Yes we have a full freezer, and yes, we do donate a lot of deer meat... we have a list of people whom need the meat and we are happy to help them. Just thought I would share a pic of the 9 point my husband got earlier this season
Great Story LF!! Sorry the cototes got to it but unfortunately we all have to deal with them...I shoot everyone I see though lol...good to know that you are helping the needy...I enjoy sharing my venison as well. Tell your hubby congrats!! Oh and he has got some catching up to do lol
Great write up and buck LF! That's one heck of a deer! Seeing your pictures makes me wanna hunt Illinois in a bad way!
Haha! Kansas is a great place to hunt! Especially this year with great antler growth and ideal rut hunting conditions. If you ever need any info on tags, licenses, or ground to hunt don't hesitate to PM me. There are giant tracts of state ground near me that see very little bowhunting pressure. Most of it is oak timber and river bottoms. In a few places the state will share crop to a local farmer and plant corn or beans. It's some nice ground.
You both are blessed with great hunting land for sure!! Kansas will be one of my destinations eventually...
Thank you so much for the kind offer ... I would love to take you up on the offer since oak timber and river bottoms are what I am used to hunting ( we have no crops we can hunt the edges of ) But the reality is I proabably never will since Im just a poor working waitress now and dont have much disposable income ... but hopefully that will change next year Again THANKS !
I know I am blessed ... the University Of Illinois provides us with really good public land to bowhunt.
I really am, I'm thankful everyday for the opportunity to hunt and try to manage where I do. Definitely a blessing. PM me if you do decide to come out this way and I can give you some insight. Cole (ihunt) and TJ (tackle box) are both good kansas guys with lots of experience hunting this state too. I'm sure they could be additional information sources as well.
Yes, The IDNR recognizes it as state public hunting land. The Univrtsity Of Illinois owns ( The Park was donated to them )a large couple 1000 acre park called Robert Allerton Park. This park is all wild free range deer. They never allowed hunting, well that created a mess , the deer became so overpopuated in the park that the park was browsed down to nothing, Deer were inbreeding, farmers ajacent to the park were suffering crop loss and complaining, DVA surrounding the park were on a continual rise in numbers. The park was opened to hunting in 2004 with both firearm , archery and late winter sharpshooters. The first year hunting there they killed hundreds of deer. After a couple of years they stopped the sharpshooters and did away with the firearm hunting and made the park archery hunting only. The park does FLIR fly overs to count the herd in the park and some surrounding areas to come up with a target number of deer they want taken each year in the park. The University now has a lottery application to bow hunt the park. The public can apply to hunt at the park at no cost. The park only allows 30 hunters in the park. If you are choosen you must work 30 volunteer hours at the park ( Splitting wood, pulling invasive weeds, planting wild flower fields etc - Then pass an Archery Profiency Shooting test - attend a mandatory safety and rules meeting.All state and federal laws apply to hunting in the park. The hunter must 1st kill a doe before you can kill a buck, The 1st buck must have at least 4 points on one side and spread to the tips of his ears. A second buck can be taken after the hunter kills a second doe. The second buck must have at least 5 points on one side and spread out to the tips of the bucks ears. The shooting of button bucks is discouraged. Now for the hunters the park has a point system as well . This point system works as follows. Mature doe = 5 pts female fawn = 3 pts Mature Buck - 2pts Button Bucks = 0pts Every Hunt = .25pts The hunter at the end of season with the most points works zero hours when returning the next year. So 1st place works = 0hrs 2nd place = 3hrs 3rd place = 6hrs etc. The park will offer the top 10 hunters an automatic invite to return to hunt the park the next year... but all other returning hunters whom didnt place in the top 10 have to apply to hunt at the park by lottery with the rest of the public. Weldon Springs Piatt County Unit state public hunting land butts up to Allerton Park, so as of this year any deer we killed there they would count towards our Allerton Hunt ( but with Archery )you have to take a doe 1st at Weldon also ( State rules ) The park is the sole place I bowhunt now .... just love it there
Lady Forge Sounds like a good place to hunt,30 hunters to 1000 acres is a good ratio too! You must place in the top 10 for a while huh!I noticed this a few years back. Christine hunted their to I think eh! Rocky
Rocky its a little closer to 2000 acres. The participation level from the other hunters in the last 2 years has really declined. I think that the hunting there has become tougher with the typical public land hunter educated deer. We have also suffered 2 years of drought accompained by EHD which I know has taken more deer than the state is claiming. I think this has contibuted to the loss of hunters here and the decline in participation levels from other hunters here. In a nut shell you have to hunt harder and smarter here ,where when the park was severly over populated with deer there was a waiting list of people wanting to hunt the park and the hunting was Easy. We had many days in the last 2 years when the rut was in full swing and only 3 or 4 hunters were there hunting. I feel it puts more pressure on us active hunters to try and fill the quota the park has in place ( my fear if we dont appear to be putting in the efffort that they will end the bowhunting and bring back the sharpshooters ) but then on the plus side ... when fewer hunters are hunting it puts less pressure on the deer. Ya I usually finish in 1st or 2nd. Yep I introduced Christine and her husband Kendal to Allerton ... of course Christine took to this place like a Carp to water :D, she and Kendal were very successful at Allerton .. and we had a great time hunting and helping each other track and drag deer out ...some great memories... since they moved to Utah we really miss them.
Well did some walking last weekend and this weekend and so far I'm not happy with the neighbors. One is obviously older but the bottom had to been shot this past week.
looks like he's trying to weed out the spikes or killing deer he doesn't want on his land or just getting meat ,not sure where your going with this LF! Or is he just shooting them and leaving them because there spikes!
I thought it was just odd finding two perfect skulls within a week and I guess a little upset that they were so young.
That's too bad No. 6...those are the kind of deer that needed to live a couple more years to see what they amounted to. Neighbors can really suck sometimes!
Hopefully I will be able to get ahold of all the neighbors this summer and see if they would be interested in QDM for the area. I know a lot of them are farmers and just want the meat but, thats what the doe are for Im going out this weekend in hopes for a Doe or another bruiser but, haven't had any on cam since gun opener in Nov. Hope all your Holidays are going well!
