So every year it starts with a phone call from my buddy Tim Hardin, everybody starts talking about the date we will return, usually a couple weeks after we just got back from Weaubleau Creek outfitters. Last year we got there in early October, and it was pretty hot with a five-day hunt in front of us. We were hunting from five in the morning till about 10 AM in, then have lunch and back in the stand until about a half hour after dark. Last year I got my first archery buck at WCO, and it was a "Dandy" to me. Actually it was barely legal, but you could not have told me that, I had just shot a whopper!! So this year's Hunt was set in the first first week of November we flew in on November 5 to the Springfield Hair Care, Tire Center and International Airport LOL, and I had booked a double hunt Archery and Rifle, so I was there until the 17th. We had The Gridiron Outdoors and Go Wild Camo Crew in camp with us, they were there filming Tim Hardin, he played football with Mike Palaewski at Cal Berkeley. Mike is the host of gridiron out doors, so he wanted TIM to Hunt on film for one of their upcoming episodes in February 2017. The first day of the hunt everybody saw a ton of good bucks, I was sitting in a tree stand above an open meadow with a cut that came in front of me off of the road, at 7:30 AM I saw a shooter eight point walk right under my stand, but my agreement with the outfitter Steve Harnden was, I would not shoot a buck unless he was better than last years. There are no size restrictions from Steve and Rob the owners, they just have to have 4 points on one side. The truth is, they would like you to wait if you can, because they have a lot of great bucks in these county's we hunt, but if you are happy so are they. The first day John got a nice buck to start it off, and they kept falling from there. A total of 6 bucks were taken during Archery and 5 more during Rifle as well as a pile of doe. I then spent the next four days kicking myself in the butt, for not shooting that buck. On Wednesday the 9th, I had been in the stand I got my buck out of last year, on the last day of the hunt. I was being dumb, and ended up dropping my BowTech Prodigy 25 feet out of the stand.... I climbed down, and took a practice shot sacrificing an Arrow, Broadhead and a Nockturnal, and realized, my bow was trashedAs Pure Luck would have it, Chris Levai "The Finisher" of Riverside Archery was in camp, and after TIM, Chris and Ben got me through understanding my 20 yard pin was useless, my 30 was now my 20, and my new 30 was between the old 30 and 40 and 40 was just under 50.... everything else was ok.... yes I was confused as well, but I was back hunting!!! So as the Hunt goes, on the last day of the archery season, at about 5:03 PM, a absolute giant was about 150 yards away. He was closing in Chasing a Doe and a Fawn, trying to split the fawn from a doe, and the doe looked like she had been run for miles! I had ranged him at first around 90 yards and Drew back, I was shaking so bad I couldn't hit a suburban at 10 yards. I drew back again at a little over 56 yards and was still shaking like a leaf, I saw the fawn pass in front of me at 47 yards and I knew he was going to follow her path, so I drew back relaxed and let the arrow fly when he stood there, he dropped. This was the most exhilarating Hunt I have ever imagined, I had to sit there and calm myself, so I didn't fall out of the tree stand, and when I got on the ground I went crazy! There is no feeling like getting on the ground and realizing the buck you have just harvested, is a buck of a lifetime, and he is a Flippin giant! I got on the phone and called Robbie, he is one of the partners at WCO and told him I had just shot a "smoker". After I talk to Robbie, and told him and Steve to hurry up and get over here, so they can see this thing. I called my wife and kids to thank them for allowing me the time away from the family, so I can do what I truly love! If it was not for my wife taking on the burdens of the household for 13 days, there's no possible way I couldtake these adventures with my friends in Missouri! There's not much better feeling than to come back into camp and everybody knows you have got the one, and they're all waiting in the skinning Barn with a beer in their hand waiting to hear story, and what a story we would have. There's something to be said about hunting with a group of guys that you truly consider friends, when you can enjoy times like this, and they enjoy it and are just as excited as you. You cannot express in words what it is like sitting in a tree stand for over 100 hours, and knowing that this in a % fair chase, and every buck in the county could be five farms over! The only thing I have is faith that Steve knows his farms, and he knows his stands and everyone of them are placed for a reason. The set I hunted was called the "Heaven" stand, and that evening I learned why. Thanks to Steve, Rob, Anna, Jennifer and Alex of WCO, you have a client for life.
