LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015
With 2 weekends of hunts in Illinois under my belt I still have all of my tags in my pocket. It’s not because I haven’t been seeing deer, just not the right deer. Just thought I’d share some experiences and pictures from stand with you.
The look of a natural born killer. It was cold a few early mornings.
Having gotten pictures of some good bucks around my food plots, the first weekend I set up in a stand in a pinch point 30 yards across. There is very little hunting pressure in my area so the deer usually come out into the fields pretty early. That night was no exception. I had 3 little bucks come out at 4:30. They ate some of my corn and then switched off to munching clover and chickory. I had been getting trail cam pics on my Moultrie I40 cameras of a buck with a spike on one side and a fork on the other side all summer long. No matter where I put a camera he would walk in front of it. I now know why. There are 3 of the little buggers that look just alike, I saw all 3 of them that night. The first weekend I promised myself I wouldn’t shoot a doe and mess things up if a buck was coming later. I had numerous opportunities to kill does but passed.
Ready for action.
My view to the plot.
One of the triplets in the persimmon patch.
Another night I sat near some persimmon trees. I think I had a few of every animal in the woods walk past me to go feast on the sweet persimmons. The group of turkeys even strolled through and had a few bites. If you have any persimmon trees that are loaded with fruit, I’d suggest sitting on the downwind side of them some evening hunt or morning for that matter.
One of many visitors to the persimmons.
Week 2 found me perched on the side of a hill loaded with fallen acorns. As darkness gave way to daylight I spotted a rub on some saplings just feet from my tree and deer sign was everywhere. I figured the deer would hit this hillside later in the morning on their way back to their beds. I was wrong. Not a single deer sighting that morning. On the evening hunt mobow did see a nice 10 pointer cross the food plot. He thinks he might score 140ish.
A promising looking hillside.
He was here at one time.
The leaves are changing.
On the final sit of weekend #2 I was sitting on the food plot again and my buddy Don Eime was back off into the woods hoping to intercept them before they made it to the plot. He did exactly that. Only as he was squeezing the trigger the doe got just enough of a wiff of his scent that she bolted. By the time the arrow made it to where the big doe was standing all that was left there was her tail. The only sign of a hit was a few white hairs, no blood or tissue on the arrow at all. The only thing I had come into range that night was a small fawn just as light was fading. Not wanting to shoot a button buck by mistake I let it walk by at 30 yards.
Plenty of sightings and action in two weekends of hunting but no tags punched. The hunting should only continue to get better in the next few weeks. I’m planning on spending many more days in the woods this fall.
