Horntagger's 2005 Deer & Bear Season

First 8 Point Buck in the group of 4 bucks. - 8:00 p.m. on August 20th, 2005 - First scouting trip for Missouri Deer.	Second 8 Point Buck in group of 4 bucks - Much wider and taller rack - 8:00 p.m. August 20th, 2005 - First scouting trip for Missouri Deer.
Third 8 Point Buck - Again much wider and taller rack - 8:00 p.m. August 20th, 2005 - First scouting trip for Missouri Deer. Fourth one I think was a ten pointer with a drop tine, but kept dropping his head to quick to get a picture.

Pre-Season Scouting Pictures
ARKANSAS

My Arkansas - Black Bear Research - Cassette Tapes, Electronic Calls, Video's, DVD's, Maps, Notes, Sprays, Mouth Calls, CD's and More Maps all dealing with Arkansas Bear Hunting Regulations, Harvest Records, Biology and Habitat, Hunting Methods, One on One Interview in Person, Phone Calls and E-mails.
White River - Arkanas September 10th.	Franklin County - ARKANSAS - First Scouting trip for bear. September 10th, 2:00 p.m.
Pig Trail Scenic Byway - Ozark National Forest September 10th.	White Rock Wildlife Management Area
MULBERRY RIVER - ARKANSAS - First Scouting trip for bear. September 10th, 2:00 p.m.
When you looking for big things, you always seem to find the small one's.	Well not so small.
After finding one dry pond and looking for the others, we found fresh scat on a road near a clearing. Good sign but might have been passing thru.
Found the second pond which is also dry about 50 yards away from scat. But in turn in the old dry pond did find this branch broken torn from the canopy above and the bark stripped from the tree trunk. Canopy full of acorns but this one only had 4 or 5 left on the whole branch.
Seemed to be very fresh. The leaves have not even started to wilt and it has been 90 plus degrees every day. Promising signs.	While looking for the third pond about 40 yards away on a logging road found this old scat. This was even more promising sign, with the fresh scat lets me know a bear is coming into the area more than just once.
Camera man and I enjoyed looking for bear sign.
About 10 yards away we, found the third pond which, was great because it had water in it and it has been a drought in this area of the country. You can see the first bear track on the far left, then best one in the center and on then far right.
The track was about the size of my hand. 4" wide and about 4 1/2" long. The grass was still matted down.
The tracks lead to the waters edge. this one was filled with water.	This one was the deepest, where it sunk in the mud about 6" and was a lot bigger in size. I am guess it was the rear foot.
This was another, not deep but wide and the grass was still matted down in it.
Butterfly was enjoying the mud also.
During the day I talked with a guy on a ATV, that was looking for the wagon train in the area and he told me that loggers in this area had seen 4 bears cross the road this summer. Not far down the road, I notice pokeweed like to grow a lot along the road edges. I found this one that was stripped.
This one was broken down.	This one was the most interesting. It had a rock ledge above. The Pokeweed had been broken down and it appear that the dirt was fresh and dug out from the underside of the ledge.

On the drive out I did finally come across the wagon train.

Lots of different style of wagons.

Finally came out onto the paved road. This was 6 of 10 wagons and 10 horse and riders we say on the way out.

Lots of different things to take picture of on the way in and out. But the Hillbilly Cabin was a must.

Over all it was just a 2:30 hour trip one way and 150 miles. Which is not to bad. We got to the area and around 2:00 p.m. and put boots on the ground for about an hour of the day and left around 4:30 p.m.. I got my bearings and only need to find one more larger pond before I commit to a setup.

All in all it was a good first trip.

Friday, September 16th – 6:40 p.m. - Greene County, MO. – Hunter - "Jason B." Rattled in a 8-Point Buck in Velvet & a 8-Point buck without. But, would not come into bow range.

Hunted - 7:15 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Hunting same area as I scouted earlier in August.

7:15 p.m. - I watched at doe at 20 yards. Doe spooked at Hunter "Jason B." location.

We introduced each other at the parking area, and worked out about hunting together in that area.

Saturday, September 17th – 7:00 a.m. - Greene County, MO. - Hunter "Jason B." rattled in another 8-Pointer from different direction

I did not hunt this morning - Took son and help out a NWTF "J.A.K.E.S. Day"

Hunted - 5:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

6:00 p.m. - Both of us hunted this afternoon. But only thing to view was an Armadillo which walked by me at about 2 feet.

Sunday, September 18th – Hunted - 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. - Greene County, MO. - Severe thunderstorm roll in from 5:45 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.- Waited till lighting quit before getting out of truck at 8:45 a.m.

Did some still hunting since it had rained I could walk the area quietly. Found 7 rubs and 3 fresh bedding spots in this one area and found a tree that I will be able to use a climber in. Which is a this area is extremely limited on any trees to climb.

All this was within 70 yards of this tree with multiple trails crossing each other.

Bow Season Pictures
MISSOURI

1st Fresh Rub
September 18th, 2005

2nd Fresh Rub
September 18th, 2005

3rd Fresh Rub September 18th, 2005	4th Fresh Rub September 18th, 2005
5th Fresh Rub September 18th, 2005	6th Fresh Rub September 18th, 2005
7th Fresh Rub September 18th, 2005	1 of 3 fresh bedding spots.