Hunter: Chade Shorten
Animal: 4 1/2 Year Old Whitetail
Location: Missouri
Weapon: Thompson Center Dream Season Omega Muzzleloader

Chade Shorten filmed by John Williams


Late December is a magical time for hunting deer in Missouri. If you can be lucky enough to have some really bad weather, a good wind, and a big Biologic Maximum food plot, you're set. When I harvested my muzzleloading buck a couple of weeks ago, Zach and I had seen several mature bucks feeding on the Maximum on our farm. We have a 4 acre field of Maximum that was totally covered with deer tracks. The snow in this field looked like it had been disk. Zach has a good friend Chade Shorten.

You might remember her from 'Longbeard Madness 12'. She was the little girl that killed a 26 lb gobbler that Zach called in for her. Chade and Zach are now in high school and they are still friends. Zach and I thought it would be neat for Chade to harvest a buck with a muzzleloader. We got into the shooting house about 1:30. It wasn't very long before we had deer pouring into the Maximum. By the time the “smoke cleared” we had seen 25 bucks and again that many anterless deer. Chade used the new TC 50 cal Omega Dream Season. This is the third deer that has been harvested with this gun this year. She made a perfect 100 yard shot. The deer ran out of the field but he was having lots of trouble. We found him piled up 30 yards out of the field. It was a very exciting hunt. We had bucks everywhere. It was a challenge for us to let Chade's buck get into a position where she could shoot without risking her hitting one of the other deer. Deer run on their stomach during late season. If you still have some food left when the “snow flies” you will find some of the best deer hunting of the year.

John

PS: I like the new TC 50 cal Omega Dream Season so well I may have to buy another one.