Tr19
Well-known member
Finally getting around to telling you all about my first deer hunt in southern Illinois on public land . My hunting party of 6 scouted 3 days before opening day of gun season and on the last afternoon finally found some good buck sign . I quit counting after I got to fifty rubs that was as big as your arm . We didn't find a bunch of scraps but the ones we did find were big . Tracks everywhere but there was a problem . We were 1.16 miles from our trucks ! This landscape was very steep with 60 ft verticle bluffs in some places but this also helped funnell the deer to us . Opening morning temp. was 22 degrees with a 25 mph wind . And IT WAS COLD ! Before daylight I could hear deer walking around me . First deer was a spike . Second deer was a spike . Third deer came in behind me .I turned around and see a good 8pt with the biggest body I had ever seen on a deer walking past me . Now here I am not 2 hrs into my first Illinois deer hunt and I shoot a 200 lb buck . Now the fun started . Now picture this . 170 lbs pulling 200 lbs . For the next 5 hrs I dragged that deer till I couldn't drag anymore . By than it was dark and I was still 1/2 mile from the trucks . It took everybody in the group 3 more hrs to get that buck out . That was the hardest drag I have ever done but it was well worth it . The next day was beautiful with 20 degrees and no wind . I only had one tag so I was hunting with a camera now . I took 138 pictures of small bucks chasing one doe after another all around me . I have never seen anything like this in thirty years of deer hunting . I want to thank Churlys for all of the help and advice that he gave me to make this hunt a success !
