# My Illinois Booner



## buckhead (Aug 29, 2007)

I haven't posted much over the last few years as my kids and other activities have taken my time away from hunting but I wanted to share some picture of a Buck I killed last November. I was hunting on some public land that I had to apply for and it basically gave me and my partner the rights to bow hunt it from November 1st through the end of the season. our area was about 60 acres mostly surrounded by private land. We knew the results from the land from the previous year and were kind of discouraged as only 1 deer was taken amongst 4 separate areas with in the county park. When we first walked the property in September I was shocked at how much it had to offer. 20 acre CRP loaded with clover, Just inside the woods it was super thick with briars and apple trees full of apples and once we got through the thick stuff an Oak ridge with so many acorns on the ground you couldn't walk without crunching acorns.
As nice as it was we didn't see much sign. Very few tracks and no old rubs. We put some cameras out over some areas that looked like it may have been old scraps and doctored it up. The plan was to check cameras again in 2 weeks and I said to my partner I would be happy with 6 pictures of Deer he said he would be happy with 1. When we got out 2 weeks later 1 camera had over 200 pictures the other 175 lots of squirrels, raccoons and a handful of nice bucks the biggest being about a 150" 10 pointer. Over the next month we hung a few stands and checked cameras waiting for November 1st. Some of the bigger bucks from that first card pull had disappeared but a few other nice ones had shown up so it was encouraging.
November 1st-3rd came with rain and mid week so neither of us hunted. The first day I hunted was November 4th. This property is about an hour away from my house so I decided I was going to put in a all day sit. I got out a little late after dropping my son at the daycare but I wasn't in the stand for 10 minutes when the first 2 deer walked by, 2 fawns. I sat the rest of the morning and ended up not seeing anything again until 3:30 but it was a big one. It was about 75 yards away and I could see brow tines. I grunted at him but he wasn't leaving the doe he was with. I sat the rest of the afternoon and only had a small 1.5 8 point come by.
Saturday was met with bucks chasing does all around me but nothing past a 2.5yo. My partner still hadn't been able to get out until that afternoon and he saw a few of the same buck running does I did. We had 3 stands in the 30 acres of woods and 2 were about a 100 yards apart the 3rd was about 300 yards from the other 2. I had sat in the same stand the first 2 days and my partner sat in the one that was 100 yards from me that Saturday afternoon. He decided he wanted to hunt the other location on Sunday morning so I was going to head back to the same spot as the first 2 days. With it being November 6th I didn't think it would matter too much hunting it 3 days in a row.
We got out to the property a little late and is was getting light by the time we were walking in. I was settled in the stand at 6:30. At 6:45 a small 6 point was grunting as it chased a doe around behind me to the left. I was in a Oak around 3 foot in diameter about 20 feet up. In the woods behind where they went I heard some very deep grunting and finally caught a glimpse of a big antlered deer. It was pretty thick and about 50 yards away so I couldn't tell what it was. My grunt tube was in the tree to my right so I turned all the way around and grabbed it then back around and grunted back to where I had seen the buck to my left. after a few seconds I heard some walking in the leaves back towards my right. it was a decent size 8 pointer and all of a sudden this shooter buck popped out to chase that buck away. I grabbed my bow that was on the left side of the tree and positioned back around for a shot. the shooter had chased off the smaller buck and was circling back towards where he came from. I stopped him with a mouth grunt and let the arrow fly. I'm not sure if he jumped the string or if it was nerves but I hit him high in the spine and he dropped right there. I text my partner that I just shot a monster and the time was 6:54. from the time I actually saw him until I shot him I would say was less the 30s. He has 16 point with huge double brow tines. 6 1/2" mass a the bases and have him unofficially scored at 196 7/8" non typical gross. He weighed 250lbs dressed and was aged at 5.5 by my taxidermist. Sorry for the long winded post but I think the buck deserves it.


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## pike man (Feb 21, 2006)

WOW !


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## buckhead (Aug 29, 2007)

I really didn't know how big he was until after I put my hands on him. There were a lot of holy crap I can't believe it said once we walked up to him. I remember seeing the sticker point on his right side but didn't know he had the double brow tines. I do believe this was the buck I saw at a distance on the Friday before. I killed him about 30 yards from one of our cameras but we never had a single picture of him. I don't think I will ever get a shot at another buck of this caliber so he truly is the buck of a lifetime.


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## Kennybks (Mar 29, 2010)

Nice, very nice! How you waited to tell the story untill the taxidermy work was done is a complete mystery to me¿ 

Really like that last picture. Congrats!
Enjoy the feeling, it likely won't dissipate much for a year or three!


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## Namrock (Apr 12, 2016)

Holy crap congratulations.


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## WMU05 (Oct 16, 2004)

Holy hell, what a deer. Congratulations on a buck of a lifetime!


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## Bomba (Jul 26, 2005)

Great buck, congrats!


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## U of M Fan (May 8, 2005)

Congrats!!!! Beautiful buck and an excellent looking mount.


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## stickbow shooter (Dec 19, 2010)

Beautiful buck congrats.


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## Groundsize (Aug 29, 2006)

Giant


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## old graybeard (Jan 19, 2006)

Awesome buck! Congrats!


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## deepwoods (Nov 18, 2002)

Congrats. WHAT A DEER!! Thanks for taking the time to share the story. I enjoyed your post.


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## William floyd (Jan 12, 2016)

Did your buddy end up shooting anything?


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## Bucman (Jun 29, 2016)

Great deer!! I love the mount. 
That's why I love hunting Illinois. Those bucks get huge!! Antler and body. 
What part of the state was that?


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## Stubee (May 26, 2010)

Man, that is a great buck!


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## Ranger Ray (Mar 2, 2003)

Duke! Congratulations.


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## Wally Gator (Sep 21, 2007)

Love the land of Lincoln!! Well done, great Buck.


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