I was going through some of my trail cam pics tonight and came across this batch from IL. It brought back some fond memories of a great hunt.... I recall only seeing this deer once. This dude got the pass on more than one occasion. He has a distict curl to his brow. This one also got the pass on a couple occasions. I believe we saw this 9 once or twice. We had a decent 10 sneek by us one windy morning at 30 yards and only got a few second glimpse of him. This may be the culprit. Ahhh, Big Rob. This dude looks more impressive in in person. He was unique and we really wanted to kill him, but he passed us at 50 yards. I wish this picture was better. This is a stud of a buck that chased 2 does past our stand at 8 yards one morning. He was there and gone before we knew it. This buck nearly died. He looks much better from the side. I had him at 23 yards and drew on him twice. I let down and told Johnny that I couldn't kill him, he was too young. Only 2.5 years old, this buck is going to be an absolute stud. We had a few other encounters with him in that 10 days. I hope we can at least get a picture of him this fall to see what he blows up into. Of course, you always get at least one picture of trespassers.
Ah.. memories... like the corner of my mind. No doubt a fantastic piece of ground.. by FAR the best I've ever hunted on. I only got to hunt it like 4 times over 2 days though. That's gay. Like $250 a hunt.. Ouch! Stupid gas prices. Although.. honestly I was a bit dissapointed in the amount of breeding stock we did not see.. which tells me.. we need to hunt it better. Saw alot of 2 and 3 yr olds.. but not too many 4's and up.. Honestly.. I'm a little worried about Stickers actually. He's so small and worn down in those pics WELL before winter had set in.. and the crazy mofo was running that mountain everyday with all he had. I honestly don't give him much of a chance to make it til this season. I still say he's WAY too thin.. even then. Oh and.. gotta love that last pic of those 2 knuckleheads.
Dan, I messed around with the pic of the big guy with photoshop, I mess with a couple settings to see if I could get the picture to show up a little better and this is the best that I could come up with... He is definetly a stud.
Yeah buddy, piles of 2 and 3 year olds. The big boys are there though. We did see a big old 8 chasing a doe across the creek on top of the mountain the last day. He was limping pretty good though. As far as stickers...I thought he looked ok when he walked by us those 5 times. Only 1 time did we see him with a doe, most of the time he was moving pretty slow. I'm holding out hope that he'll be fine and blow up this year. Besides, these aren't Canadian winters we're talking here.
Thanks BM. I know he was at least a 9, but he could be a 10. He looks to have some wicked brows and killer 2s, but is narrow.
Tell that to the 9 deer I've found dead already in less than 27 hours of shed hunting this season. You one-upper and your Canadian winter! Plus.. they have the glorious Illinois shotgun season down there. And add in a raging creek (separating some food sources).. and I think we're gonna find a few who met their fate. I'm not saying Stickers is definitely one of those.. but I wouldn't be surprised if he was. Him or Big Rob.. only Rob looks and looked alot healthier.
Ahhh, its so easy. :d Rob never stopped running....ever. I concur that he or any of these bucks could meet their fate trying to swim the Nile. No matter what, it'll be interesting to get down there in a few weeks and get back there again this fall.
Thank you! That dude is much more impressive from the side. That trail cam pic does him no justice. Grab a frame of Stickers after you upload my video. There are a bunch of good shots of him and a great one in the CRP right after he walked past us.
Wow, the picture above of him doesn't look nearly as impressive as that last one... talk about a brute!
Very nice pics Dan!!! That's just crazy what your trail cam picked up and what you saw In such a short time. Unbelievable hunting that's for sure. Jealous I am!!:d Good luck next year bud!!
Sweet Dan, thanks for sharing. That lease seems to hold some potential. Like Duke says, hopefully the bucks will pull through. I would be curious to see Stickers next year....and Big Rob, well, looks pretty sick. Got any better pictures of him? That picture of Justin and Duke screams Double ******. Errrr...I mean Duece.
