And just like that......it was gone.

This has been the strangest, most difficult, crappiest, oddest (I'm running out of adjectives) years from hell I've experienced in a while. Let's see......my year re-cap.

1. My buddy and I are nearly blown to arkansas in one of the most bizarre storms every recorded. And I wasn't able to recover the longbeard I shot only an hour before. He was either blown to Mexico or covered by one of the nearly 400 trees that were blown over. My buddy went para-sailing in a double bull matrix, was knocked unconcious and remembers none of it. But we survived.

2. I missed, not only the first deer I've missed in several years, but also the biggest damn doe I've ever seen in my life. And then, a couple months later, I missed yet another, nearly as big.

3. Deer sightings .......well.........sucked. Bad. As I sit here, right now, I've seen 4.....count them..........4......deer since November 10. My god has this year sucked for deer sightings. FRUSTRATING!

4. My grandmother, whom I was extememly close, passed away the last week of October. In fact, the funeral was Halloween. On top of that, I was sick as a dog for the funeral. Ugh.

5. We find out my step dad (who some of you may remember me mentioning in my blog on 'that other site' about my first buck, and who I refer to as "Dad") was diagnosed with prostate cancer. After a couple of surgeries and some trying times, he's on the mend.

But ya know......as bad as all of the above TRULY was.........this season had it's finer points as well.

1. I was able to do something I never thought I would get the opportunity to do. Bowhunt Illinois. And while the aforementioned biggest doe I've ever seen in my life was missed over there.......I also saw the biggest buck I've ever seen in my life there as well. And, the only deer I killed this season was an Illinois MONSTER! All 80#'s of it. Sheesh that was a little deer.

2. I tagged out on turkey this fall. Shot 2 of them dang things. One out of a treestand, one from a blind. That, was fun.

3. Spent time with some really good friends. John (jmbuckhuntr) and my buddy Brian. Those 2 guys kept me at least fairly sane this fall. I appreciate ya guys! Memories I'll keep and cherish forever.

4. I hunted hard, and gave it an honest effort. I hunted smart, and put in the hours. I'm proud of the efforts I gave it anyway.

So really, I guess it wasn't as bad as it seems surface. The hard is what makes us better hunters and people, right? I mean, if we weren't challenged, how could we ever improve? And while I'll admit I don't see it now.....who knows what the coming year will bring. Lessons I learned this year will surface and prove to be invaluable tools. I'm already looking forward to next fall.

So with that, I leave the woods pretty much as I found them. And I'm looking forward to some shed hunting, catching crappie, mushrooms and shooting carp with the bow. Before long, I'll be caught up with the daughter's softball teams and next thing ya know............it'll be September and with it, new hopes of another 'best season of my life.'

 

I had a great season but i am north of your location.. just kidding. cant wait until spring turkey season, and hotboating the lake of the ozarks.

mobow if you apply for bush wildlife magaged hunts i can put you on some 150-200 bucks, i grew up there.

 

Applied this year, in fact. But wasn't drawn. If I'm drawn next year, you'll most definetly be hearing from me.

 

This was a very strange year for deer. Certainly was around here. I didn't talk to anyone who saw anywhere near what they normally did in a season. I sure hope it was just some fluke due to the weather and the big corn fields standing for so long. We'll see next year I guess.

 

It seems like there are alot of weird storms that hit that part of the state. I lived in STL for a couple of years and it is like a wind storm magnet.

It sounds like some of your experiences were unique, but this was a wierd year in alot of ways. Sept was very rainy, Oct was super dry, Nov was very warm, then it rained a ton and there was and still is a ton of standing corn. This year was a tough one for sure.

I managed to tag out on archery deer and turkeys, but the deer were both does. i took the second doe last weekend on my last sit. The big bucks were tough to get on this year. The only buck I saw over 130" was a 160+, but some poor timing by my neighbor flubbed that one.

I think it was a frustrating year for alot of us.

 

So are ya coming back to IL next year, where there is a booner behind every tree? This was a really tuff year for a lot of guys I know that usually kill a good buck every season. Myself included.

I'm having an escalator installed on "Asskicker Hill".:D

 

I dunno yet. That's an awfully expensive deer tag..... I'm considering it quite seriously though. I sure had a great time over there this year, and that alone was worth the price of admission.

 

Well atleast it was a memorable one! :D

 

Donski, I feel for you bud, sounds like a very tough year for ya It was all throughout for alot of hunters. If you remember the year we had EHD in my area, I seen a total of three bucks my whole season and the third one died :D

 

Don, Momma said that there would be years like that. Hopefully there won't be too many in a row ;-)

Dan