Buddies have a blast when they gather for Missouri deer opener

For the Grupe boys, there are traditions that have to be honored at deer camp.

First, you have to participate in the Friday-night card game before the Missouri deer opener to determine who will get the choice places to hunt.

Second, you have to wear the pink cap that is emblazoned with “Hunting Princess” if you shoot the smallest deer on the opener.

And third, you have to pay your respects to Elwood, the mounted buck who was named after a past landowner.

If you think that’s something that a group of frat brothers would dream up, you’re right on the mark. When Brad and Aaron Grupe get together with their college buddies from Southeast Missouri State, it’s like a “guys weekend out.”

The deer opener is something they look forward to all year long, planning meals, swapping stories, and competing for favorite hunting spots on the Grupe family land in central Missouri. By the time it finally arrives, they arrive 15 strong — college buddies, their sons and nephews, young and not-so-young.

They set up deer camp at David and Sharon Grupe’s home in rural Pettis County, which has been remodeled to include a bunkhouse that looks like the interior of a log cabin. Sharon fixes the meals that include everything from hearty breakfasts to chili. They sit by bonfires and tell stories about the big ones that got away — and the big ones that didn’t.

Then they hop on four-wheel ATVs and scatter into the woods to build more memories.

Such was the case early Saturday when the Missouri firearms season opened. Despite bone-chilling cold and the threat of snow, the hunters couldn’t wait to welcome a new season.

“You can tell that deer season is getting close by all the text messages you get,” said Kevin Dorris, who lives in Cape Girardeau, Mo. “Then during the hunt, you can keep up with things, with everyone texting about what they saw, who shot a deer, who missed.”

Dorris was sitting in a ground blind early Saturday morning when he looked up and saw a doe trotting across a cut corn field directly at him. He raised his rifle and considered pulling the trigger on the deer, which he estimated to be only 40 yards away.

But he pulled up, deciding it was too early in the season to settle for a doe.

“I might regret it two hours from now, but I’m going to pass on that one.”

Two hours later, he did regret his decision. He sat in the cold and failed to see another deer. But others in the group were more fortunate.

Early in the morning, Chris Kappler of Fenton, Mo., sat in his tree stand in the timbered section the hunters have nicknamed “the Honey Hole,” and spotted an eight-point buck working his way along the edge of the woods.

Kappler fired and got his biggest buck ever.

“I was hunting out of this stand when I shot a 9-pointer two years ago,” Kappler said. “And this is where both of my sons got their first deer. Caleb took a 10-pointer here.

“It’s a great place because you have cut corn in front of you and CRP (Conservation Reserve Program, which compensates farmers for idling marginal crop land and leaving wildlife habitat) in back.”

For each of Dorris's sons, Saturday will be remembered as a day in which they experienced two distinctively different hunts.

On a nearby farm, Chandler, 18, fired at what the hunters think to be the legendary buck nicknamed “The Ghost” and missed. Ethan, 13, hunting with his cousin, Collin Herzog, missed on a shot at a big doe.

But they redeemed themselves in the afternoon hunt. Ethan shot a 9-point buck and Chandler took a big doe.

Six other members of the group also shot deer in the afternoon. Included was a 10-point buck taken by Blake Grupe, Brad's son.

“Last year several us took shots at ‘The Ghost’ and missed,” Kevin Dorris said. “Then we saw a big buck that we think was him (Friday) evening when we were putting out tree stands.

“That buck has more than nine lives.”

In many ways, Dorris symbolizes what this deer camp is all about. Six years, he had never hunted deer; never owned a gun, in fact. But then Chandler begged his dad to take him hunting.

Before they went out, Dorris had to borrow a gun, camouflage netting, blaze-orange clothing and everything else associated with hunting deer.

“We set up lawn chairs in the woods, and within 45 minutes, Chandler shot a 7-point buck,” he said.

Today, Kevin is an avid deer hunter. He owns his own hunting land, 12 guns and two four-wheelers to get to hunting spots and to pick up shot deer.

But when he gets serious about deer hunting, he returns to the Grupe family farm in central Missouri. It’s the same with other members of the hunting party who have gone from hunting novices to avid outdoorsmen because of their experiences at deer camp.

“It’s a chance to get together with friends you don’t see very often,” Brad Grupe said.

This story was originally published November 15, 2014 at 8:06 PM with the headline "Buddies have a blast when they gather for Missouri deer opener."