Stephen Stockman was brought up hunting and fishing at a very young age by his parents, Steve and Dianna Stockman.  His father found it very hard to shake him from his coat tail as soon as Stephen was able to tag along in the woods.

Today, Stephen and his wife, Christy, reside in Princeton, Missouri where they enjoy raising their daughters, Kaydence Raine and Presley Cruze.  They also enjoy spending time with family and friends.  Stephen is currently employed with GRM Telephone Co. where he works as a lineman in north Missouri and southern Iowa.  Stephen said, "I feel very fortunate to be part of the Midwest Whitetail pro staff this season and hope that you will all tune in to see how our season unfolds."

Matt Owen lives in Kearney, Missouri where he owns and operates a small business. Matt graduated from Missouri Western State University in 2005 with a business marketing degree. When not hunting, Matt enjoys fly fishing, archery tournaments, and shed hunting with his chocolate lab. During bow season, Matt will be in a tree as much as possible trying to harvest one of the mature bucks on the list and taking a few does along the way. Also look for Matt’s girlfriend, Nicole Garner, to harvest her first buck with her Hoyt bow this season as she had beginner's luck during the spring season on a big gobbler.

Matt and Stephen's 2011 Hit List

"Strike One"  
 

We first encountered Strike One when he was just a 3 1/2 yr old, he is now 5 1/2 and at the top of our hitlist.  From our first encounter with him, he had those unmistakable long brow tines and we knew if we would pass him and by some act of God keep him alive, that he could blow into a giant once mature.  We had a encounter with him during the 2010 late season, but couldnt close the deal. Over the last couple of yrs he has only grew wider, taller and put on more mass.  We believe he will be somewhere close to the 180s mark and cant wait to get a crack at him this Fall!
 
 

"Strong Side"

StrongSide is a deer that we are not compleatly sure who is, but we do know that he is for sure a shooter and somewhere around a 4 1/2 to possible 5 1/2 yr old.  We believe that StrongSide will be pushing the 170s mark. 

Cant wait to have the first and last encounter with him if were lucky!
 
 

"Nasty Mass"  
 

Matt  & Stephen's 2010 Hit List

“Haywire” 
Haywire is a non-typical deer that will go in the upper 70s to 80s.  It's hard to tell since I've never had to score a deer with that much mass.  To our knowledge we don't have  history with this deer.  We have several deer on this farm that we passed last year and haven't seen this year yet.  We will though...we just need the right conditions.  

“Swooper Dooper”

We think this deer is a 4 yr old.  Probably  will go in the upper 40s or lower 50s as a 9 point.  We think we may have passed this deer several times last season.  He was a 3 yr old with crazy long brow tines. We were in high hopes to see him this year and see what he blew in to. 

Matt and Stephen's 2009 Hit List

The following words are Stephen's:

Matt and I have several farms in northcentral Missouri that we hunt.  We break our farms into two different categories, early season and rut/late season farms.   As our season progresses, we will try to keep you updated with pictures of the deer we are getting on our game cameras and we will discuss the plan we come up with to hunt these deer.  As of now, we are in early season mode, so the only hit list pictures we have are deer from our early season farms. The first farm, where we have got most of our summer pictures, is a large river bottom bean field that is surrounded by timber.  This farm is home to three bucks that Matt and I have been keeping tabs on all summer. 
 
"OH MY": The first deer is a giant symmetrical 10 pointer that will probably go in the mid to upper 160s. The deer we named "Oh My" has been a regular on the cameras the entire summer.  We have pictures from early summer to mid summer and even after he shed his velvet.  We think this deer is a 4½ year old.

On the left is a picture of "Oh My" after he had lost his velvet on August 31st of this year.

"SPLIT G2 BUCK": The second deer on this farm is the "Split G2 Buck".  He is a main-frame 10-point with a split on his left G2, hence the name.  We believe this deer to be a 4 1/2 year old, as well.  This deer first caught our attention in late July, early August.  Matt and I were out glassing one evening when this deer popped out of the ditch nearly 600 yards away.  We thought that our first move should be to get cameras in there so that they can tell us a little more about the deer.

"THE BIG 9": "The Big 9" is the buck that is behind the "Split G2" buck in this picture. This deer should score in the 150s.  We believe he is a 3½ or 4 ½ years old. We first saw this deer running with the "Split G2" buck.  His rack sits high on his head so he will look really good coming in during season.