deerdust

hunt12ga, Congrats on a good bird. The team is doing great. Keep it up guys.

deerdust

BTW- Hunt12ga your bird scored 61. With that added as the 3rd scoring bird for the team, we are now in 2nd place with a total of, 179.1250

Todd1700

You asked for it you got it. Ain't that a beauty of a shiner? LOL!

Todd1700

Congrats on a great bird Hunt12ga. Those midwestern birds sure pack on the weight. I have bowhunted for deer in Illinois on four different occasions and eyeballed a few of those big butterballs myself. I saw 9 longbeards in one group up there one year. Wish I had taken a camera along to photo it. It was a beautiful sight. I was hunting on a farmers land near the little town of Olney. I'm sure if we asked he wouldn't mind Me and a buddy coming back up and doing a little turkey hunting on his place. Especially since we have bowhunted his place on several occasions. May have to do that one year. We have turkeys galore on our land but they are swamp gobblers and rarely hit even 19lbs. I'd love just once to see what it feels like to toss a 25lb turkey over my shoulder. LOL! Congrats again!!

hunt12ga

Todd- Who's the farmer in Olney? I may know him. That's where I was born! All my family lives there still, and I'm 15 miles from there. 2 Lunger is only a stone toss northeast of Olney about 45 minutes. Small world, right? Let me know if you head up this way again.

And yes, those birds get heavy on you shoulder. When I'm hunting in the back 40, jakes start looking pretty nice!

rw

deerdust

OMG Todd, Lmao, Ouch, lol I can hear the echo of your cursing here in Missouri right now. I know for a fact that it hurts. Yes I have done it too, but not as bad looking as yours. And being a hunting guide, I have seen it many times over the years with other hunters. What we go through to do the things we love to do for fun. lol

Todd1700

Everyone just calls him Duke and that's all I know him by. When I was in high school some guys moved to my home town here in Alabama. Their parents had just got divorced and their mom moved them back to Alabama where she grew up. Their dad however was from Olney, ILL and that's where they had been living most of their lives. They still have friends and family in the area. We also hunted the land of some other friends of theirs as well.

First year up I saw the biggest buck I have ever laid eyes on in the field. We told Tony the land owner where we saw it and he killed it during the shotgun slug season later that year. Gross scored 192. Bucks that big fry the mind of an old Alabama boy like me. I would have probably had a heart attack if it had walked under my tree. LOL! I did kill a nice 8 point on that trip and last year I killed a real good 11 point.

I know you probably don't want this info to get out to the general public but you don't have to go to west central Illinois to see monsters. There are plenty of giant bucks in that area.

hunt12ga

There's plenty of them around here. You've gotta love this Illinois corn and beans. My mother in law killed a 178 NET less than half a mile from my front porch. We see them occasionally, but usually they have us figured out much quicker than we figure them out!

I've never shot one of the 'monsters' but a couple of my decent bucks would be big down south. Of course around here most people would pass them up! Not me, I like backstraps way too much for that.

rw

deerdust

Todd, it's true, The Infamous Pike County used to be a great place to hunt and still is, if you're looking for something in the 130's range. The monsters there are far and between anymore with all the outfitters and new ones every year. We also hunt Adams Co. and I think it is better than Pike.

hunt12ga

Maybe we need to get in touch with this 'Duke' and see about a gobbler hunt in Richland county next spring. Heck, I may know him. Considering the way you lay the SMACK on the turkeys, you'd be deadly wingman!

rw