Tomorrow is the first day of Archery Season in Illinois. I'm ready.
I want to wish all my fellow Illinoisians and any other state that starts up tomorrow a very great season. May you all be safe, may your harvest be good, and may you have a wonderful time out in God's green acres with family and friends or even just alone with nature in our great,free USA.
Good luck to all and God Bless!!
Sam
:archer: :archer: :archer:
Good luck!
Ditto baby, I'm on my way out the door! Good hunting.
-Jeremy :coffee:
I'm heading out the door. Good luck to all. Hap
Good luck,Ill be thinking about you folks while Im at work. :banghead:
Working this am too Izzy, but this afternoon I got an ambush planned ;)
Going out this afternoon. First year with trad only. I hope to post a "trophy" pic soon. Good luck and enjoy the moment.
Just got in from my opening morning (quick) hunt! Nothing like that first morning watching the woods come alive. Had a little forky at 7 yards just after first light and a doe and button buck about 15 yards a little later. Great first day all in all!
I spooked 4 nice does heading to the blind. May have been a buck with them too but it was too dark to tell. I hope to see them again tonight. I'll get out earlier tomorrow AM. What time are you getting out there? I entered the woods at 6 AM and they were alrady there and that was an hour before sunrise.
sam
Just being out there opening day was great!!
Wouldn't you know it, my sons baseball team makes it to the State Playoffs. I had the day off to hunt, but now its off to Peoria to watch him play. Starting at 3rd base, wouldn't miss it. Plenty off season left.
Can't hunt till tomorrow! I HATE missing opening day. But the whether conditions are perfect. I'm sure some deer are going to fall to the good guys. Good luck out there.
Can't believe it is here already.
I'll be 18 feet up and waiting in t-minus 3 hours.
It is the most wonderful time of the year. WOOOOOHOOOO!!!
Evening hunt was a wash. Didn't even hear one. Definitely a morning spot.
There's too much noise from surrounding homes, farms etc at night. May have something to do with the harvest
sam
It was a beautiful morning in Morgan Co. Had a young doe, a spike and a forky come thru, but no good shots were offered. That spike better watch out, tho; he was nice and plump. :pray:
It was a beautiful morning. All I saw was 3 tree rats. Hap
I saw 6 this AM. They came out late, about 730 after the rain. I got in the blind early today so as not to spook them and sat about 2 hours before they showed. 4 young, 2 fawns laying on the ground. One doe was nice but she knew something was going on inside the blind. She kept looking. I didn't move, hoping she would settle down and get into the horse chestnuts but no dice. She slowly moved away and the rest slowly followed. Took about 15 minutes from them to approach, get to about 25 paces, settle down, and when big mamma arrived, follow her out. I hope they come back and I'll be better set for them so I don't have to move to get a shot. Those little windows are tricky to get lined up with Good luck guys.
sam
Morning was windy, cloudy after the rain. Didn't expect much today. Never did well on windy days. Deer are too spooky when it's windy.
sam
Do you think they can see into the blind? I can see a little if I stand close but not from a distance.
Good Luck! To all my flatlander friends.
Keep us posted on your success.
I saw a big doe and her 2 youngins Fri afternoon. Lil ones still have lots of spots. Gonna need mama for a while longer. Maybe I'll catch up to her later in the season. Honey do's this morning. Will be back out this afternoon.
Good decision IMO, Shleprock. :thumbsup: Those old does are how the young ones learn to survive. I've orphaned enough fawns. :( Anymore, I'd rather pass the old doe and take the fawn. A yearling doe (1+ yrs) is in trouble, tho. If she has a fawn, they will likely be with an older doe and that one will keep the family group going. :)
Out again this AM and saw nothing at all. Not too surprised since it was a last quarter moon and very bright last night. They were already asleep. I'll try again tomorrow.
sam
Put a stalk on 2 great bucks while they were hitting the acorns on the way back to bed this am. Got to 40 yards and got made. Started clucking with a diaphram call like a turkey and the crazy bucks settled down. Got to about 30 yards and started thinking about a shot and got popped by 3 hen turkey that thought I was the real thing...everybody left me with an arrow nocked, a heart-rate about 200, and a smile on my face. Had to work so needless to say the highlight of my day :)
Went out yesterday. Weather was great. Had a coyote at 15yds but no shot. First coyote I have ever had that close. Lip squeaked but he wasn't interested. Hunting on public ground and someone came strolling along right at last light. I guess that's why its called "public". Still a great day to be in the woods.
Saw 2 does opening morning, missed the big one at about 18 steps. Saw doe and yrling second morning, not quiet close enough. Saw 4 does the third morning, missed one at about 12 steps. Saw 6 does the third morning and had one close but couldn't get a shot because I had the can in my hand trying to get two others to come closer.
