Bucked Out in Illinois!!!

timrod

Active Member
I just had the best week of hunting ever... I was able to harvest a really nice 4.5 year old 9 pointer that ended up scoring 144". I shot him Monday morning, cruising a creek bottom through a killer pinch point. This was the first deer I have been able to harvest on this property in 2years, and is a deer I am extremely proud of.IMG_2750.JPG IMG_2751.JPG

After spending a few days in southern Illinois, I came back up for a Friday afternoon hunt. This giant 6/7/8 year old buck decided to cut along the timber and walk a 1/4 mile with the wind at his back right into the little plot I was hunting. My great buddy and hunting partner watched everything happen. After the shot, it looked too far back, so I came back Saturday morning. He ended up only going about 50 yds into a thicket and piled up. The shot placement hit both lungs and the liver. This is the biggest and best buck I have ever laid eyes on in the woods, let alone I got the shot opportunity. He is a very old giant 8 pointer with split 2s making him 10 total. He field dressed at 240lbs, and the gross green score is 184-6/8".
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Next years goals are to take my beautiful daughter Reese out with me a lot, and the time is right for her to get more involved. (She will be 5 next June) I think my selfish goals of killing the biggest baddest buck in the woods are soon to be a thing of the past. It's time for my priorities to switch into getting my daughters involved in the outdoors. Either way, this was the greatest year I have ever had in the woods, and couldn't be any happier.
 
Congratulations on a great week of hunting. You will have more fun watching the kids get excited than you can imagine. Make it fun for them. Ground blinds and shooting houses help them get into at their speed. Never give them more gun than they can handle. We started my kids on a 223 rifle and now the grandson has moved up to a 243.

I like single shot rifles for beginners. Sure promotes discipline and slows the process down. The greatest 45 seconds I ever had hunting was when my oldest grandson saw his first deer and shot it. A whole lot of stuff happened in that ground blind in that 45 seconds with a 6 year shooter, a dad and a grand dad.

Nothing has ever been better than that! Absolutely nothing.

Congratulations again on a great week.
 
Dang that 2nd buck has the mass if he had the ears he could pass as a muley buck! First photo I thought it was a muley and then realized if you shot that in IL you were going to be famous!
 
Amazing. Gonna he hard to ever top 2016 for you. Both those bucks are awesome. I bet you are riding high!

Congrats
Todd
 
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