Lady Forge

I thought us Illinois Hunters could continue our hunting journal here, So come on folks and share your sightings and stories and successes with us.

I am back from Brown County. I spent Thurs-Sunday over there bowhunting at Hunting Unlimited Inc on a Womens Bowhunt. The weather was not very coperative for deer hunting, just a bit to warm, and there was still to much standing corn that the farmers had not gotten out yet[X(] I think alot of deer were held up in that corn. I had 5 deer that I could of harvested but they were not what I was looking for ,just small bucks and a yearling doe and a small oposum. I did get to watch a small 8 pointer make a scrape and work a licking branch at about 15 yards from me, and watch a doe run off her button buck. Had turkeys all around me in the mornings but no shots none came close, but they were gobbling their heads off when they were flying down in the mornings,boy did that wake me up [] seen coyote and heard lots in the am, had a small 8 pointer at 3 yards from the base of my tree another small 8 pointer at 6 yards from my tree , had 2 button bucks at 9 and 23 yards and a yearling doe at 16 yards and and was relaxing by the side of the dirt road leaning up against a stump taking in the sun waiting for Tim to come and pick me up with the truck and closed my eyes for a few minutes and opened my eyes to see a small 6 pointer walking the corn field edge across the dirt road from me totally oblivious that I was sitting there[&:]
Unfortunatly while I was hunting the ridge near a small CRP field and above the Alfalfa field there was a large 10 pointer with a big drop tine in the Alfalfa field, so I returned the next morning to hunt a stand hung near where the buck had exited the field, but he never showed again. And of course as I was driving home Sunday night there were a ton of deer out on the back roads and in the fields.
All in all it was it was a great time hunting and I still had a blast.

IL_BOW_MAN

I can sum mine up really easy Lady.

Deer - NONE
Coons - 4
Wood Ducks - 24
Squirrels - 3

That would go for about my last 3 hunts.

Same coons, ducks and squirrels everytime!!

JZarr

Sounds a lot like how my weekend went. I was hunting JoDaviess County by the way.

Sat morning - passed up 2 small button bucks. They fed around my stand for about half an hour. Kept me entertained for awhile at least. Saw a doe and yearling off in the distance right before I got down for the morning.

Sat evening - saw a nice buck about 80 yards in front of my stand. From what I could see with the binocs, he was a big 8 point, possibly 10. Looked to be in the 22-24" spread range, with every big of 12" G2s and 10" G3s. VERY nice buck. Unfortuntely for me, he fed out of sight through some raspberries and never returned. Right before dark I had a doe and yearling within 12 yards of my stand, but elected to pass due to the warm weather and the buck sighting.

Sun morning - bunch of squirrels and chipmunks.

Sun evening - one small button buck meandering around the hillside all night. He was never out of my sight for more than 2 minutes at a time. Once again, at least he kept me entertained.

This weekend is supposed to be cold and rainy so we' ll see what happens.

rochelle

I hunted sat morning and saw 2 small bucks and a basket rack. I haven' t seen anything sense then[:' (]

Lady Forge

Went out yesterday around 11:00am, was sitting our favorite deer stand on a ridge that has a wide ravine that works as a natural funnel for the deer to use to travel from the bedding area in front of me to the feeding fields behind me, Ive seen the turkeys there on numerous accasions in the afternoon around 1:00 and 2:00, so I decided to try this stand for turkeys and later deer, the other stand I really wanted to hunt had the wrong wind for it.
I start to walk to the stand from the fields edge one step and then and then stand and wait, listen for noise then one more step and then I hear noise, I eventually make it to about 10 yards from the tree stand and a little doe fawn pops up over the ridge not 12 yards from me , So I freeze with my arrow nocked( was hoping it was a nice buck or fat ole doe, so this little doe fawn wont leave she just stands there forever starring at me so I think how to get rid of her without spooking her and the other 2 does and button buck that are behind her??????? So I decide to do a snort wheeze with my mouth( I never tried to do this to deer before but thought what the heck Ill try it and see how it works) I snort wheeze and she perks up and looks very curious but scared and she just stands her ground , so I do it again and she starts to back up and turns around and goes back to the 2 does and button buck but never ran or lifted her tail, so I watched them slowly feed their way away from me to the bedding area, So I guess my snort wheeze worked[8D]without spooking them
Well the turkeys were a no show so I waited for the deer.
Come around 4:00pm I am sitting and soaking in the sun feeling like I could just doze off, the wind is light and blowing in my face, and then off to my left I hear deer blowing and blowing and I know it isnt me, Im sitting still and have the wind in my face, the blowing stopped and then not 15 min latter the deer in the same area start blowing and blowing and blowing, I thought maybe a coyote or OH GOD not another hunter[] Well it all quieted down and the light began to fade but I could hear deer feeding their way to me but I slipped out in the dark unnoticed by the deer. As soon as I entered the field edge there was another bowhunter walking through. So we spoke and it turned out it was him they were blowing at, he told me he got busted twice by does with fawns. He then told me HE SAID " I REALLY NEED TO GO AND GET SOME OF THEAT SCENT KILLER SPRAY, THEY KEPT WINDING ME" [][X(][]
On a bright note THE FARMERS WERE OUT GETTING THE CORN OUT LAST NIGHT Finally, get the deer out of all that standing corn.
Once last week and yesterday I saw a small 6 pointer and a nice 8 pointer laying dead on the interstate, wanted the rack from the 8 pointer but when he got hit it really busted up his rack so I drove off and left him lay, what a waste

JZarr

I haven' t been out all week due to work, but my father was out at a local spot close to home (Lake County) and saw a nice 10 point. Would' ve been able to get a shot at him, but he was sitting in a cornfield on a windy night and never heard him coming. By the time he saw the buck it was too late.

