By: Justin Zarr
As the end of October rapidly approaches, the crafty whitetails of Illinois and Wisconsin are sure putting a hurting on the tangible success of my season thus far. With 17 trips to the treestand I have yet to put a deer on the ground and have only seen one Illinos buck so far. But hey, that's why it's called hunting and not killing!
Last week I was fortunate enough to make a short trip up to central Wisconsin to help HuntingNet.com President Todd Graf recover a beautiful buck he shot one cool morning. You can read Todd's story here. After the formalities of field dressing, dragging the buck out, and registering him Todd talked me into forking over the money for a Non-Resident archery tag so I could hunt that evening and the following morning.
With high hopes of catching a successful harvest on film, Todd and I set out to our setup with bow and camera in hand.
The evening hunt over a secluded water hole was relatively slow until an hour before dark when several does and yearlings appeared several hundred yards away at the edge of a distant woodlot. We watched as the deer fed along the edge, made their way to another water hole for a drink, and eventually fed out of sight.
At one point we were greated by a red fox who made his way directly below our treestand before spotting us and nearly jumping out of his own skin while trying to get away.
The following morning brought colder than expected temperatures and with our hopes high, Todd and I set off across a large swamp to a secluded stand frequented by bucks throughout the pre-rut. After hanging an additional stand we climbed into our tree and settled in for a cold morning of deer hunting. It's mornings like this that we all live for!
Before legal shooting light we had a dandy of a buck walk behind our stand and eventually disappear into the swamp from the way we had approached. All I could make out in the dim light was a high, white rack - a definite shooter! To say my hopes were high is an understatement.
After first light we had two 1 1/2 year old bucks come directly underneath our stands, presenting me with multiple shot opportunities. However, I elected to pass them up in hopes of harvesting at least a 2 1/2 year old buck. The smaller of the two bucks actually approached our tree and sniffed the Lone Wolf climbing sticks we had ascended only an hour earlier. Encounters like that are certainly what makes hunting worth while.
A short time later a beautiful 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 year old 10 pointer was spotted working the swamp edge behind our stand. A few soft grunts later and he was working his way directly towards our tree, coming down a trail that would bring him by at 25 yards. Ufortunately I believe this deer caught some of our scent on the waste-high swamp grass where we had approached our stand and hung up. No amount of grunting or doe bleating was going to bring him closer to us than 35 yards. Eventually he turned around, walked to where we had first seen him, and proceeded to make two awesome scrapes. He was pawing the ground so hard dirt was flying 10 feet behind him! A truely awesome encounter!
Upon climbing down from our stands for the morning we had another 1 1/2 year old buck come within 15 yards of our position after some coercing from the old grunt tube. I drew back on this buck for some "practice" and it was awfully tempting to give him a taste of my Magnus Stinger tipped A/C/C but once again I elected to let him pass.
My brief Wisconsin trip ended without a harvest, but to say it was successful is an understatement. The memories of those two hunts alone were well worth the price of the tag. A huge thanks goes out to Todd Graf once again for not only giving me a much needed break from working, but for allowing me to enjoy two great hunts with him.
Now it's back to Illinois!
Friday was my "day off", but since I had missed out on some office time Weds and Thurs I came in to play some catch-up before heading down to Effingham County, IL with my hunting partners Mike Willand and Jim Appleberg. By 11 am we were packed up and headed down the road!
Upon arriving at our lease we quickly got geared up and headed out to our stands. That evening's hunt was rather uneventful with only several does being spotted - none of which were within shooting distance. After a quality meal at Ruby Tuesday we settled in for the night at in our hotel room and dreamt of the following morning.
Saturday morning was rather uneventful for me as I only saw one doe off in the distance, but Mike and Jim both had exciting encounters. Mike harvested a beautiful doe while Jim came oh so close to harvesting a small buck. Upon finishing up my morning's hunt I took a quick walk around an area where we've been seeing a lot of morning deer movement in hopes of finding another spot to hang a stand in preparation of the upcoming rut. Much to my delight I located a fresh scrape along with what I believe is the "perfect" tree for my stand.
After taking care of Mike's deer we headed back out into the woods for an evening hunt. In the process of hanging my "perfect" stand I spooked two bucks who exited stage left near the "Oak Stand" where Jim was sitting. Unfortunately he didn't get a shot at them, but I'm excited to know that I'm definitely moving in the right direction. Hopefully once the rut kicks in things will really start to heat up in Southern IL.
Saturday evening and Sunday morning finished my weekend hunting out with no more deer sightings, however my hopes are high heading into the next few weeks. Buck sign is definitely starting to pop up all over the woods, and several great deer have been spotted in one of my local honey holes. Now if we can only keep the trespassers out long enough to get a crack at one this year!
Well, it's time to pack up the truck and head out on the road. Until next time, good luck, good shooting, and don't forget to have fun out there!!