Saw the biggest doe I've ever seen in my life that morning, about twice as big as the biggest I'd seen before. She wasn't fat, just big frame. Deep chest, big shoulders and big hind quarters.
Didn't see anything this morning. Hunting Shawnee. First time with recurve in 40yrs. Hope I got my misses behind me.
Went out this afternoon and saw one small doe at about 40 yards., going out again in the morning.
Was back out this AM. Warmer than yesterday but saw noting again. Can it be that I spooked them since last Saturday? I'm going to try the evening again tomorrow. Maybe something's different now that the hunting pressure is on. Saw a bunch day one and two and then they vanished. Haven't let an arrow fly yet. Nice way to spend the AM however. Here's my blind.
(http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll279/Ssamac/Blind.jpg)
Good luck guys!!
Had a yrling spike (bout 8") and yrling doe come by at 8:30am. Hunted white oak ridge. They were about 12yds. Didn't want to use a tag on the spike and the doe was too small...if I could have hit either one.
Just got back yesterday, had a great hunt but deer movement was slow, stupid deer walking thru cut corn to eat old dried up beans and acorns just starting to fall good. Shot some does and helped the landowner out, but did not see a shooter buck, can't wait to get back in Nov.
Saw one deer this afternoon. 5:45pm it came off the hill down into the white oak creek bottom I was in. Couldn't tell if buck or doe, bout 75yds,
Try again in the morning.
Saw one doe this morning (Thurs.) at 8:30am. She was feeding straight to me..only down wind and across my trail, but she didn't seem to notice anything. Just turned around and feed in the opposite direct at about 40yds.
Saw 3 big gobblers also. Going to start carrying a mouth call.
I'll be out again tomorrow AM. Wish me luck
sam
Will be up there oct22, huntn small woodlots owned by a friend. Great deer country, my 4th annual trip.
First time out I had several doe & yearlings at 12 yds feeding on acorns for 30 minutes then a spike and small 6 pointer for about 40 minutes. Those acorns were lip smacking good. I have never heard so much crunching going on. Too early yet.
First time out in Missouri I had a large Bobcat at 10 yds drinking from a creek. I saw a female & cub there last year from the same tree.
Saw 3 this morning. A yrling doe at 6:45am and another deer I couldn't make out what kind about the same time. Saw another one in the thick I couldn't tell what about 9:30am. None were close enough for a shot.
Saw some other kind of animal real early. Don't know what it was. It was haulin it so fast I couldn't tell. Bout the size of a bobcat and running too fast for anything else that size, so figure that' probably what it was.
Only buck I've seen this yr was a yrling spike and I've seen deer every morning but one since the season opened.
What a beautiful night last night. A little warm and windy to start with in the afernoon, but by 5:30 the wind layed and it cooled down nicely. To top it off, I had a pig of a 10 pointer show up. It was out of range, but I didn't even know he was around so things are looking up. Had two small forks sparring in the creek running back and forth like a couple kids splashing in a wading pool.
I see you're from Mahomet, Burnsie. That was the first stop I made when I moved to Illinois in 1990. Nice country around there.
I had to work this AM so couldn't go out. Planned on tonight but a friend's 103 year old mother had a stroke and we had to take her to the hospital. Looks like she's going to make it.
I'll get out again early tomorrow AM.
Good luck guys
sam
Saw one yrling doe this afternoon at 5:30pm. Probably the same one I saw this morning. She feed on white oaks the whole time I was there. Picked her up again going out with my headlight.
Just talked to a friend and he said driving home late this afternoon he saw about 3 pairs of bucks and does. One buck and one doe together.
I know I've been wondering why I'm seeing so many yrlings with no doe. The doe will run them off when she's getting ready to breed. I thought it's kinda early...don't know what's going on.
Not sure but they sure are spooky. Definitely not in rut yet. That's a whole nuther story
sam
My matriarch deer came back this AM about the same time 725 but this time she was alone. I could swear she is playing with me. Spooky she was looking into the blind and would not stop looking back. I had a shot at about 20 paces and took it. Perfect shot but she ducked right under it. She was like a fighter dodging a punch. Arrow sailed over her and missed by about an inch at most and away into the timber. She snorted and ran off. I'm going to try again tomorrow night.
Good luck guys
sam
Didn't go yesterday morning went in about 3:00pm. A yrling doe came out alone at 4:00pm. She got around behind me and smelled me. Inexperience and curiosity brought her within 10yds of me. Saw another deer of some sort go through and opening at about 150yds.. 6:45pm.
