MO Opening Weekend
 

Hey all MO Hunters

Have not posted in a long time but here goes.

Frustrating opening weekend. Hunt northeast of Kansas City in the Richmond area. I personally saw nothing (cept a a couple yotes) after hunting Saturday till Monday at about noon. I should say nothing while hunting, a couple driving to stand. Jumped zero.Three of ushunt about 60 acres or so. My one buddy did have a shot on an 8-10 pt, but it was over 200 yards away and the other guy had a 5 point close for a chip shot, but obviously no shot due to the regulations. Me, just a shot on yotes.

Wanted to hear what everyone else's thoughts on the weekend were. I have heard some reports out of northwest MO that they saw nothing as well.
Does everyone expect a better second weekend?
Thinking about going back for second weekend, but not sure if it is worth the three hour drive (please note that this is the first time I have ever thought about not hunting the second weekend especiallywith the wife's ok, I am in a weird spot right now, haha)

Thanks for any info. Also, if I can, I may post a map and see if anyone has any ideas about where to hunt.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

i live just outside richmond where are ya hunting? i might be able to give ya some tips.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

http://www.kansascity.com/sports/outdoors/story/896072.html
-Lowest opening weekend kill total since 1999. From a high of 133,136 in 2004 to 98,565 this year. That's quitea drop.

I hunt in the northeast part of the state and I saw quite a few deer. However, I am fortunate enough to hunt outstanding property with relatively little pressure.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

Thanks mizzouhunter. I must have spent 20 minutes of company time yesterday trying to find an article like that.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

I had a great opening weekend. I'm sure the drop was partially because of the new counties in AR's.
Here's a link to my weekend.
http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=3174392

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

I did see your post, great buck and congratulations.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

Thank you, BTW, I was in Montgomery County.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

i think this weekend will be a little bit better. i'm seeing alot more buck movement. right now the younger bucks are really getting aggressive. i have had 3 come into grunt calls looking for fights.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

I agree. And I thinkthatthe second weekend has been better for the last couple of years. I really wonder how long it will be before MDC shifts firearms season back one week. I know they talked about it during the last round of changes, but decided against it.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

I think shifting rifle season back a week would be GREAT. Mainly because that way a lot more does get bred by bucks, before the bucks get shot.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

it would be nice to have it backa week, that would put the second weekend after Thanksgiving giving lots of people an extra day too. Like you said, I know they have talked aboutit but I wonder if the AR has pushed any other changes back.Excited to see what the weekend brings. Iwas ina pretty heavy state of frustrationat the original post, not seeing much coupled with some other stuff from the weekend had me down. I will be out in the woods thisweekend and hopefully have some news to report.
Have a great rest ofseason and thanks for the input.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

This weekend should be a good one. Right now it's supposed to be COLD. They'll be moving even more with the cold and the rut. Good luck guys

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

I believe that next years Rifle Season will run into Thanksgiving so you guys may get your wish! :D

On our opening weekend (Southeast MO.) it was really nasty out with cold weather and rain and a little flurries mixed in,then we had high winds for several days also. [:@]
We didn't see very much Deer movement or any Bucks chasing after Doe's for that matter.We did see a few Bucks that were on the move but most were traveling pretty fast through the big timbers.A few guys on our Lease shot some nice Bucks but we saw veryfew Doe's and some Yearling Doe's and Button Bucks.I'm thinking this weekend will be much better because of colder weather coming in and more Hunters will be trying to drive the Deer so the action should pick up a lot more!

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

I'll put in my .02. I hunt in the NE portion of the state (north of Macon by 10 miles and east of Atlanta by 2-3 miles). From my stand I saw about 25-30 does on opening morning and about half as many little bucks. I took a button buck on opening day and a doe on the second day right at dusk (4:30 or so). I didn't see any shooter bucks all weekend but I have hope for next year because of all the little bucks I saw. I believe that the kill was down this year because of the AR being applied to more counties. Just give it a few years and we will have a great mature herd of deer in MO with bucks that rival Iowa and Illinois.

RE: MO Opening Weekend
 

i agree mo-ks. but even the AR doesn't account for me seeing the lack of mature bucks even before rifle season began.
Maybe hunters last year realized that AR was gonna be implemented and decided to shoot every buck that walked out last year while they still could.