Leaving tonight for JoDaviess County and will be there until Sunday night, providing I don' t shoot one before then. Be back on Monday hopefully with some good news.

Good luck to everyone else.

philbert8

Last Sat. (18th) harvested a mature doe after seeing 16 deer on an all day hunt, she seemed kinda uneducated for a public land deer and was a little different color than the rest.I wonder if she had been living in the corn all season and had just moved into the woods, only to get a double lung at 15 yards!
Thurs. (23rd)
Evening = nothing
Friday morning=nothing
Friday eve.=
A nice wide 8 point feeding in the cornfield with a doe, I softly tickled the rattling bag and he started coming in, then lost interest and went back to his doe. So I rattled again and same thing happened again. I had him within 60 yards when it got too dark, so I let them feed the other direction and slipped out of the edge of the woods after they crested the hill. I' m gonna break out the ghille suit and try again next time the wind is right.
Have been seeing alot more rubs and scrapes in the last couple of days......Happy days are here again!

philbert8

Working today, will try to sneak out for the evening hunt.But the wife says I need to spend time with those little people who live in my house......they look familiar.....but they are too noisy to be mine,he he.

uncle matt

Deceided to do an hour hunt at dusk on way home last nite.

Am I glad (& now sad?) I did!

Went to this particular small lot where house was knocked downed several years ago, overgrown, weeded, with about 3 acres of tall weeds and grass behind it leading into big wooded ritzy house lots that are really spread out.

Anyway, I climb up in the old treefort, 4' X 8' deck w/ three 4' X 8' framed sides at 5:00 PM. Kinda cool fort (remember bein' a kid?) and definately useable. I' ve pulled does off this one a few times. The deer " appear" out of the tall weeds and linger in this lot before heading across the county road.

I had 7 deer come by between the time I climbed up and say 5:30/5:40. None in range that I wanted to shoot. They all made their way right across the county road without hanging around at all. I thought that to be weird, they always hang around. I guessed cause the cool day had them looking for some real food. Not a thing for 10 minutes, I said to myself, " Self, you saw some deer, it' ll be dark in 15 min., climb on down in the light and we' ll do it again sometime soon."

Down I go, walk over to my truck behind a stand of pines about 80 yards away. Take a quick scan over field behind me. What' s that noise? That' s good noise and it' s continuing. It' s on my left heading away and to my right. Hey! Who the heck is walking MY field edge. Trespasser!

No trespasser. On my left the weeds taper from 5-6 ft down to 4, 3 and then stop. I see darkness moving behind weeds. Hey another deer skating by, looks good size, nock arrow, draw back, coming more fully into sight, 22-24 yards (perfect! I practice 25 all the time)

I' m kinda excited now caise this thing is getting bigger and bigger the more I see of it. He' s in the clear now, I' m at full draw, he is absolutely FFFFFFF huge! He must own this place! 300# body and HUGE HEADGEAR!

He walked clear of the tall weeds for about 20 feet before the next section of weeds that is about 4 ft high and 12 feet long.

I choke! So busy looking at his shear size and the super tall rear tines! Damn!!! Damn!!! Damn!!! Wasn' t concentrating on that SPOT! He' s behind the next weeds now. He doesn' t know I' m here. Can I shove it through the top edge of the weeds?!?!?! Seems pretty iffy. He' ll come forward and then! I have to let off cause I' m ready to rip a miscle or something!

He makes his slight move forward, gonna be in clear, I am gonna take this monster home tonite! As his head and neck are coming clear I start to draw and he.........................................BUSTS ME!

I couldn' t believe that up to that point he wasn' t even aware of me standing there by the fender of my truck. I think he just glanced in my direction and said, " What' s this Dodge doing in my bedroom?" I deceided to draw in case he would stand there for 1 second too long. Didn' t matter. At my slightest movement he blew load as an elephant fart and he went right back over that weedlot in overdrive.

12 points.

Huge body! HUGE!

170.....175?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh h!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You big dummy!

I' ll be back this week! Ruts startin up, wait for temp to drop, wind right and roll my dice again!

Oh yeah, this was in SW Cook county, not 20 miles from Chicago city limit .

Good luck to y' all.

Uncle Matt (in IL)

philbert8

Matt, awesome story.
Sounds like a great deer, gives me an adrenalin rush just readin about it.

I snuck out this evening and almost got ran over by two does running full blast.
I sure was hoping they were being chased by a big buck, but no dice
It must' ve been a stinky hunter, that' s why I usually won' t hunt weekends(public land)


BTW, I' m in Tuscola....any lurkers from around these parts?