Didn't go this morning may go this afternoon...they cut the bean field behind my house yesterday afternoon and last night.
I love to rifle hunt over a bean field. Never missed getting a deer in the PM when I do that.
Good luck
sam
Didn't hunt this morning, went this afternoon where I saw a deer come off a hill and couldn't tell what it was.
It came out at 6:15PM and crossed down into the bottom 40yds before it got to me. Couldn't tell what kind of rack just saw part of one side..thick. Good size deer. I will try him again tomorrow afternoon.
First time out this weekend, no deer, but saw 8 turkey hens about 60yds away.
Keep at it. Can't hunt tomorrow AM (work) but will hunt in the PM> Keep up the thread guys
Thanks
Good luck
sam
I was seeing deer just about every hunt. Now haven't seen a deer since Sunday. Did see a real big bodied buck with what looked like a big rack from a distance. It was standing in a cut soybean field with a bunch of does. Saw it yesterday from truck at about 3:PM in misting rain.
I've een stuckat work 2 days so I sure haven't seen anything
Maybe tonight?
Saw 4 doe and a little fawn this morning after I got down. I got down early 9:30am to move a stand and they walked up on me while I was looking for a tree big enought for a Summit. The top section of Summit Open Shot fell to my feet with a big crash again this morning and I was hunting close to the beds, so didn't really expect to see anything.
I saw 14 bucks from 4 diffrent stand in two days last weekend. Scaping and rubbing. I had four 1 1/2 year old bucks sparring right near my tree at 15 yards. I got it on film. Then right at prime time when some big guys should start working their way out toward fields, a pack of coyotes came running through and chased all the young bucks back into the deeper timber. I saw no more deer. Hot weather has slowed activity some, but still a typical fall season so far. Mike
Getting colder. I've been working too much so not out since Saturday. Saw nothing Sat. Will go out again tomorrow afternoon. The 3/4 moon screws things up a bit but the cooler weather should help
Good luck guys
sam
I haven't seen a deer from a stand in 8 days. Called up 10 hens two mornings in a row, but couldn't get a shot. First time they saw me trying to draw, second morning they hung up at about 25yds and didn't offer a shot. I think it was the same group.
I think there's so many white oak acorns on the ground and falling the deer just go another direct after smelling where I've walked.
Going to hunt a complete different area this morning and for the next wk or so and let things cool off.
Starting to see home bigger rubs around and the doe family groups are all back together. I did watch a small 8 point chase a doe around awhile. Think things are moving along nicely...Maybe the bigger bucks will start to get on their feet during daylight hours some.
Saturday morning I watched a older buck walk through a standing bean field at 7:30a.m. and bed in a CRP field. Shortly after, two younger bucks filed across the same field, feeding as they went, and bedded on the opposite side of the field in some CRP.
The next morning I had a 2 1/2 year old 8 point come by at 8:00a.m. and bed 35 yards away. Seems to me the bucks are getting back to bed a little later.
The time I see them is about 730 or so. I agree. Day one I spooked a group around 6AM in the dark. I was late. Since then, I've been in the blind by 530 and only start to see deer the earliest was at 725 and that was 2 weeks ago.
Things are looking up as the weather cools I think.
I hear that during the full phases of the moon, they are up all night and you won't see them until noon. What effect do you guys think the moon has on them
Thanks and good luck
sam
Saw 8 does walk across a cut beanfield and another deer couldn't tell for sure if small buck or doe, followed them bout 15min. later.
It was about 6:00pm. Had another deer blow at me when I came down at dark. It was on the trail I was hunting leading out to the soybean field.
Will set up this afternoon on the trail the deer walked. I goes right by a fresh scrape on a small creek.
Had a cow horn spike come by about 10yds from my stand at 6:05pm. Only deer I saw.
I've been getting held up every day and not getting out. Have to change that.
sam
Too much wind. Deer are spooked and the wind distorts the shot.
I'm holding off until it settles a bit
It has been too hot here in Kansas for much of anything in the way of big bucks to be coming by where I hunt. Not even in my 3 cameras. a 120 class 8 point so far is all.
Did hear today that a 217 inch monster was shot up north of Manhattan recently, so they must be moving some places. This was in the area around Randolph KS where Lee and Tiffany hang out some. Great deer country but damned poor grass.
I took my blind down yesterday just before gun season. End of a nice fall season. No kills but saw a lot of deer, took a good shot, (she ducked), and I thank God that I can get out there and hunt in this great land we live in. Was wonderful. I'll try now and then in my back lot until season closes but basically the 2010 hunt is over for me. For those of you still at it, good luck and God bless
sam