my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

My buck story:

I took my buck on public property at a state park in Illinois, just 45 minutes south of my house. A friend and I camped there in my RV so we could hunt it sunrise to sunset without any disruptions.



We hunted hard and we saw a lot of great rut action.
Eric even had an opportunity on a 130”+ buck on Friday evening but it was too dark and didn’t work out.

On Monday I moved my climber to a river bottom area that offered open trails between thick cover and forest mast. I sat in the pouring rain for 5 hours with nothing to see but 2 young does. By the time I climbed down at dark I was so cold from sitting still in the pouring rain with nothing more than a long sleeve t-shirt and jeans that I didn’t have the energy to remove my climber so I decided to leave it overnight and come back for it in the morning.

Tuesday morning found me walking the trail to the river bottom easily 2 hours before daylight. I wanted plenty of time to change stand locations and set up several scent trails.

Lucky for me I already had a stand set up because it was impossible to see anything. The fog was so thick this morning that I could barely see my handsin front of my face,no joke! The white LED and bulb on my headlamp were way too bright in the dense fog and immediately blinded me temporarily from the close reflection. I would not have been able to find a suitable location to hunt let alone a straight tree for climbing.

Itook my time to set out scent trails and hang scent wicks of fresh bottled doe-heat urine that I ordered from a deer farm in New York.
I set a 2D folding buck decoy out to an area that I knew had an open shooting lane about25 yards away from my tree and I climbed up the tree to watch this magically misty morning unfold.


At first light I had 2 hunters approach my stand – remember this is public land. I flashed my light to let them know I was there and they moved on down the trail disappearing into the mist. I didn’t see another living creature for nearly 2 hours.

At 8:05am I caught movement through the bottoms about 150 yards away and heading into the forest. I stopped the shadow with a wheeze, whereupon a buck replied with his own wheeze. I came back with 2 short wheeze calls and with a flick of his tail he lowered his head and started my way. He was a smallish 6 point and I would have shot him had he given me the opportunity, but unfortunately (at the time) he wasn’t in a position to see my decoy (being flat and all)or catch my doe-heat scents that I so carefully laid out and he never made it closer than 40 yards to me. He left 4 times and each time I was able to promptly call him back with a very loud and aggressive buck growl/roar using the Primos Buck Roar call. Finally I scared him away accidentally by hitting my rattle bag. I could have guessed then that he had had his butt kicked once or twice in this area and was absolutely not interested in another fight.

At 9:15am I had the urge to climb down and move on, but decided to give it another hour here for good measure. But by 9:40 I still hadn’t seen anything, my stomach was beginning to rumble, and my patience was wearing thin so I started putting my gear away.

At 9:46am, with everything neatly packed up, I turned around in my climber to strap my feet in but instead saw a mature buck making his way through the bottoms. As I fumbled in my pack for a call and my release I saw the buck turn inside out and bolt away from the sight/scent of the 2 hunters sitting on the ground not 80 yards away from my stand!!! – remember this is public land.

I gave one thunderous roar with the Primos call and the sprinting buck stopped and turned my direction without hesitation. He was mad and I believe intended to take it out on whoever just yelled at him in his house! Perfectly positioned to see my 2D buck head-on, he puffed up his chest andbegan to charge at the intruder. At 5 yards from and facing the decoy he abruptly stopped, quartering towards meat 28 yards.
He cocked his head back and upwards then very slightly to the side in a threatening posture to the paper warrior.
Just then he must have caught a whiff of the doe-heat scent bomb hanging just 10 yards upwind of him and he once again turned his attention on a dime.

I could almost see the buck’s brain do a complete back flip inside his skull at his confusion as all of these thingscrashed intohim at once. He seemed to relax for a brief moment and took one full step towards me and sniffed the ground. But he was now facing directly towards me.

Then, as his brain firmly stuck the perfect landing he seemed to know in an instant that something was very very wrong and he froze. His hair raised some and began to twitch in places as he contemplated his options.

