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Wait for this trip every year. Nothing like heading to the Golden Triangle of Illinois in search of Mid-West Giants. Although dreams are made up of harvesting a booner each year, my main focus each year is to have a great time and create a lot of great memories. Harvesting a good deer is icing on the cake.
This year we were short 5 regulars in camp. This left just the 3 of us. I was the first to arrive and hit the ground running as I normally go out in Aug. and hang stands. This year I had things come up and never made it out. So after an 18 hr. drive I had 4 stands to get up as Tod and Doug would be arriving the next day. Tod and I hunt a 200 acre piece we have in Pike County which is about a 45 minute drive from our main farm. Tod's stand was the first hung. After putting the finishing touches on it I had a surprise for him. He loves Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, so I hung a bag on a limb for him to find. On to my stand, which was in the same tree I shot a deer from in 2015. Sign was evident and once again they were working the same scrape as last years. Stand went up quick as no trimming was needed. Back on the road again heading back to hang Doug's stands. Hung 2 stands for Doug, again in same trees as last year, so things went quick. Now Doug likes Starburst's so you guessed it, he gets a bag for a little surprise.
The next day I slept in and they arrived that afternoon. After dinner we shared some laughs and had a few cold ones. We hit the bed early with high expectations for the next day. Since Tod and I have a 45 min. drive we normally leave Doug in bed as he just has to roll out and walk out the back door. As I sat perched 18 ft up I cant say what I was waiting for more: the first sight of brown movement or a text from someone when they discovered their treat. Tod was first to text, he said hey I think you left some straps in a bag hanging on a limb. I played dumb and responded: Really?? Ok just give them to me tonight. About 9 am I get a pic with him munching a peanut butter cup. He said something like: your the best... LOL Doug forget as he has no cell service where hes at. Later that night he said as it got daylight he turned and saw the bag and thought at first it was a hornets nest. His bag was clear so he could see the starburst bag inside. BUT.... I didn't realize it when I hung it, but I put it out of his reach... LOL He thought I did it on purpose.. Finally he did get it.. Deer wise we all saw deer including bucks, but movement was slow...
Day 2 found us back in the same stands. Tod and I were texting back and forth wondering what was going on as it was 9:30 AM and neither of us had seen a deer yet. I just texted him: "THIS PLACE SUCKS" when I saw a small buck cutting across the CRP in front of me. Then behind him was a really nice buck, then another and another and another. In total there were 5 bucks separated by maybe a minute. Seemed odd as I didn't see a doe go through prior to them. They crossed through maybe a 100 yds out and entered the woods to my right. Maybe 5 minutes later I see another large bodied buck coming from the same area the others did, but this deer was headed on an angle towards me. It's thick in this area so judging a deers rack is tough, but it looked like a shooter. Nice long points and mass. Again its thick, but I'm sure hes headed to the scrape just off my left shoulder. Decisions, decisions... He stepped into the scrape and I left the Slick Trick fly. He expired within sight. When I walked up to him I was a little disappointed to see he wasn't quite as big antler wise as I thought. Don't get me wrong, he had nice long points, wrap around rack, bladed split brow tines and some character. He also was a very big bodied mature buck that most would be happy with. But I still had six days of archery left before gun season started. Was I TOO quick to let an arrow fly??? Ever have 6 days to do nothing???
Well the next six days found both Tod and Doug wondering where the deer were as movement was very slow. They both saw shooters, but no shots. Maybe I made the right decision, although Tod did see a giant from my tree but 100 yds out, basically it took the same path those 5 took when I shot mine. Before we knew it the last day of archery was upon us and the wind was blowing. Tod decided to stay close and hunt a spot he has had luck in throughout the years. 11 AM he texts me that he shot a deer. He said there was a hot doe in the area and several bucks were chasing her all morning. My first thought was to pick up Doug and put him in that stand for the afternoon. So I walked Doug in and we got Tods buck out without messing up the area.. At 4:30 Doug calls us and says he shot one.. So we went 3 for 3 with the bow, 2 of which were on the last day out of the same stand.
Friday morning starts gun season... Now the wind is howling and you have to hang on up in the tree.. Both Tod and I passed on 130 class bucks that day. Getting back to the ranch that night we found out that Doug shot a nice 8 first thing in the morning.. So he doubled up... The next two day's the wind kept blowing and Tod and I both ended up eating our tags. Tod did see a 150 class buck in some thick stuff at about 60 yds, but didn't have a good shot, so he passed. I ended up passing on several bucks that I just wasn't going to shoot, why?? just to fill my tag... The last day of gun I passed on the same 8 pointer twice, including at 4:40 PM at about 20 yds. If I didn't shoot him the first day, I'm sure as hell not shooting him at last light on the last day, just to fill my tag. And that's a $300.00 tag... LOL Let him grow...
