Missouri Whitetail Hunt

This November I am going hunting for trophy whitetail buck with my dad and my friend.  We are going to Northeast Missouri to hunt with Hickory Hill Hunts.  This will be my first trophy whitetail hunt with my dad and I am really looking forward to it.  We seem to talk about this hunt on a weekly basis and are like a couple of kids waiting for Christmas.  


I am extremely excited about this hunt as Brad the owner has access to over 4,000 acres of land that he has been managing for years.  He has taken some monster bucks over the years and really knows how to manage his land and deer.  When comparing Missouri outfitters, Hickory Hill Hunts was an easy choice for me, my dad, and our friend.


I plan on using my 30-06 on this deer hunt as does my dad.  I have never hunted in Missouri before, but am looking to make a few lasting memories.  Here are some photos of recent deer taken at Hickory Hill.  I will keep everyone updated on the hunt over the next few months.

Dad's Black Bear Hunt - 1986

My latest post is about a black bear hunting trip my dad and his friends took in 1986.  The story is told through dad's words....

From left to right: Guide, Dominic, Dad, Guide, Pud

I deciding to go bear hunting with my friends Pud and Dominic.  We drove to Colebrook, New Hampshire where we met up with our guides and had a hunt to remember and a story to tell for years to come.  The first thing we did was go for our hunting licenses, where we needed our hunter-ed certificates to get the licenses. Everyone had one but Pud.  Luckily he was able to use his pistol permit as an indicator that he was able to hunt. Later that evening we met with the guides to plan our strategy for the next day.

We were to be broken up into three groups and would go in three different directions. Each truck would have 2 strike dogs and 4 chase dogs. The strike dogs would sit on top of the truck to pick up old scents of bears. When the strike dogs pick up a scent, they would be turned loose and cold-trail the bear until they jump it. You would be able to tell by the sound of their barking when they jumped a bear. At that time, the chase dogs would be turned loose to assist in the chase. Each dog was collared with a GPS, so we would know where they were. You had to wait until the bear was either treed or cornered by the dogs and then you would have to run to the dogs location.

The next day, we ate breakfast then started out on our hunt. About an hour into the hunt Dominic's dogs got scent of a bear and his hunt began. Two hours later, we heard on the radio that Dom had his bear!  During Dominic's hunt, Pud’s truck got wind of a bear.  But a problem occurred; another guide was on the same bear with his dogs.  Pud bowed out on this bear hunt and started anew. While this was occurring, my hunt had started or so I thought.  About 1 hour later we got to the tree where the bear supposedly was, only to find that it was a raccoon (raccoons are used to train the dogs).

We stopped for lunch and within an hour we were back on the road.  In only a few minutes our dogs had jumped a bear. We let them loose, but the dogs began to tire.  They were exchanged for Dom’s dogs, which already had time to rest after their first hunt. A short time later, another problem occurred. A pack of coyotes were trailing the dogs. My guide and I went to collect the dogs while Pud, Dominic, and their guides watched for the coyotes (to remedy this problem).

A few hours later we were about to call it a day, but while we were driving to meet up with Pud and his bear guide we found out Pud had hit a bear with two shots, and they were following it. After we met up with Pud, Dominic and his guide had seen the wounded bear go into the thicket (this was so thick that you could not see a person standing next to you) and they said it looked like he was carrying a fish in his mouth.

Since it was starting to get dark, only one dog was released to see if the bear was near and if not they would resume in the morning. The dog went a short distance into the thicket and started to bay. The guide said, “There’s your bear”. They went in to finish off the bear. As they were going in, Pud tripped on something and fell. What he tripped on happened to be the bear, who was not dead yet!  Pud, who is a big man (6’2”, 265) started to yell “he’s alive and on me”!

Pud had a 357 magnum on him and fired it. We started to run to help him, but when we got there Pud’s guide was laughing and when we saw what he saw, we too started to laugh. Pud's first shot had blown the jaw out of his bear (remember Dominic and the guide said it looked like the bear was carrying a fish?  That was his lower jaw wiggling as he ran) so it wasn't able to bite him.  Pud’s second shot hit the bear in the back and partially paralyzed him. The bear was able to muster enough strength to fall on top of Pud who tripped over him. Pud's final shot finished off the bear.  We headed back to camp with two bear in one day.

Next morning, we all headed out together, it was my turn. Shortly after we had passed an apple orchard, the dogs began to bay. We stopped and let the dogs out and they were excited to go on the chase. About 100 yards up a mountain we could hear the dogs baying and they had the bear treed. It wouldn't be as dramatic of a story as Pud's, but I finally got my bear.

In front: Pud and Dad

Post Deer Season in Pennsylvania

I decided to spend some time in the woods this weekend looking around for deer sign and sheds.  I wasn't lucky enough to find any sheds, but there was a lot of deer sign.  I saw numerous fresh digs and a lot of deer tracks. I even came across two deer stands someone had set up.  One stand was on the edge of a bench so you can see down the side of the mountain but also watch the heavily used deer run through the mountain laurel.  The other stand was setup on the side of a gully that acted as a natural funnel for the deer to move through the area.

Later on that day, I decided to watch the edges of the fields before dusk and counted 37 whitetail deer moseying out of the woods.  In about an hour, I saw a mix of nice size deer and yearlings. I believe the mild winter and reduced tag numbers from this past season should make for a better than usual Pennsylvania deer herd in 2012.  Looking forward to the upcoming season!

Small Game Hunting in Pennsylvania

Small game hunting in Pennsylvania was one of my favorite things to do as a teenager.  I remember growing up, my dad and I would head over the mountain to our uncles farm to do some hunting in the morning or evening.  We didn't have a reliable dog to work the brush for us (our basset hound was more of an inside dog... face palm), so we worked hard for our shots and endured a lot of cuts and embedded thorns.  I will say we were pretty successful and almost always brought rabbits home.  That same farm was loaded with squirrels and it was nothing to limit out by mid-morning.

I have since moved 3 hours away from my dad and he is much older now.  Needless to say we don't get out as much for small game together.  However, I was lucky enough to get out with him about 2 weekends ago for a few hours.  We didn't stay out long as he has trouble moving around these days, but we got a few squirrels.  I'll be honest though, I didn't care if we got anything that morning.  It was just nice to get out there with him, it took me down memory lane.

Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show

I traveled to Harrisburg, PA this past Wednesday to attend the Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show.  I traveled down with my dad and we ended up parking at Bass Pro and took the bus from there.  That worked out really well as we spent a few minutes walking around the store before and after!

Once we got to the show, we spent the next few hours in the hunting outfitters room talking with men and women from all over North America.  Talk about seeing so many hunts you want to book!  One of the nicest guides I met was Bob Partridge who owns Leatherstocking Guide Service in New York.  Bob and us really hit it off and we talked for about 30 minutes.  If anyone is looking for hunting in the northeast, check out his website.

We decided to leave a bit earlier than we wanted to the snow and the distance we had to travel.  I still love going down to that show year after year!