We didn’t have much history and were not on a first name basis, however the enjoyment of the hunt was not lacking. My motivation was the trail camera picture from September and his motivation was thirst. After my father, brother and I received the first trail camera picture we knew he was a shooter and knew he would be tough to get. He was running with a 3 ½ year old buck we call high tower (pic above). The two of them and several other deer live all day in a 40 acre patch of switch grass and then step outside of it that last hour before dark. The deer would feed on a cut corn field or move directly to water. I placed a stand by the water source. My father started watching the area by binoculars and confirmed the habits. I was amazed he was getting noticed during day light hours. Dad actually watched him run high tower off about a week ago. We have learned over the years one of the most important ingredients to leave out of hunting is pressure. Illinois opens October 1st and we went on our first hunt the morning of the 12th. We have five separate locations we hunt and try to hunt the good (wrong this year) stuff starting Halloween. We went back to hunt the evening of the 13th. If it can be done, I like to test a location in the morning and evening pretty close together. Dad and I were getting ready to pull up to the location when we noticed a farmer mowing right by our hunting location. He had stopped mowing and was just walking around. It really dampened our spirits and we almost left. We thought maybe the deer were immune to this from seeing it and we headed in with a positive attitude. I climbed up in the stand and went right to bowhunting.com. Lots of squirrels and an unbelievable amount of geese were all around, but no deer. I started thinking about the situation and got a gut feeling. Don’t ever do this. I have had this work before on a buck and thought maybe it would work that night. I have a shooting lane out into the corn field, but my range is only a little into it. I crawled to the edge of the field. Sat down with my bow facing where the deer would be and waited. It worked. Here came deer. Does and then yes, the big one. I just focused on him. The does picked me off. He kept coming closer. He stopped at 40 yards quartering to me and I was pulled back already. The does took off running and he turned broadside and stopped. I then shot. It was too much for me to handle and I was not sure what happened. I didn’t even look for the arrow. Told Dad what happened and we backed out. Came back 2 hours later and did not find the arrow and hated the look of the blood and blood trail. Backed out again. Came back at 230 am and looked until 400 am. Still hated what I was seeing. Backed out again and waited for day light. Found and old shed buried in the bottom of a creek. We looked and searched from day light until about 830 am. Was starting to get depressed. I looked off in the distance in the cut corn field and something did not look right. I followed it and it was him. He went the opposite of what we thought and went maybe 300 yards. The arrow entered in liver and pointed towards one lung. The 125 grain swhacker stayed in and sliced quite a bit. I honestly don’t think he lived an hour. My Dad, Brother and Nephew were able to witness the find. I will never forget the hunt.
Congrats on the whole deal, loved the fact you played it smart and backed out....and it stuck out to me you were hunting with your dad, which I'll be honest I'm jealous of!! Congrats man! Not too bad for a gay guy....oh wait lol
Great job....gotta go with gut sometimes. ..glad it paid off for ya Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Sounds like a great day, funny how things work out when it feels a little off walking in. Congrats again, and I gotta agree great family pic.
