11/27/2010
Check the photo gallery for updated pictures! We have more pictures of the deer we have taken this season, plus pictures of great bucks from our trail cameras over the past 2 seasons.
11/13/2010
It had only been a week since I killed my great Illinois buck and only 2 weeks since my Halloween buck, so the last thing I could have expected was to kill another great buck. It was opening morning of Missouri’s Firearm Season and I was back hunting on private property just south of Moberly, Missouri. I had hunted this piece of property for several years with my dad. My brother-in-law, Jeff was joining us for the hunt and this was his first time on this property. We put him in a stand not too far from me, in case he needed help with anything. Jeff was about 250 yards over a big hill from me. We were both set up and waiting for legal shooting time. About five minutes before legal time, I noticed headlights from a vehicle that was pulling in to the property on the ridge between Jeff and I. I could hear people get out of the truck and start getting there gear together. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else on the property with us, but these people seemed to be headed right for where Jeff was sitting. I checked my phone to see that it was now legal shooting time. I used the radio to tell Jeff about the people coming his way and he said he could see their lights too. He also said he just had a deer walk 10 yards from him, but he couldn’t shoot because these people were directly behind the deer’s location. As these people continued down the ridge between Jeff and I, I could hear the sound of a deer running to me. I am sure the people walking through pushed him to me. As the deer stopped in the bottom about 30 yards in front of me, I could see it was an 8 point buck. I put the scope up on him, just behind his shoulder and squeezed off my shot. The buck ran straight towards me and fell right under my tree. At this point, I still didn’t realize just how big his rack was. I knew he was a decent 8 point, but I didn’t realize how much mass he had and how much curve his rack had. When I climbed down and put my hands on the buck I was pleasantly surprised at what I found. As it turns out, the buck scored even better than I would have guessed and he is actually my new biggest buck to date! I walked up the hill to where Jeff was and the 2 people that had walked in were up there talking with him. It turned out that they had been given permission to hunt the property as well, so we offered them the spot Jeff was in and we moved on to another location on the property. It wasn’t until then, that Jeff told me the deer behind him that morning was a nice buck. I assume the buck I shot is the same as the one he saw as it came from his direction. I showed him my deer and he was sure that it was the same one. I wish Jeff could have gotten this deer as it would have been his first buck, but I am proud of him for putting safety first.
-Bill Sheldon 
11/7/2010
On the morning of November 6, I shot over the top of a great buck. I was pretty upset with myself over it and spent a good part of the day shooting targets to rebuild my confidence. The next morning, I was back in the stand in White County, Illinois. At daybreak, a doe came running down the field edge to us. I think some of the other hunters on the property had jumped her up on their way to the stand. Just after she ran out of sight and I had settled back in to my seat, Josh says a huge shooter buck has just entered the field from the tree line opposite of us. My heart jumped up into my throat as I quickly stood up and got my bow ready. When I looked out into the field, I could see that the buck was going to enter the CRP about 40 yards in front of us. As he came into the CRP, I couldn’t believe how tall his rack looked. I knew that this buck was awesome and that if I could manage to compose myself to make a good shot, this would be my biggest buck. Josh gave me the all clear for the camera. The buck stopped on his own and I settled the pin carefully, not wanting to have a repeat of the morning before. I released the arrow and couldn’t believe what happened next. The buck fell over right where he stood! I can’t even explain the emotions that I felt. I had just successfully taken my largest buck to date, a great 9 point.
-Bill Sheldon
10/31/2010
Halloween is one of those days that seems to be almost mythical in the hunting world. Many great bucks have been taken on that day. The morning of Halloween 2010 I had Josh filming my hunt on private ground in St. Louis County, Missouri. I filmed Josh hunting this spot the evening before and we had a buck chasing a doe just out of range from us. Halloween morning, it was cold and windy. We had both attended a friend’s Halloween party the night before, so we were very tired and struggling to stay warm as we hadn’t prepared for the weather being as cool as it was. The squirrels were everywhere, making a lot of noise. I had been hearing the crunching of leaves behind me, where Josh was facing, for a while. I figured it had to just be more squirrels since the direction was directly in front of Josh and if it was a deer, he would have let me know. When the noise got really close and started sounding more like a deer than a squirrel, I couldn’t resist turning around. When I did, I saw a nice buck with his nose to the ground, not 10 yards from us. I whispered to Josh and he jumped into action and got the camera ready. The buck was walking around to the front of me and as he hit an opening, I bleated at him to stop him. When he stopped, I released my arrow. The buck ran a short distance of 40 yards and crashed. I had my first Halloween buck, a nice 8 point! I assumed Josh must have been sleeping for the buck to have gotten that close without him knowing, but after asking him, he said he was actually texting on his phone at the time. I’m sure being as tired as we were played a role too. It was an exciting hunt and one I won’t soon forget.
As a side note, it was the Missouri Youth Season that weekend, so we were required to wear hunter orange.
-Bill Sheldon 
10/1/2010
Opening day of Illinois’s Archery Deer Season was an incredible day of hunting for Josh and I. Missouri’s Archery Deer Season opened on September 15 and we had hunted hard those first two weeks in efforts to get a jump start on the season before the Illinois October 1st opener. We hadn’t had any success as of yet, but that was all about to change.
The morning of October 1st in White County Illinois was very calm. Josh was behind the camera and I had my new Mathews Z7 in hand. Just after daylight we had a single doe make her way into our location. As she passed under our stand, she could smell our track where we had walked in that morning. She went on alert and eventually spotted us up in the tree. As she ran off snorting, I began to think our morning was going to be a bust. I thought her alarm would have cleared the woods in our area.