Article from hunting.net
As the end of October rapidly approaches, the crafty whitetails of Illinois and Wisconsin are sure putting a hurting on the tangible success of my season thus far. With 17 trips to the treestand I have yet to put a deer on the ground and have only seen one Illinos buck so far. But hey, that's why it's called hunting and not killing!
Last week I was fortunate enough to make a short trip up to central Wisconsin to help HuntingNet.com President Todd Graf recover a beautiful buck he shot one cool morning. You can read Todd's story here. After the formalities of field dressing, dragging the buck out, and registering him Todd talked me into forking over the money for a Non-Resident archery tag so I could hunt that evening and the following morning.
With high hopes of catching a successful harvest on film, Todd and I set out to our setup with bow and camera in hand.
The evening hunt over a secluded water hole was relatively slow until an hour before dark when several does and yearlings appeared several hundred yards away at the edge of a distant woodlot. We watched as the deer fed along the edge, made their way to another water hole for a drink, and eventually fed out of sight.
At one point we were greated by a red fox who made his way directly below our treestand before spotting us and nearly jumping out of his own skin while trying to get away.
The following morning brought colder than expected temperatures and with our hopes high, Todd and I set off across a large swamp to a secluded stand frequented by bucks throughout the pre-rut. After hanging an additional stand we climbed into our tree and settled in for a cold morning of deer hunting. It's mornings like this that we all live for!
Before legal shooting light we had a dandy of a buck walk behind our stand and eventually disappear into the swamp from the way we had approached. All I could make out in the dim light was a high, white rack - a definite shooter! To say my hopes were high is an understatement.
After first light we had two 1 1/2 year old bucks come directly underneath our stands, presenting me with multiple shot opportunities. However, I elected to pass them up in hopes of harvesting at least a 2 1/2 year old buck. The smaller of the two bucks actually approached our tree and sniffed the Lone Wolf climbing sticks we had ascended only an hour earlier. Encounters like that are certainly what makes hunting worth while.
A short time later a beautiful 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 year old 10 pointer was spotted working the swamp edge behind our stand. A few soft grunts later and he was working his way directly towards our tree, coming down a trail that would bring him by at 25 yards. Ufortunately I believe this deer caught some of our scent on the waste-high swamp grass where we had approached our stand and hung up. No amount of grunting or doe bleating was going to bring him closer to us than 35 yards. Eventually he turned around, walked to where we had first seen him, and proceeded to make two awesome scrapes. He was pawing the ground so hard dirt was flying 10 feet behind him! A truely awesome encounter!
Upon climbing down from our stands for the morning we had another 1 1/2 year old buck come within 15 yards of our position after some coercing from the old grunt tube. I drew back on this buck for some "practice" and it was awfully tempting to give him a taste of my Magnus Stinger tipped A/C/C but once again I elected to let him pass.
My brief Wisconsin trip ended without a harvest, but to say it was successful is an understatement. The memories of those two hunts alone were well worth the price of the tag. A huge thanks goes out to Todd Graf once again for not only giving me a much needed break from working, but for allowing me to enjoy two great hunts with him.
Now it's back to Illinois!
Friday was my "day off", but since I had missed out on some office time Weds and Thurs I came in to play some catch-up before heading down to Effingham County, IL with my hunting partners Mike Willand and Jim Appleberg. By 11 am we were packed up and headed down the road!
Upon arriving at our lease we quickly got geared up and headed out to our stands. That evening's hunt was rather uneventful with only several does being spotted - none of which were within shooting distance. After a quality meal at Ruby Tuesday we settled in for the night at in our hotel room and dreamt of the following morning.
Saturday morning was rather uneventful for me as I only saw one doe off in the distance, but Mike and Jim both had exciting encounters. Mike harvested a beautiful doe while Jim came oh so close to harvesting a small buck. Upon finishing up my morning's hunt I took a quick walk around an area where we've been seeing a lot of morning deer movement in hopes of finding another spot to hang a stand in preparation of the upcoming rut. Much to my delight I located a fresh scrape along with what I believe is the "perfect" tree for my stand.
After taking care of Mike's deer we headed back out into the woods for an evening hunt. In the process of hanging my "perfect" stand I spooked two bucks who exited stage left near the "Oak Stand" where Jim was sitting. Unfortunately he didn't get a shot at them, but I'm excited to know that I'm definitely moving in the right direction. Hopefully once the rut kicks in things will really start to heat up in Southern IL.
Saturday evening and Sunday morning finished my weekend hunting out with no more deer sightings, however my hopes are high heading into the next few weeks. Buck sign is definitely starting to pop up all over the woods, and several great deer have been spotted in one of my local honey holes. Now if we can only keep the trespassers out long enough to get a crack at one this year!
Well, it's time to pack up the truck and head out on the road. Until next time, good luck, good shooting, and don't forget to have fun out there!!
Article from hunting.net