Timmy Wallis and his first buck, an 11-point Boone and Crockett qualifier. The smile says it all! Photo courtesy of Tony Kalna Jr.

I often recall Tom Hanks delivering the famous line from Forrest Gump: “Life is like a box of chocolates -- you never know what you’re gonna get.” Why? Because that celebrated movie quote applies perfectly to deer hunting!

This year’s big-buck roundup presents the accounts of four hunters, all from very different regions of Missouri. Last year, each went out into the deer woods hoping to kill that once-in-a-lifetime buck but knowing that the odds against that happening were stiff. Let’s just say that each got a deluxe chocolate out of the box this past deer season.

CARTER COUNTY
Biehle’s Greg Meyer, 24, has been chasing whitetails in southeast Missouri since he was 11, and in the intervening 13 years has taken a combined total of 22 deer by rifle or bow.

Greg and his father Frank spend a lot of time deer hunting the very remote Peck Ranch Conservation Area, which covers over 23,000 acres in Carter and Shannon counties. The area offers deer hunters a great opportunity for some of Missouri’s most pristine deer hunting.

“My dad has been going to Peck Ranch for 25 years,” Greg said, “and this past season was my fourth time getting drawn for the managed archery hunt there. You always hear about people killing some nice bucks there. A friend of Dad’s killed an 8-pointer with a 25-inch spread there some 10-years ago.”

The managed three-day archery hunt began on Oct. 20. Taking off work, Greg went down the day before the hunt to scout a little and get things set up for the next day. He decided to go down to the bottom of a big Ozark hill about 250 yards from where he normally hunted.

On Friday morning, the first day of the hunt, Greg hunted from his stand for about three hours and then came in for lunch. After lunch, Greg decided to turn his stand around to the opposite side of the tree so that it faced the draw where his friend was hunting and seeing deer. He saw a few does, but nothing worth shooting.

The next day, Greg moved his climber to the new tree, which was about 80 yards away from where he was hunting the previous day. He climbed to nearly 30 feet before stopping. It was daylight before he got situated in his new perch.

All morning long Greg saw nothing but one squirrel (which he seriously considered shooting). At 9 a.m., one of Greg’s hunting buddies, Danny, got on the two-way radio and said that he hadn’t seen anything either, and was going to get out of his stand and walk around. Greg informed his friend that he would stay on stand for about 15 more minutes and then climb down to meet up with his comrade.

Just 10 minutes after the radio conversation, Greg heard something running and stood up in his stand, readying himself. He spotted an antlered deer about 75 yards away. The buck running toward the stand had a tall, dark rack, and the hunter knew it to be something that he was going to try to shoot.

Greg, already at full draw with his bow when the buck entered the shooting lane, grunted at the buck. It stopped; the archer released the string. The carbon arrow pierced the buck’s vitals, and the animal took off at a trot, trying to escape into the thicket, only to collapse just 40 yards away.

“When the buck fell, I hollered at Dad on the radio that I just shot a wallhanger,” Greg recalled. “I tried sitting down, but that’s when the nerves started getting to me. I knew he was a decent buck -- and I just started shaking.”