Just as I settled back in to my seat, I noticed a raccoon heading towards our location. This raccoon climbed a persimmon tree right in front of us and was working hard to get to those persimmons. Josh was filming the raccoon when I heard the familiar sound of deer walking. I hadn’t spotted them yet, but I was trying to let Josh know that we had deer on the way to us. Apparently I wasn’t loud enough for him to hear me. He finally spotted the deer on his own and let me know that they were going to follow a trail that would bring them directly to my left. As they worked their way to us, feeding on acorns, I prepared myself to take shot of one these does. There were 5 in the group, with 2 that were noticeably larger and more mature than the others. One of the mature does made her way to the same spot as the doe that had busted us earlier that morning. She too smelled our track and began to get nervous. As she turned to go back the way they came from, she hesitated for a moment as she noticed the raccoon that had climbed back down from the persimmon tree and was now rustling in the leaves. I drew back and settled my pin on her vitals. I released the arrow and watched as it hit its mark. The doe ran only a short distance of 40 yards and fell.
The day was already a success, but we were just getting started. That afternoon, I was behind the camera and Josh had his trusted PSE bow ready for the hunt. We were making our way to a different stand location. As we walked into the edge of a clearing, we could see a couple of small bucks that were already standing directly below the stand we were headed for. We dropped down to one knee in hopes they hadn’t spotted us. We watched and waited as they eventually moved off from the stand location so we could sneak in without alerting any deer.
Shortly after we climbed into the stand, I spotted a coyote in one of the cleared trails through the larg CRP field in front of us. He made his way away from our location. Josh and I hoped that this coyote might spook some deer in our direction. A short while later, Josh spotted 3 deer entering the CRP field from the side opposite of us. They were about 250 yards from us and with the way the stands were situated, I could not see them. Josh was able to watch them make their way farther out into the CRP for about 10 minutes before I could finally see them from angle. It was a small buck, a doe, and a nice buck that we thought was a 9 point at the time. It looked as though they were going to make a large circle around our location about 200 yards out. We were so focused on watching this buck that we didn’t even notice that does had popped out of the woods right next to our location and were walking right under us. The buck we were watching noticed the two does and made his way straight for us to check them out. The smaller buck was still traveling with him too. When the two bucks were finally in front of us within range, Josh drew back and prepared for the shot. Just as he was ready to release, the two bucks began sparring and moved behind brush. Josh had to let back down and wait for another opportunity. Finally, the big buck made his way into an opening at 40 yards. Josh made his shot and the buck dropped. The buck was able to get back up make it another 30 yards before going down again for good. Josh had successfully taken his largest buck to date. The buck has a split brow tine which makes him a 10 point. What an incredible opening day!
-Bill Sheldon
11/8/09
Early November strikes again. Another buck has fallen while chasing does. Bill Sheldon was able to take this nice 8 point buck with his bow while hunting on private ground in St. Louis County Missouri. To make this hunt even sweater, Bill's wife and daughters came out to track the buck after the shot. Bill's 6 yeard old daughter, Elayna, put her tracking skills to the test and was able to locate the deer without any assistance.
11/8/08
The 2008 Missouri Archery Deer Season has been an exciting one for Bill. From hunting a new lease, to an amazing encounter with a giant buck, the season has been a roller coaster ride. Finally, on the moring of November the 8th, Bill had a decent buck chase a doe directly under his stand. With perfect arrow placement, the buck went down within 40 yards of the stand.
9/16/07
The 2007 Missouri Archery Deer Season is under way and Bill Sheldon has already tagged his first deer of the year. Bill shot this beautiful 8 point buck around 8:30 a.m. on the first Sunday of the season.
10/29/06
Congratulations to Nicole Daugherty on her first youth hunt! Nicole joined her grandfather, Harry Sheldon, for her first hunt. Here are her journal entries from the weekend:
October 27, 2006
Today was my first day of deer hunting. It was pretty exciting. My grandfather & I went out in the woods and sat for a while to see if we could see any deer. The first animal I seen was a ground hog. It came up to my grandpa about 3 ft. away from him & then went away. We also seen fox squirrels & raccoons. But the most exciting thing about sitting in the woods today was seeing an 8 point buck. This was the closest I’ve ever been to a buck or a deer in general. I’m pretty excited still & I hope to see more & shoot my first deer this weekend!
October 28, 2006
We’re sitting in the stands this morning. At 7:15am we seen a coyote running the field. 2 min. later we seen 3 deer about 400 yards away but they crossed the road. They came back around the hill at about 7:25. I also found a deer above us about this time. At about 6:20pm Grandpa saw a doe and a fawn come out behind the hill. I killed the doe at about 6:35pm. I took 4 shots. The first 3 didn’t hit either of them & it didn’t seem to affect them by the noise. The 4th one hit the doe right in the neck. My grandpa told me to go right above her back because she was so far away. She weighs about 120 lbs.
October 29, 2006
This morning Ty shot a 6pt. buck from the same stand me & grandpa were in. It was about 100 yards away. He hit the buck & the buck ran into the tall weeds. So my grandpa, myself, uncle Bill, Austin, Ty & Mike all went down to the field & looked for it. We spotted blood & found it’s track leading back to the weeds. But before we went in there my uncle Bill told me he ranged from where I hit my deer to the stand & it was 289 yards. I was pretty excited to hear that. But we did find Ty’s buck and it weighed about 125 lbs. 
09/27/06
We have our first filmed deer kill of the 2006 Missouri Archery Deer Season. Mike Malpocker joined Bill Sheldon for a hunt on private ground in St. Louis County. Bill was able to film Mike take this three point buck. This is Mike's first deer with a bow. Congratulations Mike! 