it takes alot to make a hunt come together right. i made a guy pass a 180 inch 12 point because i didnt have good footage

Well it is just something we would do for fun and if a 180 inch buck walked by we wouldn't care if we had good footage or not. just as long as we had the video of it on the ground! lol!!!

lol. yeah it is ok to do it that way if you aint getting footage for tv. in actuallity the buck was in the camera and i had him good but there were limbs and leaves so i told the hunter to let him take a couple more steps and be in the open. well he started making a scrape and the wind swirled. he got nervous and turned straight away from us. it happens. never seen that buck again. many cam pics but not the deer.

Yeah you see that on TV sometimes as well. Thats pretty cool that you film for shows. Are you the camera man that the rumors say Tiffany Lackosky cheated on Lee with? LOL j/k!!!!!

Enjoy your time in S. IL. I used to spend summers on my grandparents farm down there. I will be down in Wayne county the last weekend in Oct on a 3 day bow hunt. The problem we are running in to down there is alot of land owners are leasing ground out to a lot of out of state hunters and the amish are buying up lots of land and turning it into cattle farms. So I don't know how long we will be able to keep our spot on our old family farm

yep that was me but then i woke up and realized i had been dreaming. lol

yeah lots of amish around whr we will be but glendal owns a bunch of the land and has pretty solid leases on the remaining pieces. we have had to run people off though. lots of flipping coyotes in that area too

yeah all the locals down there like to road hunt and go on anybodys property. We don't have much trouble with yotes though.

yeah the poaching is horrible but there is enough country to keep them from being able to kill all the big ones

Been at work for a little over an hour...came in early so I could leave early. Not sure why I am so fired up. I have some ok bucks showing up but nothing to exciting. They are also calling for a 100% chance of rain tomorrow....Oh well I guess water has never hurt me before...I may just lose my mind before I get out of here today....

-john

Hey its cool that you film hunts. I always say that I am going to try some of that but it just never seems to work out.

-john

TX
Have a great weekend hunting and enjoy the rain,it can be very comforting.Oh yeah and don't for get your safety belt.
Rocky
Had the right wind last night after 9 days not being able to get in where DDT is. Had a 1 1/2 doe walk in before I even got my bow hooked up. That was it ,checked my trail cam and they were all on it every day at 7:15 am. Hopefully I can get back in this weekend. The morning sits are a breeze because 90% of the time it's a north westery wind coming off the feild. Good luck tothose hunting this weekend.

TX if this is your first sit of the year that probably explains it. Yes having a giant on the property helps get you excited and it can help push you to go to the stand even on days your tired or not feeling so well. but really most of us hunt for more then just a shot at a big buck. that is just the icing on the cake! Even if it is raining try to enjoy yourself and just remember you could be at work or shopping with your wife. I will take the tree every time! haha!

I am going crazy waiting on monday to get here. I just want to be away from it all in a tree pissed off at squirrels. I am going down to indiana to hang a couple sets this weekend and I will be back sunday night just in time to have a long sleepless night because the season is starting on monday!


Good luck to everybody who is lucky enough to hunt this weekend.

good luck everyone

Zero Am Hunt
Well it was a great morning to be on stand. Too bad the deer didn't show up ,LOL,the colours were vibrant as the leaves fluttered to the ground. I tried calling Moose and had a few replies but the bull stayed to the edge of the woods for 2 hours then took off. It started raining for 2 hours and then stopped and I got out of my stand by 10:30. I'll try again tonight.
Rocky

well passed a few small bucks yesterday. am not hunting today. getting everything loaded to head to ill tonight.

hensen.. the nearest town is Mcleansboro

Update:
Sorry guys I havent been to active on the forums been busy with work. I have been out about 7 times now. Seen 15+ deer so far. Passed on 2 yearling does on the opener, otherwise I havent had a real shot yet. Havent seen anything large yet but prime time is coming up so I still have hope. Ill keep you all posted on what I see or shoot. Good luck to everyone!