I could see that he was starting to shift his weight back and was going to flee but at this point I already had my 25 yard pin tuned in on his throat, just in case (aiming for the exit hole which would take me through at least one vital organ.) And when I felt he was about to jump 180 and bolt I squeezed the release.

The obligatory fish shot:


My arrow made a complete pass-thru, entering the throat it cutting the esophagus and an artery, then entered the chest and hit the front half of his right lung, exiting just behind the right shoulder and painted the forest red. He left a 18” wide stripe of red all the way to his final resting place not 100 yards from the place of impact. When we field dressed him, he had less than a half a cup of blood left in him.

All in all – I would say that this was nearly the perfect hunt. Everything just happened to line up correctly and for once the accidents ended up in my favor. I suppose many successes rely in small part to favorable accidents. I know I’ll keep taking as many as I can get!



Side Note:
This is not a shot that I would recommend for anybody to take and I realize that it is not the desired shot. In fact, it might shock some of you and I think that is alright. I am an expert marksman, army trained, and can drive nails with a rifle or a bow. I have also made this very shot on 3 other occasions, twice with my sniper rifle of a shotgun setup and once with a bow. These were all the 4 fastest kills I’ve made, lasting only seconds.
I would still prefer a quartering away shot but am very comfortable threading a needle when needed too.

Also, my friend Eric got his best buck this weekend – We’re both very happy!

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

It is a very nice buck.

But I am having a hard time congratulating you on your shot selection/placement, especially at an alert deer.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

I can't say I wasn't expecting it BobCo - and I'm ok with that.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Nice buck. I do think the shot choice was less than desireable though.:eek:

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Good deer, glad it all worked out for you. Congrats.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Awesome buck! And if you are comfortable in your skills to make that shot, more power to ya! I have made that shot a few times and it was devasting. But as you said some will come at you about it. Never seen a story with pics of everything you used lol...

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

I, unlike some of the others, will says congrats and that's one heck of a shot. I've taken two full front on shots in my life with a bow and the end results were a very short, heavy blood trail to a dead deer.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

I will also congratulate you! If you are comfortable in your shot, take it. Regardless of an alert deer or not. Nice buck sir.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

x2! Great bucks!! ;)

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Congrats man! Awesome shot, and AWESOME DEER!! Nicely done! There's more than 1 way to skin a rabbit, and who is anyone to say it is right or wrong....It got the job done, and that's all that matters....

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Nice shot, gald you still like me:D

great buck

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Congratulations on your buck!

P.S. If you know that you can make the shot thentake it.;)

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Make that x3. Because if thats how you feel about the shot then i congratulate you.

Congratulations to the entire hunting party.

Ryan.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Great story, great pics, great public land bucks. You must have made the two ground hunters crap their pants!!
The frontal bow shot can indeed be devastating, but is risky due to the smaller margin of error. If you felt it was a sound decision, that's all that matters. I appreciate the way you presented your case. Congrats on a beautiful deer!

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Thank you to everyone! I didn't expect the support and it is much appreciated!

And Germ, thanks for the laugh although it did take me a minute - I'm blonde.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Awesome bucks from public ground. I am contemplating taking a trip next year with my bro to some public ground. Well done!

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

I agree! Congrats!

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Awesome, Mike... simply awesome!

I decided to kill some time at the barber shop here and go get my laptop and put in my Sprint air card and see what was new on HNI... I'm glad I did! I enjoyed your story tremendously!

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Congrats on some awesome public land bucks

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Greg, you're like 1 big, walking commercial.....:D:D

You remind me of Jeff Gordon.....

"Well, the Dupont, Pepsi, GoodYear Chevrolet Monte Carlo ran good today."

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Lol Mobo, have you seen Larry the cable guys take on that....

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

LOL u guys kill me!

BTW - now I can still say that I got MoBow'd this year

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Great buck HAZCON7. Congrats both on the buck and the shot execution.

