Thanks! Haven't given up yet. (tho' I sat out today because of the rain, I got wet enough yesterday) If I do get a 130" then you have to invite me to CO too. :p
Christine, Door's wide open, anytime you want to come! I'll be waiting for you-just PM me and let me know you're coming. I have never been edgy or defensive of my claim- I totally encourage claim jumpers! Deer, Elk, Mt. Goat, Bear, Moose, Lion, Pronghorn, Big Horn Sheep, et al. If you have a tag for em, I'll help you drop the biggest one we can find you! Best wishes getting your buck!
I get what you're saying now, and I agree. I hunt both private and public land, mostly private and mostly Kent Co.
LOL........let's all guess who the "new yorker" is. You're right, I wouldn't move to Illinois because it's about as poor a dump as I have ever laid eyes on (and I have been to Nepal). Deer is all they have......you know it's bad when even your Walmart sucks. You want the "laughable" truth??.........the deer I saw in Illinois were not any smarter (in some cases dumber) then any I have ever seen and the land made them easy to pattern with funnels everywhere. The bucks I saw ranged from 130-160 and not one single time did they ever look up...........not once. BTW.......explain Lakoski and the outfitting industry to everyone if what you say is true. She never even saw a bow until she met Lee.........she moves to the midwest with him and now kills more monsters then anyone here could ever hope to see in a lifetime. The outfitting industry lives on east coast guys.........they all roll out there year after year and about half come back with monsters for the wall. How is this possible?? What a coincidence!!! Best of all is the transformation is magic.............as soon as you cross the state border your skill level skyrockets. I don't consider myself a world class salmon fisherman simply because I live near world class salmon waters............. I could teach any of you how to catch 25+ lb kings in a day, but you aren't gonna catch squat unless you come here. It is entirely possible that no deer I saw was 4..............I really couldn't care less. All I know is the deer I saw in Illinois were no different then any other deer I have hunted......they were just bigger. I know everyone needs to feel like they are hunting some mythological creature that only they have the ability to slay but it's just not the case. Illinois deer weren't any smarter, cunning, ellusive, crafty, wise, or any other magical praise you want to gloss them with. They were just bigger and more plentiful. Duke.............please explain Tribal's situation to everyone. Why is he no longer killing big bucks on a regular basis?? Explain how Rob leaves PA and goes to Illinois and sees more huge whitetails in one day then he ever has in Pennsylvania.......same experience I had, and Will. Also, you claimed to be "suspicious" of my Illinois trip saying you never saw that much in 15 years............then Justin posts a thread saying you saw nearly as much as I did in 3 days?..........and that was BEFORE you killed not one but two bucks. So I guess that 15 year streak is over huh??.............another amazing coincidence
You're always entertaining Atlas. Rob was on outfitter land.. and killed a 2 yr old (no offense to Rob) but how is that any indication of anything? I think that explains enough. Justin and I saw NO where near 4 140's on our trip. So I guess you'll have to re-think that one. In fact.. I saw 2.. maybe 3 this entire year while hunting. And thats alot for me. Tribal.. dunno? Don't know him personally. And I bet neither do you. I love that you took what I said to heart. I admit.. I did aim it at you. Afterall.. you once said you could take down 1000" of antler in 7 years I think it was. Or roughly a 142" average every year if you hunted Illinois or Iowa.. or what not. No one really believes you could.. so I had to take that shot. Any hunter would have GREAT trouble in making this happen. No knock on you.. just a knock on the ridiculously stupid statement this is. I'm not defensive in any way towards my state.. or outsiders coming in to hunt it. On the contrary.. I think its funny when you make the claims and yet have no proof in the back of your truck. Simply put.. you would not fair well hunting a 4 year old in any state.. when all you kill is 2 yr olds. I'm sorry.. but that's the truth. And that's NOT aimed at you.. just any hunter who makes the claim he could. They're a different animal. Those who kill them consistently have my respect.. as I am NOT one of them. And my 2 bucks this year.. had nothing to do with the state I was hunting. Everything to do with the land I hunted. Please don't pretend to know me better than I do. Lol! Oh.. and I never even commented on the Lakosky thing.. as I don't pretend to know them any better than the next guy.