Hey Guys I just got back from checking out our new property in Indiana and I could not be more excited for my 4 day bow hunt the first week of november down there and the gun season the week of thanksgiving. The hill country would probably give me a heart attack if I have didn't have an ATV. But I have alot of great spots.

In the mean time I am back here in IL ready for tomorrow morning! Good luck team!

Snapper- we hunt 20 minutes north of wayne city

Lots of boys on the board already, still waiting for the opener! tick..tick..tick..

Well I saw several doe's and a spike yesterday but nothing in shooting range. The wind direction really didn't help my cause much. The only thing I had in shooting range was a set of orphan triplets who kept running around playing in the beans. You could still see faint spots on them. I don't know where mama was but they seemed to be doing fine. Everything else never came inside 80 yards.

I heard lots of activity in the dark so i am assuming the bright moon caused them to feed at night.

I'm heading back to the farm this weekend. This will be my last trip until the end of the month because of the lull and scheduling. Hoping to tip one over in my 'honey hole' stand. I'll keep you all posted!

how is everybody doing out there? has anybody seen anything good?

Man I am back from the lease but I am empty handed....Lots of rain and lots of north wind. Those are 2 things that we normally don't a lot of in the hill country of Texas. I will head to my farm on Saturday but doubt I shoot anything there. I will head back to the lease on 10/13 for a few days if the weather looks right.

-john

just back from illinois. we saw lots of deer and several shooters. with one being in the mid 180s to 90s had 13-15 inch g2s and 11+ g3's a true awesome buck. but no kills.

Just to see a buck like that would be awesome! I can't even imagine what it's like to see a 180-190 inch deer while you are in the woods. I am shaking just thinking about it! LOL!!!!

henson we didnt see that one from the stand lol. we saw him while driving around the first evening. we wanted badly to set up on him but he was half mile from our ground and we couldnt secure permission to hunt him. we would have probably killed him. the owners brother drove by there 2more evening and he was out. it sucked but nothing we could do our hand was delt and we didnt come out with the cards we needed.

got home yesterday morning from illinois and went to check trail cams. have one missing and several that are missing whole days(meaning i got pic on 10-03 and then on 10-05 but not 10-04) and these ca,s are set up in places i get pics every day. there are 5 other people hunting this farm (yes the deer movement has slowed but still getting 400 pics every 24 hours) and i have pics of people on several cams. i called a buddy told him about the missing cam. he asked his buddy (who hunts there). called me back and told me his buddies son hunted the back ladder stand and saw the cam i have 25 yds away from it(you have to walk in front of it to get to the stand) but there was only 21 pics for a 5 day sit on it and none of the kid. i am convinced someone is checking my cams and deleting select pics. the missing cam was 30 yds from a treestand on the neighboring property and i could see a cam set up now 10 yds infront of the stand. with binocs i saw it was the same cam style that is missing so i went to look at it (it is not mine but exact same name and style) i am convinced who ever hunts that stand took the cam because my cam 50yds away next to my stand is still there and so is the cam 150 yds in the other direction. all 3 are set along the same fence line.

Snapper that sucks about your cameras. People are just stupid sometimes and I don't know why some people do the things they do.

I got out this morning and the only thing I saw was 3 coyotes. Its was 34 degrees and I of course forgot my face mask and my face was pretty damn cold by the end of my hunt with that wind blowing directly at me.

I will be out again sunday morning. I am hoping to at least get a doe down.

