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ORIGINAL: goherd1111

Did I do this to myself???

Today was the first day of the second shotgun season here in IL. In runs from today through Sunday. As some of you may know I haven't gun hunted since I moved to IL 4 years ago. I usually take it easy the 7 days that gun season is in, and rest up for the late season. Well....today my soon to be father-in-law calls me and ask me if I want to go out with him and sit on stand. Well, I accept his invite, since I have nothing better to do I figure I may as well go sit in one of my stands and do a little field watching just to see what I can see. Keep in mind, I have no gun permit and basically came along to keep him company on the radio and do a little late season scouting. Like most of you guys, I can sit in the outdoors without a weapon and still enjoy myself.

We arrive and I decide to climb up into one of my stands that I have hunted numerous times this year. I have seen some pretty nice bucks out of this stand but nothing huge has came into range while I had my bow in hand. Wouldn't you know it. About 4:30 I see a huge bodied deer coming up the fence line I'm on. I quickly notice he isn't a buck that I have seen before. He closes the distance and at 22 yards is standing perfectly broadsided. I liked to crap my pants. This dude was a stud! Main frame 11 point with lots of stickers. I'm talking 170"+. I can't believe it. He never new I was there. I'm sick. It almost made me wish I had a shotgun permit!!!! Not really!!But by god!!! He was huge. I had a feeling before I went out that something like this would happen. I just hope he shows back up during the late season. This will definitely give my lazy ass a reason to get up out of bed on those cold December mornings. Sorry for the long post, just had to vent.

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ORIGINAL: GMMAT

So...the thought of sitting in a deer stand (alone - not with another hunter) without a weapon simply doesn't interest me.

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