GRANT: Archery season officially opened this week in Missouri and, of course, Adam and
I were headed out to celebrate. We’ve shared with you that we’ve been scouting for months
and we knew there were lots of acorns developing throughout The Proving Grounds.
GRANT: During years that the oaks produce a large crop of acorns, it’s typically best
to hunt in the timber. But during the early season, it seems some of the open grown oaks
out in the middle of fields or on the edge of the timber will produce ripe acorns first.
GRANT: There is a large white oak tree in the middle of a food plot we call Big Boom.
We’ve had good success in past years hunting it during the early season. It’s just simply
a tree that tends to drop early.
GRANT: (Whispering) First afternoon of bow season in Missouri 2016. Pretty good wind
out of the south, southeast. We’ve got a large white oak tree about 20 yards in front
of us. It’s one of the first white oaks to start dropping acorns on this part of the
farm.
GRANT: (Whispering) At dead center of the trees – about 20 yards. Anything 20 yards
should be a given.
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GRANT: I thought it was odd that this young buck and fawns were more interested in feeding
on the Broadside forage crop than they were coming to the acorns. I wondered if that would
be the trend throughout the afternoon.
GRANT: A bit closer to dark and lots of deer are starting to enter the plot.
GRANT: About that time, I caught antlers working into the field.
GRANT: Once we both got a good broadside look, Adam and I knew we had a mature buck in the
field.
GRANT: (Whispering) Yeah. Man, he was eating like crazy. Oh my gosh. I don’t know if
you can see that other deer. His head is just boping like he’s in a panic.
GRANT: As these bucks continued to feed, more and more deer were entering the plot. We knew
we were in for a great show.
GRANT: (Whispering) Oooh. That’s a nice view. Hump over the shoulder. Neck’s awful
far down for this time of year. Uh-oh, that’s a good way to get hurt, boy. Yeah, I didn’t
think you’d want much of that.
GRANT: As the sun was setting, I was becoming anxious whether the buck was gonna close the
distance in time or not. There were just a few minutes of light left when a mature buck
started heading towards the tree.
GRANT: Unfortunately, by the time the mature buck closed the distance to about 35 yards,
I simply wasn’t comfortable with the shot.
GRANT: (Inaudible)
GLEN: I’ll follow you.
GRANT: The following afternoon, my dad was able to join me…
GLEN: Yup.
GRANT: …for a whitetail hunt.
GRANT: (Inaudible)
GLEN: Yup. You get my water?
GRANT: Yes, sir. And I got your bow already out here.
GLEN: I’ll be 85 in October the 18th. I’ve deer hunted all my life and my son is gracious
enough to keep on bringing me when I’m in my old age. I love to hunt and he knows that.
And I really appreciate it and I have a good wife that don’t object and I come every
year if I get a possible chance. I love it. Every minute of it and always have. Please,
the Lord don’t help me get by another year or two.
GRANT: What do you think about how tall those beans are?
GLEN: I never seen nothing like it. I don’t know what brand they are or anything, but,
man, they do, do grow good and deer have plenty to eat on. One thing about my son – he keeps
plenty of food out for the deer and he stays right with it. I appreciate that. If, if you
was hunting on bare ground, you wouldn’t do very good at all. I appreciate him helping
me.
GRANT: It was a warm night and I felt deer movement might be a little bit limited, but
I’m always excited to spend time with my dad in a blind.
GRANT: (Whispering) Friday night, September 18th. Missouri’s bow season just opened
September 15th. Adam and I are in this Redneck Blind and had a really great afternoon. We
saw a four-year old, some three year-olds, younger bucks, does and fawns. None of ‘em
closed the distance ‘til right at dark, but there’s a rain front about an hour to
the west of us and the barometer’s dropping. It’s been about 30.1 or so and now it’s
29.9 or so. So, pretty significant change. We’re hoping it pushes the deer out to feed
earlier and maybe we can fill a tag tonight.
GRANT: Just about the time we got settled in the blind, we noticed a couple of gobblers
working their way up the plot towards the oak tree in front of our blind.
GRANT: The two toms closed the distance and actually got in front of the blind but they
were very alert and I didn’t feel good about a shot. They drifted on and continued feeding
on the Broadside forage mix.
