“Immerse yourself in the outdoor experience. It will cleanse your soul and make you a better person.” – Fred Bear
The quest for an outdoor experience capable of cleansing my soul started a few years ago on a cold December duck hunt. Amidst the comeback calls and bacon sizzling on the stove, conversation drifted to an out of state hunt. The usual discussion of Illinois, Kansas, the Dakotas and Montana were entertained. After some research, Missouri revealed itself to be quite the candidate for a combo duck and deer hunt. With hundreds of thousands of acres of public hunting grounds and reasonably price non-resident tags, the Show Me State quickly found itself the destination for an adventure to be remembered for a lifetime. But as life is apt to do, it got in the way and the trip was postponed. When I got laid off last November, it was the furthest thing from my mind. Not until this spring when I was back to work, did I decide that it was now or never. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and if I didn’t make it happen this year, it may never happen. Unfortunately my buddy who wanted to go on this trip was at a point in his life where the timing wasn’t right and he made the tough, but correct decision to stay home with his family. With his vacancy, I needed at the very least one co-pilot, and I wasn’t opposed to even more joining us. I extended the invite to a few guys and as it turns out, only Chad (BigSlam51) was crazy enough to join me on an expedition to the Ozark Mountains and the Current River in southern Missouri. Before we left, I bought a Steven Ambrose novel on Lewis and Clark to have on my Kindle. Reading about their journey while immersed in the beauty of a region steeped in adventure, thrill and peril only enhanced the experience. Walking to the stand with the real threat of bears, boars and mountain lions is nothing to scoff at down there, even today. While reading about the preparation for their legendary journey, I received sneak peaks of what that region was like in 1800 and it was the frontier; a reality hard to express in words. The Ozarks have somewhat been tamed by man, but still offer a remoteness and wildness that you simply will not find here in Ohio. So on a journey more about the experience than the exploration, I scrubbed my soul and returned a better version of the man I want to be.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016: Successful launch of our expedition occurred at 8:37AM EST. Travel across our beautiful state originated in Washington County and ended in Preble County. Ohio offers a stark contrast of topography and habitat when traveling across Routes 32, 35 and I-70. Indiana was next, followed by Illinois. While beautiful in their own right along the I-70 corridor, it becomes a bit of a monotonous drive. Only when we reach St. Louis, the trading center of the westward expansion and early days of the fur trade, does it sink in that we’re about to enter a new territory. Familiar hardwoods begin to contain more cedar and less maple. Rich, loamy soils give way to a rockier façade. Rural begins to take on a whole new connotation. By dark, we are in Ellington, MO and in the heart of Mark Twain National Forest, and bound for the Logyard, a primitive campground situated on the banks of the Current River. Shortly before 8PM CST, we roll in to camp. By 9, we are enjoying a fire and making plans for a morning of scouting. The hard ground provides a nice contrast to a Sealy Posturepedic. Sleep alludes…
Thursday November 3, 2016: Dawn breaks and we are on the move by 7:15. Coffee is a must. The plan for the day is scouting, but the boots on the ground kind. We’d done our homework. Hours of studying maps and narrowing down thousands of acres surrounding us in to a few chosen spots that would require further inspection was done on Google Earth. Apps on our phones allowed for GPS navigation using aerial and USGS quadrangle maps. We also purchased full size USGS topo maps to take along. But that only tells part of the story. We have two fairly new pairs of Danner boots that needed put to work.
Stop one was a green field tucked in a bottom next to the river. Thick blocks of cedar sat adjacent to the field and sign was among the best we found the entire trip. The first sign that the acorn crop was far from advertised revealed itself after a quick trip through the adjacent hardwoods on the high side of the field. As it turned out, the acorn crop was a bust and unless you found a Post Oak, chances were slim you would find acorns despite the abundance of oak trees, especially white oak. This spot was worth a hunt at some point.
Stop two meant launching the canoe and going across the river to explore 3 large food plots totaling 8-10 acres. After making it to the far bank, we fought through a jungle of a river bottom to reach the largest of the 3 fields. We about soiled ourselves when we first saw the shredded pine tree in the middle of the field. We quickly realized it had to be a bear or elk, then found fresh elk droppings that confirmed we had the potential to see elk here. This spot was definitely worth a hunt, and in fact, we’ll be back later!
We then spent some time checking out the neighborhood, buying firewood from a gentlemen that we later named Wet Wood Carl after he old us the wettest firewood in 3 counties, ate lunch and returned for our evening hunt by early afternoon. After a second successful canoe crossing, we both set up on the ground along the edges of our respective fields. Me on the larger field, Chad on a smaller, more secluded field further down the river bottom. When we reconvened after dark, Chad was all smiles as he relayed his encounter with 3 elk: a bull, cow and a calf. We would joke later in the trip that Chad saw 3 of an estimated 200 total elk in ALL of Missouri on the first hunt, but couldn’t see a deer from stand! He did see a doe that night as well, but that would end his deer sightings from the stand for the trip. I saw one doe and after stalking her to the middle field, came to full draw at last light. Deciding it didn’t feel right, I let down. Success was had on hunt #1.
