End of Hunting Season

Hunting season is effectively over for me.  Rabbit season ends tomorrow, but our failed trip last weekend was it for me.  After that, my hunting buddy (the one with the rabbit dog) left to hunt swamp rabbits in another state.  I gave my shotgun a thorough cleaning and put it up for the year.  I don’t hunt turkeys (yet), so the next “real” season in which I will participate is deer season next Fall.

Now it’s back to planning.  Mainly, this means scouting out new locations to hunt.  This year, I will be checking out public lands in the St. Louis region that are open to archery deer hunting.  As always, I will also be looking for new honey holes for good rabbit hunting.

Planning also includes preparing equipment for next year.  I intend to acquire a compound bow this year and become proficient with it.  The archery deer season is four months long in Missouri, whereas the regular firearms deer season is only eleven days long.  A bow will also allow me to hunt in semi-urban areas without alarming the neighbors.  I am also working on a custom rifle project with a gunsmith in Indiana.  Hopefully, it will be finished and I will have time to develop a suitable hunting load for it by November.

Aside from planning, I may keep my hand in the game by doing a little coyote and feral hog hunting.  The coyote season is open almost all year, skipping a month and a half during the Spring turkey season.  There is not technically a season for feral hog hunting, but it is allowed all year, with only some equipment restrictions during the fall turkey and deer seasons.  So far, I have not been successful hunting either coyote or feral hog.  However, I hope to improve my methods.  Perhaps more importantly, I have a couple of friends who want to try it with me.