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Posted on Wed, Nov. 19, 2008 10:15 PM
Public land around Truman Lake offers good deer hunting
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CLINTON, Mo. | J.R. Elder sees plenty of deer roaming the rugged hills of the Ozarks not far from his home in the Branson area.
So why does he travel two and one-half hours to Truman Lake in west-central Missouri every year for the hunting opener?
That’s easy, Elder says. At Truman, he and his group of 15 don’t have to worry about getting permission to hunt.
They have all the public land they want — in the middle of prime deer country.
“I grew up hunting the Branson area with my brothers,” said Elder, 73, who lives in Reeds Spring, Mo. “We knew a guy who owned 5,000 acres, and he had a lot of deer on his land.
“But that land has been sold, and it’s getting harder and harder to find a place to hunt.
“A lot of land down there is posted now. That’s why we like coming to Truman.
“We don’t have to beg to hunt, and we know we always have a good chance of getting a deer.”
Indeed, the Truman Lake area offers 100,000 acres of public hunting — Army Corps of Engineers land that surrounds the sprawling reservoir. Of that, 54,000 acres are managed by the Missouri Department of Conservation for wildlife.
Hunters will find plenty of timber broken by small fields, crops, draws and food plots. They’ll also find plenty of deer.
The public land at Truman has long been one of the state’s most productive areas for deer hunting. And this year appears to be no different.
On opening weekend, three counties touching Truman Lake ranked among the state’s best in deer kill. Benton was second with 1,967 deer checked in, St. Clair was fifth with 1,578 and Henry was 11th with 1,340.
Hunters such as Elder aren’t surprised. He learned long ago what Truman has to offer.
“I’ve been coming here for over 20 years,” he said. “And I want to hunt another 26 years so that I can say I hunted deer until I was 100.
“For us, this is tradition. We try to set up our deer camp in the same spot every year (in a corner of a campground at the Sparrowfoot Access), and we get together with the same friends and family.
“We just love this deer hunting. And this is our place.”
Elder started off staying in a tent. But now he and his son, Mike, camp in a trailer. Several other RVs full of friends and family stand nearby.
“We take up five or six campsites every year,” Elder said. “We’re never far from where we’ll be doing our hunting.”
As usual, the group found success on opening weekend. Billy Taulbert of Reeds Spring shot a 9-point buck. And several does were hanging from poles in the camp.
Hunting from a scooter with a special disability permit, Elder thought he was going to take a big buck. But when he eyed the deer through his rifle scope, he pulled up.
“Not enough horns,” he said. “We’re in a county with antler restrictions. That buck has to have at least four points on one side. And I could only count three. So I had to let him go.”
No matter. Elder was still in a good mood by the time he returned to camp.
“Whether I get a deer or not, I have a good time,” Elder said. “Deer season is something we look forward to for months.”
Truman Lake deer hunting
•PUBLIC LAND: More than 100,000 acres of public land are available for deer hunting.
•PUBLIC LAND: More than 100,000 acres of public land are available for deer hunting.
•WHERE: Much of the public land is in Henry, Benton and St. Clair counties in west-central Missouri.
•WHEN: The Missouri firearms deer season opened Saturday and continues through Nov. 25.
•MORE INFORMATION: For information on where the public land is situated, access the Department of Conservation’s Web site at www.mdc.mo.gov and go to the atlas section.
To reach Brent Frazee, The Star’s outdoors editor, call 816-234-4319 or send e-mail to bfrazee@kcstar.com
Posted on Wed, Nov. 19, 2008 10:15 PM
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