Illinois Hunting Journal 2012

[4khorn]

Thanks guys! I am very thankful for the opportunity to harvest him.

Bobow, I would imagine that the warm weather may hamper movement some, but I wouldn't think the activity would just come to an abrupt halt. If you have an opportunity to hunt near a preferred water source that could pay off. Those bucks will be thirsty after cruising and chasing all day. I also don't thing we are too far off from the"lock down" phase. I have been seeing a lot of buck doe pairs just harboring out in open fields the last few days.

[buckwild]

Great Job 4k! I like that you thought about sleeping in but changed your mind. hard core!

[bobow]

Thanks guys! I am very thankful for the opportunity to harvest him.

Bobow, I would imagine that the warm weather may hamper movement some, but I wouldn't think the activity would just come to an abrupt halt. If you have an opportunity to hunt near a preferred water source that could pay off. Those bucks will be thirsty after cruising and chasing all day. I also don't thing we are too far off from the"lock down" phase. I have been seeing a lot of buck doe pairs just harboring out in open fields the last few days.

I was afraid that the lock down is close. I was out a few hours this morning and didn't see or hear anything. If I get the chance I will head out in a little while for the evening and then try Saturday & Sunday AM

Water isn't an issue for this spot. I have a creek @ 100 yards to the west & a feeder creek 40 yards to my east that runs NW to the creek. I just have to be there at the right time. It might be time to talk to the wife again

[4khorn]

I was back at it again yesterday evening. I had a little buck hang out 10 yards from my stand for several minutes. He was trying to figure out what that big blob in the tree was but I guess he gave up. I had heard about this deer from another hunter. He has one antler angling down out of the side of his face. Kinda neat. I wonder what he will turn into in a few years. I also hade a 6 pointer bed down 30 yards away and a doe entered the bean field I was hunting near with about 30 mins of legal light left. She never came in for a shot though. I took a picture of that little buck with my phone. The quality isn't the greatest but you can see the deformed anter.

deformed antler.JPG (38.81 KiB) Viewed 652 times

[bobow]

I was out Friday AM & then again PM & didn't see anything.

I went out Saturday AM and had a couple of year & a half bucks roaming through. The one almost gave me a shot but not to happen. It would have been good for the freezer.

When I left a couple hours later I was busted by this guy and he ran towards my exit. On the way out he came trotting back on the path along the creek and we met at a bend. I just stood still and he stared me down for a few seconds at 20 yards and then must have decided I was too ugly for his tastes and took of running around me back to the woods.

It was a fun day to watch but I still was hoping to get something in the freezer.

I haven't seen any does or big bucks since last weekend so I wonder if they are staying with the does now.

[Deebz]

got out last Friday and hunted all day for the first time ever. I saw 10 deer just after first light from my stand. At least 6 were bucks, but only 2 were mature shooter deer. I had 1 deer sneak in behind me while I was watching the deer and get my wind, so I don't know what it was (buck/doe), but it was pretty good sized. I passed on a yearling buck with only a small fork on the left side. He was about 15 yds broadside. Then I watched all the young bucks run the few does all over the field while the 2 big guys (one was a REALLY nice 8 point... super tall and super wide) just kind of hung back... When the field mostly cleared, the older buck, with a wide, but short and really pointy rack held a mature doe out in the field for the next 3 hours... I think they moved around within a 60 yd circle the entire time, then finally she made a break for the timber.

Around 11 I walked back to eat a sandwich with the wife, who had seen a few does moving through on the quick, then fell asleep sitting on the ground with her for about an hour. I headed back out to my stand, and didn't see anything else until just before last light when the same buck and doe who'd hung out in the field all morning popped back out and fed into the corn.

Saturday was a 2 hour trip for my nephew's b'day party, and I wasn't brave enough to try to fling arrows into the face of the 55 mph winds we had on Sunday... Getting pumped for Friday with the slug gun opener! It's literally the only day I ever take off work each year...

[buckwild]

Deebz - Im with you on the excitement for friday. I have a rough time focusing on work lately!

