are into shooting at long range and gadgets like scent lock and other gimmicks. I am no angel, as I have tried more [bleep] then I want to admit, but I find that a good squirrel hunt teaches one more lessons than anything you can buy. Learn to place your feet, be silent, recognize the sounds of the woods and pick up on things that are odd. Money cannot buy these things. Just my thoughts. YMMV

Nice buck and classic cartridge!

Headed back out after work tomorrow. Two of my sons will be joining me, looking forward to a good time.

I only saw 3 deer in the first 4 days on my small 80 acres but one of those was this guy.

He came into some rattling and grunting Saturday about 3

Kimber Montana 280 AI shooting 120 Nosler BT's at about 2800

Good luck, Jim!

I'm taking a guy from work hunting Saturday- he's never shot a deer, or even hunted before, so I'd at least like to put him on a doe.

My wife and I are loading up the truck and headed to Fairfax Oklahoma tomorrow for this Saturdays opener

My youngest son has a rifle I picked up for him a couple years ago that he has not bloodied yet. I hope he pops one.

Good luck, Ted. Oklahoma is my favorite state to hunt in. I wanted to go this year, but work got in the way.

I did hunt far western Oklahoma last year- Rita Blanca National Grasslands, hoping to encounter a Mulie buck, but no such luck. I did see some whitetail bucks and hundreds of antelope.

Are you hunting public land?

Private land but I'm not hunting....my wife is.

I'm the video guy taking a nap in the blind with her.

I might buy a tag if the deer are thick and she was to tag out early

Well this past weekend turned out pretty good for my boys. Two of the three went hunting with me over the weekend and both scored on sat. The youngest son finally christened his .270 I gave him two years ago. No wall hangers were shot but some fine table fare was scored.

Nice!

Congrats to your boys Jim.

If they turn out half as good as you they will be good folks.

Jim that .270 was the one I bought from you and the other son used his 7-08 also bought from you. So you were along for the ride sort of.

That is cool......Thank you.

I am happy the boys have a great role model that will take them out hunting!!!