All in all a GREAT TRIP with a lot of memories created... Maybe it was that SUPER MOON that killed the movement. Don't know. I do know that already marking the days off till next years trip, as we have a great time.... And sometimes we get lucky and shoot a deer or two.
This year we were short 5 regulars in camp. This left just the 3 of us. I was the first to arrive and hit the ground running as I normally go out in Aug. and hang stands. This year I had things come up and never made it out. So after an 18 hr. drive I had 4 stands to get up as Tod and Doug would be arriving the next day. Tod and I hunt a 200 acre piece we have in Pike County which is about a 45 minute drive from our main farm. Tod's stand was the first hung. After putting the finishing touches on it I had a surprise for him. He loves Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, so I hung a bag on a limb for him to find. On to my stand, which was in the same tree I shot a deer from in 2015. Sign was evident and once again they were working the same scrape as last years. Stand went up quick as no trimming was needed. Back on the road again heading back to hang Doug's stands. Hung 2 stands for Doug, again in same trees as last year, so things went quick. Now Doug likes Starburst's so you guessed it, he gets a bag for a little surprise.
The next day I slept in and they arrived that afternoon. After dinner we shared some laughs and had a few cold ones. We hit the bed early with high expectations for the next day. Since Tod and I have a 45 min. drive we normally leave Doug in bed as he just has to roll out and walk out the back door. As I sat perched 18 ft up I cant say what I was waiting for more: the first sight of brown movement or a text from someone when they discovered their treat. Tod was first to text, he said hey I think you left some straps in a bag hanging on a limb. I played dumb and responded: Really?? Ok just give them to me tonight. About 9 am I get a pic with him munching a peanut butter cup. He said something like: your the best... LOL Doug forget as he has no cell service where hes at. Later that night he said as it got daylight he turned and saw the bag and thought at first it was a hornets nest. His bag was clear so he could see the starburst bag inside. BUT.... I didn't realize it when I hung it, but I put it out of his reach... LOL He thought I did it on purpose.. Finally he did get it.. Deer wise we all saw deer including bucks, but movement was slow...
Day 2 found us back in the same stands. Tod and I were texting back and forth wondering what was going on as it was 9:30 AM and neither of us had seen a deer yet. I just texted him: "THIS PLACE SUCKS" when I saw a small buck cutting across the CRP in front of me. Then behind him was a really nice buck, then another and another and another. In total there were 5 bucks separated by maybe a minute. Seemed odd as I didn't see a doe go through prior to them. They crossed through maybe a 100 yds out and entered the woods to my right. Maybe 5 minutes later I see another large bodied buck coming from the same area the others did, but this deer was headed on an angle towards me. It's thick in this area so judging a deers rack is tough, but it looked like a shooter. Nice long points and mass. Again its thick, but I'm sure hes headed to the scrape just off my left shoulder. Decisions, decisions... He stepped into the scrape and I left the Slick Trick fly. He expired within sight. When I walked up to him I was a little disappointed to see he wasn't quite as big antler wise as I thought. Don't get me wrong, he had nice long points, wrap around rack, bladed split brow tines and some character. He also was a very big bodied mature buck that most would be happy with. But I still had six days of archery left before gun season started. Was I TOO quick to let an arrow fly??? Ever have 6 days to do nothing???
Well the next six days found both Tod and Doug wondering where the deer were as movement was very slow. They both saw shooters, but no shots. Maybe I made the right decision, although Tod did see a giant from my tree but 100 yds out, basically it took the same path those 5 took when I shot mine. Before we knew it the last day of archery was upon us and the wind was blowing. Tod decided to stay close and hunt a spot he has had luck in throughout the years. 11 AM he texts me that he shot a deer. He said there was a hot doe in the area and several bucks were chasing her all morning. My first thought was to pick up Doug and put him in that stand for the afternoon. So I walked Doug in and we got Tods buck out without messing up the area.. At 4:30 Doug calls us and says he shot one.. So we went 3 for 3 with the bow, 2 of which were on the last day out of the same stand.
Friday morning starts gun season... Now the wind is howling and you have to hang on up in the tree.. Both Tod and I passed on 130 class bucks that day. Getting back to the ranch that night we found out that Doug shot a nice 8 first thing in the morning.. So he doubled up... The next two day's the wind kept blowing and Tod and I both ended up eating our tags. Tod did see a 150 class buck in some thick stuff at about 60 yds, but didn't have a good shot, so he passed. I ended up passing on several bucks that I just wasn't going to shoot, why?? just to fill my tag... The last day of gun I passed on the same 8 pointer twice, including at 4:40 PM at about 20 yds. If I didn't shoot him the first day, I'm sure as hell not shooting him at last light on the last day, just to fill my tag. And that's a $300.00 tag... LOL Let him grow...
All in all a GREAT TRIP with a lot of memories created... Maybe it was that SUPER MOON that killed the movement. Don't know. I do know that already marking the days off till next years trip, as we have a great time.... And sometimes we get lucky and shoot a deer or two.