Hunted all weekend. Saturday a.m. I went with my nephew. He set up in a ground blind and I got in my climber. I saw 3 bucks from sun up to about 10. all three were 8 pointers that looked about 2.5 year old (shooter in my world). There were three other deer that came in down wind. All I saw of them were tails waving through the trees.

My nephew bought a 2-man ladder stand the night before and I got the honors of assembling it at lunch. Kinda hard to give up shooting light for that stuff but I just want my nephew to keep interest. Besides, we set it up in an awesome funnel between 5 know bedding area. Its really a gun stand because we can reach out to 2 little mini saddles along this big ridge, and I have seen deer traveling them many times. They are about 100 yds apart and we are right in the middle. When I first climbed into the stand I looked to see the vantage of the east saddle and I comment that it was in perfect view. While saying that I saw deer - another 8 pt following a doe right through the saddle! That's a good start!

Didn't see any deer sat night.

Sunday a.m. I went back to the same spot as Saturday a.m. Saw two more bucks. first was another 2.5 y.o. 8 pointer. The other would have been about 6 pts but one main beam was gone. With rain moving in I set up another fixed stand for next weekend. I was mad at myself for not doing that sooner in the year. All that deer movement, and I had work left to do. oh well. Next weekend should be awesome - cant wait!

[4khorn]

Anyone have any luck during gun season? I don't gun hunt so I don't have anything to report.

[Deebz]

I killed a young doe Fri morning... I walked in to the stand I'd been seeing the big deer cruising in the field out of bow range full of anticipation, and nothing was moving. I started to get really cold (I walk in about a mile, so I carry my heavy coveralls to avoid getting all sweated up) so i got down to put on my heavy stuff. I decided since nothing was moving I'd go ahead and move to a stand down the bottom along the creek... about 8:30 two young deer came in. One was a button buck, and the other was a doe who appeared to be about 1 1/2... she was definitely bigger than the nubber. I waited as long as I could hoping a buck or at least a bigger doe was going to be following along, but after about 15 minutes of them working through the bottoms nothing else showed up. She gave me a slight quartering away shot at 30 yds, and I dropped her right there with the Mossberg 12 ga... of course she went over backwards into the 10 foot deep ditch and ended up laying in the water which made for a messy retrieval, but it was pretty cool to have my first shot ever where the deer just dropped dead there. When I field dressed her I saw my slug had pretty much destroyed the bottom halves of both lungs and split the top of the heart open. It was a total pass through with the exit hole on the point of the opposite shoulder... I quartered her up, but I haven't gone further yet. I'm hoping I didn't lose too much meat on the off shoulder, but it didn't look too bad.
I'll post a pic of her when I get it off my camera.

I was walking back to get the truck after dragging her up out of the bottom to the road and kicked up a MONSTER buck that was bedded down with a doe out in a tiny water way in which I've never seen deer. I ranged him at 135 yds, and he was standing pretty and broadside. Even though it's a stretch, i'm confident in the guns capabilities to make that shot, but the uphill angle and the houses in the background kept me from pulling the trigger. We had a stare down for about 2 minutes, then they trotted off into the timber. I tried to end around them, and saw another really nice buck working the lower field. I couldn't get back into range of either of the deer, but it was sure a heart pounding encounter.

My wife's uncle and the other guys I hunt with on the other ground managed to kill a couple of nice bucks. Nothing really monstrous, but it was definitely a fun and exhausting weekend stalking the deer through the drainage ditches and creek bottoms after spotting them out in the fields. I still have an either sex tag for next session too..

[kellory]

" I ranged him at 135 yds, and he was standing pretty and broadside. Even though it's a stretch, i'm confident in the guns capabilities to make that shot, but the uphill angle and the houses in the background kept me from pulling the trigger. " That's the difference between a hunter, and someone who just pulls a trigger. Glad to see you are immune to "Antler Madness". A lot of things matter more than more bones on a wall, like the safety of the people in those houses.