I love these threads. Anyone have a tape measurer? Has anyone here ever killed a 2 year old from the same stand that they have also killed the elusive 3.5 + buck? I have, so what does that mean? I believe no matter where you hunt if you spend enough time in the woods hunting smart(which isn't rocket science) you will have ample oppurtunities at deer of all differnet sizes/sex, assuming there's a decent herd to hunt. Va has 6 weeks of bow season, I think I got in 6 or 7 hunts. I killed a decent buck, I saw 2 more that were considerably larger that didn't present shots on those particular sits, all in the same woods from the same few stands. What were those bigger more mature bucks doing slumming in the same area as the puny little 2-3 year olds? Didn't they get the memo that they are supposed to be loners, and super smart, and so much different than every other deer in the woods. Please, hunters are truly a funny bunch. Although I'm sure most any block of woods that is big enough could have an "Old Man" of the woods or a "Monarch" so to speak that is truly a differnt animal but for the most part the other deer are well, just deer . By and large deer are more similiar than different. The amount of pressure they face and human interactions can certainly impact their patterns but do we truly believe 2 yr old and a 4 yr old are that much different. All of a sudden the 4 yr old is the Doogie Howser of the deer woods, not from what I've seen. One thing I have learned from my trail cams this year it is all of these deer have a standout similiar trait, they are random, they do whatever the hell they want when they want. They don't give a crap where we think they are going to move, or if we think they bed down when it's windy, or what we think they are feeding on. They can use this trail for 2 days, then be gone, then come back then feed on acorns then in the cutovers then in the winter wheat. How many times have you hung a stand thinking things were going to hapen a certain way only to be wrong? Probably more often than not, is that because we as hunters suck or deer aren't as predictable as we like to think. The only way I can see around that is to plant your butt in your favorite spots as much time as you can with good wind/weather and hope for some Hunters Luck. That is one aspect of my hunting I truly feel holds me back. I'm still learning each year and I think the best thing I've learned is quit thinking so much and have fun.
Atlas, I think it's funny that you visited (see: hunted) one area of IL, and the whole place is a dump. I went to Harlem, NY once....The whole state is a ****hole!
Now there ya go Stevie, Germ's pic is something to get excited about. Can you imagine seeing a group of bachelors like that while on stand? That one in the middle looks like he's learning to walk on two legs. Maybe that's why we can't kill em...they're evolving! They might be flying ten years from now!
Is that all he saw?? What about Will, Me, WV Hunter, Matt PA and others you conveniently left out. When did I say you did?? You better rethink that one Justin reported numerous bucks seen of at least 130 and 4 shooters seen in 3 days...........then you killed 2 more AFTER that..........that's MORE bucks then I reported seeing or having in bow range........but my report is "suspicious" and you NEVER have seen anything like that in 15 years. Until this year I guess LOL Yes you do..............I don't blame you for dodging that one though as it goes against every bit of logic you are leaning on. Silly boys............the statement is so "out there" to you because you have filled in all sorts of assumed details I never said. Completely EXPECTED. Yup, in 2 days I was at full draw on a 160" buck I saw two more times in 5 days of hunting and I showed you video of a buck I passed on.............and that was outside the rut. Given a whole season of over 100 days in the field on that farm and I like my chances. You are the only one who has invented this "4 year old" claim.......not sure where it came from. So the location was the key?? How many states have you hunted in Duke??...........just wondering what you are basing your comparisons on that you seem to be so sure of. Please explain the outfitting industry and how literally thousands of east coast guys go to big bucks states EVERY year and about half kill monster bucks. Aren't you the same guy who busted Greg's balls so much about his great land for the last few years that he started calling you Dufus?? Why did you want to know where Greg hunts so badly??? Hmmmmmm.
Not offended. He was/is a great buck, score wise, my best and my mount is done and I'll post pics when I pick it up on Friday. Incidental kill, fooled me and as a 2.5 year old, he's bigger than all the 3.5's I've killed in PA. I saw 28 bucks (some the same) in 6 days, 8 over 140 and 3 over 160. I've seen 1 160 in almost 30 years in PA. In IL 1 in 300 bucks will make P&Y, in PA that's 1 in 3000. ( I forget where I read this statistic). The 3.5 year olds I've killed in PA would have 20-30 more inches of antlers on their head in IL. And as far as the OP, 1, 5, 8, 9 Carry on.
I'll take these... 1. More time in the woods 2. No reponsibilities at home, your mind is completely focused on hunting big bucks (no Kids, no wife ,just you) 3. Less stress at work 5. Having more big bucks in your area 7. You don't know exactly how to hunt for them 8. other hunters 9. not enough land to hunt And I'll stay out of the rest...Carry on guys :D