Heading out Tonight
Snapper to bad about the TC, it hurt's I know,Henson ,good luck in the AM hunt, I'll be going out again Monday either morning or night, depends on the wind.Be safe & God Bless. Three succesive sits and not a dang animal to see. I hate the doldrums of early October!
Rocky

thanks guys i am pretty sure i know who did it. the guy who has the stand 30 yards away. he hunts the same farm i do and would have accessed that stand via the feild. which would have put him walking past my cam. it is odd that mine is gone but his stand and the cam (that can be seen from the feild) is still there. i was told that the guy does some iffy things so. plus my buddy hunted there wed night and ran into the guy and he said he was gonna hunt that stand on thursday. lots of clues that point to him.

good luck fellas and be safe. wear those fall restraints

Season finally opened yesterday!! Hunted an oak flat with falling acorns and thick with laurels, very few openings amongst the laurels. Also, it's surrounded by pine ticket so you hear no walking. Ten minutes after setup, a doe appeared to my left 15 yds from my tree, but no shot. She circled to my right and I had a good 20yrd quartering away shot, released and wait. Also, saw glimpses of 6 other deer going through the laurels, but no shots. Finally, got down and found my arrow... CLEAN MISS! Wow, rookie mistake...I realized I didn't lean into the shot causing me to shoot over her. Oh well, still not bad to have a shot in the first 10 minutes of the season! Since Virginia still has a blue law of no Sunday hunting, I'll be out tomorrow morning.

Well I had two small bucks walk by this morning. one of the bucks had a little 4 point rack and a pretty large body. If it was late season and I needed the meat he would have bit the dust. But it is early season and I still have lots of chances.

A lot of the guys I hunt with havn't seen much movement at all. It was 35 degrees this morning and it didn't seem like they were moving at all.

15 deer tonight 7 of them passed at 3-5 yards. no bucks but it is only a matter of time.

Heading out this afternoon
Rocky

10 does and 2 bucks last night. one was big but how big i dont know. out past his ears and looked massive but i have no idea how many points or any other details.

Well at least you are seing decent numbers. I still need a few corn fields to be cut around me. The rains we had the past couple weeks have slowed harvest to a crawl around me plus alot of farmers have switched to beans.

I have to work this weekend but I may still try and get out one evening.

lots of fields still standing around me. just making the best of it. i pulled off the farm where i got all the pics of the big ones. to many hunters and had cam stolen.

hey guys im still here, workin and hunting........ i had my #1 hit lister at 15 steps...yes 15 steps sat night.... 12-14 scoreable pts, 17-18 inch spread, great mass, and about a 5 inch drop off the right main...... could not get a shot.... im still shook up.... heading back out thursday night.....

Thanks for the check in Superdave!

If the winds look right I will be headed to the lease for a few days on Saturday.

Good luck everyone.

-john

I was just curious what you guys think. Right now my family and I are in the process of buying our neighbors 124 acres in SE Indiana. It would bring us up to 211 acres total.
The property is really hilly and we have no farm crops near us. Of the 124 acres 114 is woods with a few small clearings the other 10 is the house, out buildings and yard. This property was logged 10-12 years ago and most of the trees are not mature yet and the under growth is really thick. We also have a few thick cedar areas.
My plan starting next year is to plant some killing plots in the small clearings (beets and forage oats) and on some of the bigger clearings on our original 87 acres I will plant nutrition plots of clover and chickory. Also we will have a few mineral sites around the property. Since the new property has thick undergrowth I believe it to be perfect for bedding and cover, pair that with my food plots I would think I should have no trouble holding and growing good deer. Also we have 4 ponds on the 211 acres. so that helps too! :)

Our neighbors to the north and east of us are big on deer and land management and we are going to work on a plan together to hopefully grow some big boys. I am not sure about our guys to the west and south. But you never know until you talk to people I guess.

I know there are a few good bucks in my area along with an over population of doe's. I think for the next few yrs I am going to try and focus on killing more doe's. We have a retired IN game warden and his son that we let hunt our land and I think I am going to require them to at least take 1-2 doe each year to try and bring the population down. If I can remove 4-6 Doe a year that should help.

What do you guys think? should I be doing something else along with the above plan?

no that is a solid plan but i would recommend taking more than the 4-6 does. how many acres total(including your neighbors) will be in the over all growing area? what is your deer density?