GRANT: I’m always a little hesitant to tag a tom during the fall. Simply because I love
chasing ‘em during the spring and hearing that gobble rumble off the hills. However,
I really enjoy fresh turkey meat at Thanksgiving and I decided if presented a good shot, I’d
take it if he circled back around. Sure enough it looked like these toms were coming back
in for some acorns.
GRANT: I was getting excited as it looked like the birds were certainly gonna get in
range, but now the question is, “Were they gonna get turned right for
a shot?”
GRANT: I prefer a broadside shot ‘cause there’s a little bit better view of the
vitals on a turkey in this position. However, when this tom was broadside, he was extremely
alert. Finally, the tom turned away and gave me an opportunity to draw my bow.
GRANT: (Whispering) I’d say perfect if you don’t count the (inaudible). Watch him,
watch him, watch him, watch him, watch him. Doggone, he’s flying low.
GRANT: At 23 yards, it looked like the shot was perfect to me. And I was disappointed
that the tom actually made it out of the plot.
GRANT: (Whispering) And it’s, turkeys don’t have much blood in ‘em. You know, they’re,
they’re made to be light so they can fly. But there’s blood that smears on my white
fletching and feathers and blood on the white of the BloodSport right here. So, we re-watched
the video. We watched the video and it looked perfect zipped right where the black meets
the white feathers right down the spine. I’m surprised he made it out of the field, but
the right thing to do is go look now before it gets dark. So, we’re gonna take a look
and see. Broadhead looks like it worked perfectly. We’re gonna take a look and see what we
can find.
GRANT: The turkey I shot exited the field right where I was anticipating the bucks entering
the field and it was prime time. The only ethical thing to do – given turkeys don’t
bleed much – was for Matt and I to get down and start searching for that turkey instantly
while we had good light.
GRANT: (Whispering) …20 yards down here, I see Thanksgiving dinner laying on the ground.
GRANT: Back on the food plot – a little bit away from the bedding area now – get
to really check out the bird and I am thrilled. Probably over a ten inch beard, two or three
years old based on the spur length. And I’m most happy that we got fresh turkey for Thanksgiving
morning. We’re gonna go home and clean this bird; get the ole vacuum sealer out and have
it all ready for Thanksgiving Day.
GRANT: Even though the mature buck didn’t show, we had a successful hunt and the 2015
bow season is off to a great start.
GRANT: Great beard on this tom; longhairs are about 11 inches long, but even more important
than that, it’s gonna taste wonderful once Ms. Tracy’s done with it.
GRANT: I used a Havoc broadhead last year. A big two inch cut and I was thrilled with
its performance, so I’m shooting it again this year. And you can tell, it just made
a massive entrance wound in this turkey. When I’m hunting with a bow and a tom’s facing
dead away from me, I draw an imaginary line right down its back and right where the wing
feathers start showing up, put the arrow right in there. It’s gonna run right through the
spine or right through the vitals – making recovery fairly easy.
GRANT: Ooo, look at that. About as long as my boot. Thing about a bow kill, you don’t
have to be worried about picking shot out.
MATT: That’s exactly right.
GRANT: After I pull the meat off the breast, I always like to look at what’s in the crop,
so swallow down, first thing’s the crop right here. Look at this – huge white oak
acorns, a lot of wheat right out of the Broadside. Matt and I watched him with his head down
eating on that. Some seedheads. But once you look at that mass of brassica leaves – look
at this big leaf. Clearly a brassica leaf. And all this wheat. That rascal would have
been a 40 pounder this spring.
TRACY: Wow. Grant got a turkey last night, so it’s time to get it ready for the freezer.
We’re going to be packaging it in the, uh, LEM MaxVac sealer roll material. So, we have
to cut it to size; put the meat in it and seal it up on the vacuum sealer. It has a
nice wide seal; prevent those leaky bags. You can pack the, uh, turkey in here. Kinda,
push it into the corners. Put it on auto cycle. And it’s done. Grant’s fall bow turkey.
Okay. Look forward to enjoying this Thanksgiving or Christmas.
GRANT: I hope you have time to go hunting this week or at least get outside and enjoy
Creation. But most importantly, take time each day to slow down and listen to what the
Creator is saying to you. Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv.