I hunt Gasconade County (east Central MO), I live in IL but have an uncle with a nice farm. I do not bow hunt out there but go out there to rifle hunt. THe farm is manged with plots and great cover and water sources. It is a very nice setup but unfortunately the deer are never allowed to grow to there prime by the surrounding property hunters. I have been hunting there for almost 15 years now and have only witnessed 3 deer that would have scored in the 120's or better. I may be a little one sided since I live in a big buck area of IL. I do beleive since MDC has imposed the 4 point rule the area will start to produce better deer in the future. But I do know one thing, my cousin decided to give my area a try during shotgun season and I had him on a 130 1/8 8pt the first morning. He has not stopped talking about how much he is looking forward to this season. I hope that your area you have permission to hunt is better then the area I hunt in MO. Last year with the warm weather during gun season it was extremely slow. Hope this year holds better yeild then last year. I have nothing against MO but I think the MO boys should put down the big guns and think about using shorter range guns to let the deer start growing larger. I am only talking about the area in which I have experience. I now MO holds some of the largest deer in the national just not as abundant as other states.

~Jeff