I do have a question in statement form for anyone who wants to respond to it though... and I'm not knocking Hazcon7 at all. If he has enough confidence and skill to make thatbuck spray the forest red, he's obvioiuslymore than competent. Good for him and his freezer.The only nightstick you'll see me pull out is to beat the guy who purposely takes a head shot,gut shot,or shoots a deer he doesn't have a tag for.

Anyway, usually when shots like this are taken,alot of peoplegets all righteous and start busting out their nightsticks. Where are all the super ethics police now? Maybe they haven't seen this yet?

Shouldn't they have already been asking questions like "do you think that being army trained means the deer are less likely to move at the last moment and mess up your 2 inch kill zone?" Is the lack of attack due to key members already posting and not questioning the shot? Is it because Hazcon7 says he can drive nails so in their minds that makes it alright? Is it because his post count is high enough?Is it because it was a nice and recovered buck? What if it wasn't recovered? Would that change the types of responses? And if so, why would it or should it change? If those super ethics police frown on this type of shot, shouldn't they be here frowning regardless if the deer was recovered or not?

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

I think its because they haven't read it yet although I'm quite happy not to have the argument here.

Over the years I've considered bringing up the subject of this particular shot but felt it better not to open the door on that one. To be honest, I considered not entering the buck in the bow contest so I didn't have to show the picture and endure the critics -but know what... I'm proud of this buck and would make this shot again! Besides, this forum is for fun and education so perhaps in another thread at another time I'll start the debate on the subject myself.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

nice buck

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

LOL... Actually, Mobow... I absolutely HATE Sprint and their service around here... I just typed that real fast because that's what all my co-workers in my district call them. I mean, they're right; that's what they are... so I've just picked up on it.

Believe me, I would never knowingly advertise for Sprint.


Congrats again, Mike.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Thanks Greg

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Congrats on your buck.

Tim

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Great!! Now I have to move to another state and get a whole new identity because you posted my face on the internet and blew the witness protection thing. J/K
Guys, I hammered on Mike the first time he took this shot years ago.... until we followed thewide blood trail all of 30 yds to his deer. It's nota shot I would take, but Mike is a better archer than me.
One thing y'all should know about Mike is thatthe first year we hunted together (years ago) he lost two deerin the learning process. Since then, he has never taken a shot he wasn't 100% confident in and has not lost a SINGLE deer he pulled his release on. I wish I could say the same.
Great story Mike....... Makes me wanna load up and head back right now.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Mike,
That story was worth waiting for. Supurb job.
I know you wouldn't take a shot like that if you were not comfortable with it. Big Congrats again. I'm glad you like me too.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

That's funny right there!! I was just pokin some fun is all.....I'm sure you know that though.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

great deer but bad shotplacement but do you own tock in the companysy you placed ad for in your post heck you shouldget paid for it lol nice deer at first with the camper picks i thought the buck would be small but he was big congrats good look and be safe

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Ya know, that term USED to be used whenever a doe bought the farm.....Guess I redefined that one w/out knowing it, huh? :eek::D

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

very nice buck!! ;)

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

I wouldnt say bad shot placement. It doesnt look like a wild shot. It actually looked like he has done that before or he knew he could get the job done. Excellent deer man congrats. Where in IL were u hunting. Because i would love to get a deer that size in my sights.....

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

slow down bigtim wecantunderstandwhatyouaretyping

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Nice buck from any grounds there Mike, but really nice from public grounds.

And I can't wait for this years DVD to come out, if you do it again that is.;)

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

Mike, I can't wait to meet up with you and hear the entire hunting story. I for one think that is a awesome shot you made on that deer. I know you wouldn't take it, and pray while the arrow was still in flight. I sent you a PM by the way. Tell your buddy congrats as well, maybe we can all meet up somewhere soon. See ya.

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

WAY TO GO MAN!!!

I dont have any complaints on the shot.....IT DID WHAT IT NEEDED TO!!!

RE: my IL Buck on Public Ground
 

So I guess since everyone is saying if you're comfortable with the shot take it means my head shot last week is acceptable.:D[8D] Nice deer.