The quest for an outdoor experience capable of cleansing my soul started a few years ago on a cold December duck hunt. Amidst the comeback calls and bacon sizzling on the stove, conversation drifted to an out of state hunt. The usual discussion of Illinois, Kansas, the Dakotas and Montana were entertained. After some research, Missouri revealed itself to be quite the candidate for a combo duck and deer hunt. With hundreds of thousands of acres of public hunting grounds and reasonably price non-resident tags, the Show Me State quickly found itself the destination for an adventure to be remembered for a lifetime. But as life is apt to do, it got in the way and the trip was postponed. When I got laid off last November, it was the furthest thing from my mind. Not until this spring when I was back to work, did I decide that it was now or never. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and if I didn’t make it happen this year, it may never happen. Unfortunately my buddy who wanted to go on this trip was at a point in his life where the timing wasn’t right and he made the tough, but correct decision to stay home with his family. With his vacancy, I needed at the very least one co-pilot, and I wasn’t opposed to even more joining us. I extended the invite to a few guys and as it turns out, only Chad (BigSlam51) was crazy enough to join me on an expedition to the Ozark Mountains and the Current River in southern Missouri. Before we left, I bought a Steven Ambrose novel on Lewis and Clark to have on my Kindle. Reading about their journey while immersed in the beauty of a region steeped in adventure, thrill and peril only enhanced the experience. Walking to the stand with the real threat of bears, boars and mountain lions is nothing to scoff at down there, even today. While reading about the preparation for their legendary journey, I received sneak peaks of what that region was like in 1800 and it was the frontier; a reality hard to express in words. The Ozarks have somewhat been tamed by man, but still offer a remoteness and wildness that you simply will not find here in Ohio. So on a journey more about the experience than the exploration, I scrubbed my soul and returned a better version of the man I want to be.
Wednesday, November 2, 2016: Successful launch of our expedition occurred at 8:37AM EST. Travel across our beautiful state originated in Washington County and ended in Preble County. Ohio offers a stark contrast of topography and habitat when traveling across Routes 32, 35 and I-70. Indiana was next, followed by Illinois. While beautiful in their own right along the I-70 corridor, it becomes a bit of a monotonous drive. Only when we reach St. Louis, the trading center of the westward expansion and early days of the fur trade, does it sink in that we’re about to enter a new territory. Familiar hardwoods begin to contain more cedar and less maple. Rich, loamy soils give way to a rockier façade. Rural begins to take on a whole new connotation. By dark, we are in Ellington, MO and in the heart of Mark Twain National Forest, and bound for the Logyard, a primitive campground situated on the banks of the Current River. Shortly before 8PM CST, we roll in to camp. By 9, we are enjoying a fire and making plans for a morning of scouting. The hard ground provides a nice contrast to a Sealy Posturepedic. Sleep alludes…
Thursday November 3, 2016: Dawn breaks and we are on the move by 7:15. Coffee is a must. The plan for the day is scouting, but the boots on the ground kind. We’d done our homework. Hours of studying maps and narrowing down thousands of acres surrounding us in to a few chosen spots that would require further inspection was done on Google Earth. Apps on our phones allowed for GPS navigation using aerial and USGS quadrangle maps. We also purchased full size USGS topo maps to take along. But that only tells part of the story. We have two fairly new pairs of Danner boots that needed put to work.
Stop one was a green field tucked in a bottom next to the river. Thick blocks of cedar sat adjacent to the field and sign was among the best we found the entire trip. The first sign that the acorn crop was far from advertised revealed itself after a quick trip through the adjacent hardwoods on the high side of the field. As it turned out, the acorn crop was a bust and unless you found a Post Oak, chances were slim you would find acorns despite the abundance of oak trees, especially white oak. This spot was worth a hunt at some point.
Stop two meant launching the canoe and going across the river to explore 3 large food plots totaling 8-10 acres. After making it to the far bank, we fought through a jungle of a river bottom to reach the largest of the 3 fields. We about soiled ourselves when we first saw the shredded pine tree in the middle of the field. We quickly realized it had to be a bear or elk, then found fresh elk droppings that confirmed we had the potential to see elk here. This spot was definitely worth a hunt, and in fact, we’ll be back later!
We then spent some time checking out the neighborhood, buying firewood from a gentlemen that we later named Wet Wood Carl after he old us the wettest firewood in 3 counties, ate lunch and returned for our evening hunt by early afternoon. After a second successful canoe crossing, we both set up on the ground along the edges of our respective fields. Me on the larger field, Chad on a smaller, more secluded field further down the river bottom. When we reconvened after dark, Chad was all smiles as he relayed his encounter with 3 elk: a bull, cow and a calf. We would joke later in the trip that Chad saw 3 of an estimated 200 total elk in ALL of Missouri on the first hunt, but couldn’t see a deer from stand! He did see a doe that night as well, but that would end his deer sightings from the stand for the trip. I saw one doe and after stalking her to the middle field, came to full draw at last light. Deciding it didn’t feel right, I let down. Success was had on hunt #1.
