Halls Creek Articles

The "Boss" Buck

On the phone Mark Burgess of Halls Creek Whitetails said "I've been seeing a few pretty good bucks coming to clover fields during the past summer". They've been coming late in the evenings to the fields and working their way into a thick bedding area before first light". That sounded great to me, I was looking for a place that I could have a really good chance at killing a record book buck. Mark Burgess and Charles Redden of Missouri own and operate Halls Creek Whitetail hunting. Their operation is located in the center of the State just north of the Missouri River, a place that exceptional bucks are known to roam.

It was a clear, warm evening in late fall when we left our private cabin for the first hunt of the trip. Mark told me we would be hunting a clover field where he had been seeing a few nice bucks chasing does. We saw some deer on our way to the hunting area and I was afraid we had spooked too many deer. Mark assured me it would be fine and not to worry. Was he ever right! When we arrived at the field edge we were planning to hunt, I couldn't believe my eyes. There was not one, two but three wall hanger bucks in the field. I hadn't been at Halls Creek more than two hours and I was already looking at an opportunity at a buck of a lifetime. I decided to pass on those bucks and did not get any more opportunities that evening. Mark had told me to wait for a bigger buck. I estimated the three bucks I watched that evening had combined over 500 inches of horn!

I had several opportunities at bucks and I am embarrassed to say I got "buck fever" and missed my first two shots on the following evening. Halls Creek offers three day hunt packages. On my third and final evening I was posted with my guide Charles Redden in a small isolated field. That evening I harvested a 187" giant. This buck had 10 inch bases and weighed over 300 lbs! Needless to say I will be hunting Halls Creek again this year!

Halls Creek Whitetails offers first class accommodations, including private bedrooms and bathrooms. They have satellite televisions and clean comfortable beds and showers. The meals are top notch. I had filet mignon steaks, pork tenderloin and BBQ chicken in the evenings. They had great lunches and home made cookies that I couldn't stop eating. All of the hunts at Halls Creek are fully guided and the guides were some of the best I have ever hunted with. Halls Creek has a great deer population and they limit the number of hunters each season. Halls Creek has been aggressively managing their whitetail herd since 1997 and boy does it show. They don't mix groups and you are guaranteed to never have more than a couple of other hunters on the place. I was recently talking to Mark on the phone and he informed me that 2003 is expected to be the best year ever. For more information on hunting at Halls Creek call Mark Burgess at 1-866-HALLSCK or e-mail him at info@hallscreek.com. Check out their web site at www. hallscreek.com.

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