On December 4th 2017 I had a my last Illinois buck tag & I decided to go bowhunt for a buck on some Illinois IDNR public hunting land. Now the conditions were less than desirable but I figured what the heck as they say " you cant kill em sitting on the couch " I had been studying online maps of the area and knew where I wanted to bow hunt for the afternoon. I had taken on the challenge of learning a new area of this public hunting land that I had never tried to bow hunt in the past years and I have been having a great time doing it and even have passed on shooting well over a dozen deer there. As I said before it was less than desirable conditions to bow hunt .... It was the day after the 2nd firearm season in Illinois, the winds were blowing 36 mph, it was warm up to 60 degrees, was a full moon day and they had just a few days earlier done a prescribed burn on this public land. So I knew going in that the deck was stacked against me, but I had no idea of how much worse it was gonna get. I made the some what long walk into the area I wanted to bow hunt with my climber only to find the area had been completely burned and was still smoldering, so I quickly decided to try another spot I had been looking at on the maps. It was a long walk that was not rewarded. When I got to the backup spot it was the same story completely burned and still smoldering. So now my mind went into scramble mode... What the heck am I gonna do now ? I had to stand there and think so with all this burning if I was a deer where would I go on this property to get away from it?????? So I back tracked to the direction I just came from and it took me back towards the way I came in. I then located a well used deer trail and it lead me away from the burn areas, so I now knew I wanted to find an area on the edge of a bedding thicket that was just a tad bit open but the terrain of the land would alow the deer to use it to their advantage and that had intersecting deer trails. What I came upon was everything I just discribed but it also had a fresh well used scrape with licking branch that had been recently used ( the scrape stunk to high hell like a buck & had fresh deer tracks in it going in 2 directions) and multiple rubs being used by bucks traveling in 3 different directions. I surveyed this area and found a great tree for my climber and made sure there were no dead trees in the area that would fall on me in the high winds. I thought as I settled in my climber 20 foot up in the tree that the odds of me even seeing a deer there were slim to none, with all the crappy conditions compounded by the fact that I had just walked all over this area trying to find a place to hunt that wasnt burnt or smoldering that I had probably screwed the area up and spooked every deer around and I was probably wasting my time I only prayed that the wind had covered the noise I made walking around and that I had used the wind to my advantage when I approached the area I decided to hunt. But I decided to stick it out and hold on to the tree in the high winds and try to just enjoy the hunt. I saw no deer until 3:40ish pm, the sound of slow and steady foot steps approached me from behind, I turned to see a young 9 point, so I had forgotten the video camera so I grabbed my phone and filmed him under my climber After watching the young buck walk away I turned away for a minute then looked back in his direction and I see a dark deer body coming my way, its now roughly 3:52ish pm and its a different deer , then I see antlers and when he gets to 35 yards I can see he is a shooter. So I waited for him to pass by a large tree and when he does I stand and grab my bow out of the bow holder & draw the bow back as fast as possible. He steps into an open spot at 18 yards and I doe bleat with my mouth to stop him. He stops and looks my direction as I settled the 20 yard pin low on his heart and shot. I saw the arrow as it fell out of him as he bolted away as he ran by me I could see the blood just pouring out of him and down his front leg. He ran a big circle around me and dropped 7 yards from me in my tree, OH MY GOD... is literally all I could think for a few seconds Thats when the shakes kicked in, Once I was sure he was done for and wasnt gonna getup I grabbed the phone to try and film him expiring. I was shaking now so bad that I was fumbling with the phone trying to record him dying on my phone , I was afraid I was gonna drop the phone... it was some shaky footage due to the winds and me shaking from the adrenaline. I called my husband and told him and he was driving out to come and help me get him out of the woods. So I climbed down and retrieved my arrow and then got my buck and tagged him & I took a few photos of him in the woods. Once we got him out of the woods to the parking area we took some photos of myself and my buck. Turns out he was a 10 point but he had busted off his G4's on both sides. And I did get my arrow right thru his heart. So I guess I will hunt more crappy days in the future And Thank You Lord For This Wonderful Life You Have Given Me !!!!!!!!!
Great story, thanks for sharing. Congrats on the buck! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
it only takes a second to turn a crappy day into a great day in the woods ! No wonder I love it so---Congrats and a nice shot to boot
Wow, what an amazing story that will be so for seasons to come! Well done and nice getting some footage as well. All around awesome job, congrats!
Great job Lady Forge! Way to think outside the box and adapt. You’re definitely a big buck killer. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
That's awesome! Way to get it done on a great buck under horrible conditions. Very impressive for sure. You certainly earned every bit of that one.
We got beat by a girl! All in fun LF! Awesome hunt! I felt like I was in the stand with you! Congratulations! Sent from my SM-N900V using Bowhunting.com Forums mobile app
