Thanks, all! It was a fine day and I am very fortunate to have a place to hunt like I do.
Nice story,and nice big deer,good shooting!
No big deal,but ya got any more pictures of your farm,and maybe your dad?
Here are a few photos of my dad, Kenneth. He is 80 and is the toughest person I know. This photo probably encapsulates his essence better than any other. It was taken in 2013, the first year that atlatls were allowed into Missouri's archery season. Dad decided he would make a spear and use that instead. So he forged a spear head, made a shaft from a cut-down gig pole, and practiced all summer. We had a skiff of snow the 2nd week of December and Dad noticed this little buck eating grass poking through it in our barn lot. Dad would go out on the porch and the buck would run off, but then would come right back when Dad went inside. After the 3rd time of this happening, Dad grabbed his spear and decided to put a stop to it. So he climbed up in the barn loft, smoked a cigarette, and waited for the deer to return. After about 20 minutes, the buck came back out to feed. Dad said he waited until he got just the angle he wanted and then threw his spear. The buck ran about 40 yards before keeling over. When he relayed the story to me, I remarked that it must have been some sight to see that deer run off with that shaft sticking out of his side. Dad's reply was, "Son, he wasn't tracking too good when he left the barn lot." I guess I wouldn't either if I had a foot of steel shoved through my rib cage!
This was taken a couple of years ago when my good friend, Cool Johnny, and I went to the farm to hunt squirrels and fish for smallmouth bass. All those bucks nailed to the house were taken off the farm.
I write and sell magazine articles every now and then and I bought Dad this 48" Bear K-Mag with one of my royalty checks. He loves those bows!
Here are a few photos of my farm. This one was taken last year during the opening day of Missouri's firearm deer season. No shortage of targets!
Dad and I call these the "Hard Times" deer. They come in above his house about every day. We never hunt them with guns and only hunt them with bows when times are hard. I really don't know why. After hunting these deer for 20+ years, I have never killed one and Dad has only killed a couple. For me, it seems like something always goes wrong just before I go to put tension on the string.
This is the deer hanging rack in front of the barn. In 2015, I killed both those deer on consecutive days with the same arrow, which was also the same arrow I used to kill my moose that year.
Darren