Zim

Good job Kelly. Great buck!

I have good news and bad news. Good news is I tagged only one buck during archery season here in Illinois, so I am elligible for a firearm buck this year. Took my archery buck on November 2nd and he is entered in the archery contest, scoring 133. Bad news is I did not score in the 1st gun season Nov. 19-21. So I am returning to the public land Dec 3-6 for another try. If it stays cold we have the bucks pegged and know they will be out early to feed. Will have a chance for the bigger bucks then.

I passed on a few 110-120" bucks in that 1st gun season.

kellyguinn

Got a doe down. I will get the pics up a little later. I spent most of the trip trying to get the wife her first deer. We finaly got it done with a nice 8. I wish my first one was as good. I'll get a pic of it up too. I'm guessing 110" to 120" at 20 yards with the 243 win. It didn't run more than 30 yards. It was like bagging my first all over again.

kellyguinn

Here is a pic of her Buck.

White-tail-deer

I'm heading out in the AM for our gun opener. Hopefully I can add to our score. Good luck to the rest of you!!

kellyguinn

Good luck. Hope you at least get to see some movement.

Zim

Well this sucks. Drove down to set up camp a day early, and bowhunted Wed. day before 2nd gun season. Well of course had biggest buck in 3 weeks of hunting coming right to me, following a doe and button. The two little ones cut my wind and got just a little nervous. This caused big buck to lock up for 15 minutes before blowing out. He stood there at 50 yards all that time, easy gun shot! Just one day too early. Was a nice 10+ point that would have scored 145-150". Definitely better than my 133" archery entry. Unreal.

White-tail-deer

Well I finished our first week of rifle season. Passed up about 15 buck with the largest an 8 point with about a 14" spread. I just could not catch up with the nicer buck. The rest of my family did, 6 out of 8 shot buck, 17" to 21.5" Spread, 8-10 points. I will only be able to hunt one or two days next week, so I still may catch up with one. If not then I have flintlock season after Christmas, always a tough hunt. On a good note I shot a doe to add 25 pts., LOL!

Zim

Well, another sooooooo close encounter with the big boy again on Friday evening but luck was on his side again. I repositioned downwind, further up the hill from where he showed Wednesday morning. That evening he came barreling in chasing a doe well before shooting light, but at the bottom of the hill, where I was Wednesday AM! He herded her directly below the tree I was in that day! Then for 1/2 hour he proceeded to tear up every tree within 20 yards of my Wednesday tree! Totally unreal. They were 60-70 yards away from my new tree, but it was just too thick to get a totally open shot. A couple times I had the crosshairs on him, but they were through relatively small gaps between the tree limbs, without a dead rest. I just elected to pass rather than risk wounding him. It is a new spot I've not hunted before so I was not sure of the best positioning for max shot angles in various wind directions. I played it a little too safe, backing off to minimize scent.

Sorry folks, looks like I gambled and got shut out for gun season here. We have a short post-rut season so it is tough. I do have a muzzleloader tag but it is an inferior over-hunted area. May take a meat deer.

White-tail-deer

I finally connected on the last day of the season. Not a monster but I'm happy with him. I'll score him up and submit the score.

kellyguinn

WTG. I see ya got a doe to. Looks like you finished up the season with a bang.