Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Looking good Sam. You have some beautiful deer and enough food to feed the herd for miles around. Great update.
Sam's Stompin' Ground! - Illinois 170 acres
- Thread starter Sam16
- Start date
Sam16
Active Member
Here’s the hit listers!!! Need one to slip up this weekend
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Sam16
Active Member
I had a big weekend!!!
Let me take a minute to set up the situation and change in hunting strategy after hunting this farm for 170 acres. Every year we say the rut passes us by and we don’t see much rutting activity. Granted, we fell into the trap of all the ultra conservative advice out there of staying out of bedding area, hunt edges, etc. well at the end of last year we made a conscious decision to put some stands in some new areas. Even in our 20 acre
sanctuary. While shed hunting in March, I found a stop about 150-200 yards into our sanctuary that was a single tree in a small opening. The entire perimeter of this tree was a hub scrape. I found 2 trail intersections right there and decided to put a ladder stand in there. I knew I’d be leaving this stand alone until the Pre rut was rocking.... ok fast forward to Friday night.... I decided it was time to sit this stand. Here’s the view looking over the small opening and notice the bare tree in the middle. Huge intersecting trails as your view to the left. Beautiful. 2 large scrapes on the hub tree so far.
The evening hunt ended up with a surprise rain storm which was a bummer. I saw a spike come through and also had a 3 year old wacky racked buck chase 2 does through. But I decided I wanted to give it another chance in the AM.
Next morning I snuck in like a ninja without a flashlight and without making a peep. Within 5 min of getting set up, I had a buck sneak through with his nose down. I couldn’t tell what kind of rack but it was a great sign!
45 min later at 7:40am I hear a commotion on the trail I used on the way in that was littered with scrapes. I stood up and aimed my body to my right, got my bow, and through the brush I saw a flash of a good rack. Immediately I decided it was a shooter and drew back as he went behind the cedar in the pic below. (Spoiler alert: See if you can find the green luminok)
He popped out at 17 yards and I let him have it. He was slightly quartering to but the entry hole was absolutely perfect. As he trotted away I heard every single breathe come out of his entry hole, which is something I’ve never heard before. He stumbled into the cover and after 20 seconds i heard his last gasp of air.
It was only 7:45 at this point so I sat down and thought about what had just happened. I didn’t recognize the deer at all and honestly couldn’t even tell you what the rack looked like since it happened so fast. After sitting for about another hour I got down, found my arrow which made me grin ear to ear even though I was sure I smoked him.
I waited for my dad and buddy to come help track and it didn’t take long to find him. He only made it 50 yards or so. Here he laid!
We dragged him out for some hero pics. I think definitely a 4 year old. We later weighed him and he was 200 lbs field dressed which makes him 240-250 on the hoof. Hoping he scores in the 130”s but honestly I don’t really care on this deer. This is my first bow buck in 5 years to the day!
Me and my dad, this is going in a frame for sure!
As you can tell, I am thrilled. I really think our decision to change the way we hunt this farm is why I killed this buck. Bedding areas are the place to hunt mature deer during November if you ask me. I hunted food plot edges for 5 years on this farm and have a lot of pictures of pretty plots to show for it! Ha!
One last note... we got a picture of Eeyore, who is now 9.5 yr old to the best of our knowledge. So he’s the next target!!!
Thanks for reading! We will be back at it next weekend for more fun!!! Some serious weather is coming through the Midwest late in the week, so who knows what will show up!
Let me take a minute to set up the situation and change in hunting strategy after hunting this farm for 170 acres. Every year we say the rut passes us by and we don’t see much rutting activity. Granted, we fell into the trap of all the ultra conservative advice out there of staying out of bedding area, hunt edges, etc. well at the end of last year we made a conscious decision to put some stands in some new areas. Even in our 20 acre
sanctuary. While shed hunting in March, I found a stop about 150-200 yards into our sanctuary that was a single tree in a small opening. The entire perimeter of this tree was a hub scrape. I found 2 trail intersections right there and decided to put a ladder stand in there. I knew I’d be leaving this stand alone until the Pre rut was rocking.... ok fast forward to Friday night.... I decided it was time to sit this stand. Here’s the view looking over the small opening and notice the bare tree in the middle. Huge intersecting trails as your view to the left. Beautiful. 2 large scrapes on the hub tree so far. The evening hunt ended up with a surprise rain storm which was a bummer. I saw a spike come through and also had a 3 year old wacky racked buck chase 2 does through. But I decided I wanted to give it another chance in the AM.
Next morning I snuck in like a ninja without a flashlight and without making a peep. Within 5 min of getting set up, I had a buck sneak through with his nose down. I couldn’t tell what kind of rack but it was a great sign!
45 min later at 7:40am I hear a commotion on the trail I used on the way in that was littered with scrapes. I stood up and aimed my body to my right, got my bow, and through the brush I saw a flash of a good rack. Immediately I decided it was a shooter and drew back as he went behind the cedar in the pic below. (Spoiler alert: See if you can find the green luminok)
He popped out at 17 yards and I let him have it. He was slightly quartering to but the entry hole was absolutely perfect. As he trotted away I heard every single breathe come out of his entry hole, which is something I’ve never heard before. He stumbled into the cover and after 20 seconds i heard his last gasp of air.
It was only 7:45 at this point so I sat down and thought about what had just happened. I didn’t recognize the deer at all and honestly couldn’t even tell you what the rack looked like since it happened so fast. After sitting for about another hour I got down, found my arrow which made me grin ear to ear even though I was sure I smoked him.
I waited for my dad and buddy to come help track and it didn’t take long to find him. He only made it 50 yards or so. Here he laid!
We dragged him out for some hero pics. I think definitely a 4 year old. We later weighed him and he was 200 lbs field dressed which makes him 240-250 on the hoof. Hoping he scores in the 130”s but honestly I don’t really care on this deer. This is my first bow buck in 5 years to the day!
Me and my dad, this is going in a frame for sure!
As you can tell, I am thrilled. I really think our decision to change the way we hunt this farm is why I killed this buck. Bedding areas are the place to hunt mature deer during November if you ask me. I hunted food plot edges for 5 years on this farm and have a lot of pictures of pretty plots to show for it! Ha!
One last note... we got a picture of Eeyore, who is now 9.5 yr old to the best of our knowledge. So he’s the next target!!!
Thanks for reading! We will be back at it next weekend for more fun!!! Some serious weather is coming through the Midwest late in the week, so who knows what will show up!
Merle Hawggard
Well-Known Member
Congrats on a really nice buck!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
Sam16
Active Member
I rarely hunt food plots. When I do it is in Early October or in December. The end of October through November is all about the timber here...
Congrats on a great buck!
Congrats on a great buck!
suburbhunter
Active Member
Awesome, well done!!!!
