When the plan comes together!
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When the plan comes together!
I will start out by saying I’m fortunate to live close by Illinois and get to hunt two states. Although there is certainly pressure in Illinois there is a lot of land too. I wasn’t turning up much at all though on the stuff that is close by to me. Certainly deer but wasnt seeing the bucks. I was chasing a really cool buck but I think the ground he was living on got so pressured it pushed him off. So I was looking at maps and so on for different areas. I had got word of some potentially good public hunting ground that was roughly two hours from me. I decided to go check into it. I took off work early one day and got over there around two so I had roughly 4 hours to scout and pound the ground. There was a pretty heavy amount of pressure in there. That was ok cause I see this on a few properties I hunt, not this much but definitely pressure.
My plan was to just attack ground and figure it out. Work edges, look for sign, find the deer! I did just that. First evening I located some decent stuff but nothing really overly impressive. I located a few doe groups that I had saw in specific locations feeding on oaks. As the evening progressed I slowed down near some does I had seen feeding and still hunted along this edge. I managed to get a chance at a pretty decent buck that evening but it didn’t pan out. Close call though.
This being two hours away I knew I wasn’t gonna make it there a lot. I got there for 2 full days, 2 evenings, and one last morning in which I killed. As I scouted each day staying pretty mobile I really started to figure the deer herd out and what was going on. I had some other run ins with decent deer and also saw a few really nice bucks too. Just couldn’t close the distance on them because of conditions like dry leaves and very little wind!
As I started to get a tighter grip on things I felt, I really started zoning in on this one area that I know was off and over looked. On map it had very little appeal verse the rest of the property. Lot of Ebikes out there now and guys were going pretty deep I felt. I was not crazy far in but far enough, this area just had very little appeal unless you took a closer look. It set up perfect for a big mature deer to work some does.
So I scouted up along the edge of the timber and this tall grassy field that butted up to this area here. I jumped up a buck that really sounded heavy and I could hear some tines banging off limbs as he bounded away. I looked it over and honestly felt that deer may have gotten my wind so I didn’t have the confidence to really set up on him and I wanted to learn more about the spot beings I was already in there. I located does feeding heavily on oaks about 250ish yards away from where I jumped him. I decided to come back and hunt it the next day but to be honest I forgot about the time change. I was an hour late that morning and as I was getting back in there, I saw a pretty good buck cross this hiking trail/access road with a doe. He only ran a little ways in behind her toward the bedding cover, he then turned and crossed back over. I eased on up to sit tight in case of more action but that was it. The buck I saw chase the doe was a good buck but as I located some of the sign there I was pretty certain the one I saw was not the one making the sign. There was a scrape in a slight little saddle that had a very large track in it. I look at a lot of tracks and this one was one of the bigger tracks I’ve ever seen. Perfect standing track, the best ones to really read the size of the animal. Not always but most the time the big guys have a big distinct track!
As I dug deeper into this area, I felt I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. That buck chasing the doe that turned once they neared the thick cover really made me wonder if the big boy was down there and he knew better than to cross into his area. I decided to come back the following morning EARLY and try it. I made a huge loop to get around where I suspected the deer would be and came in up a draw to the tree roughly 80 yards off the scrape near the oaks the does were feeding. I was gonna try to intercept the buck checking the scrape in the saddle as he worked back to bed. So this hiking trail is long, flat and straight for several hundred yards. The saddle really was bug because it allowed the buck to slip through without being able to been seen from a long distance. I had a small buck come in first and he did just about what I hoped the big one would do. He worked in but the only problem was he was gonna swing wider than I anticipated. He was looping around to the point that if he got by me too far he was gonna get my wind. He did just that but he turned and bounded away without causing too big of a scene. So roughly 45 minutes later I looked over toward the scrape and there was a large thick racked mature buck standing there really licking his nose just looking around. He ever so slowly worked his way toward me as I readied for the shot. Pausing many times to really survey the area. As he’s neared my setup, 50 or so yards away he just started trotting on down towards me. I knew I was in trouble if I couldn’t get him to stop! Just as his head appeared in the shooting lane as he is trotting I grunted with my mount stopping him dead in his tracks. He was very slightly quartering towards me but I was confident in my arrow setup and broadhead to get through the shoulder. I placed it there and the shot went off, the arrow blew through both shoulder and he only made it roughly 60-80 yards and tipped over. Cant ask for much more than that right there, and for him to have the head gear he was packing was just icing on the cake for me!!
My plan was to just attack ground and figure it out. Work edges, look for sign, find the deer! I did just that. First evening I located some decent stuff but nothing really overly impressive. I located a few doe groups that I had saw in specific locations feeding on oaks. As the evening progressed I slowed down near some does I had seen feeding and still hunted along this edge. I managed to get a chance at a pretty decent buck that evening but it didn’t pan out. Close call though.
This being two hours away I knew I wasn’t gonna make it there a lot. I got there for 2 full days, 2 evenings, and one last morning in which I killed. As I scouted each day staying pretty mobile I really started to figure the deer herd out and what was going on. I had some other run ins with decent deer and also saw a few really nice bucks too. Just couldn’t close the distance on them because of conditions like dry leaves and very little wind!
As I started to get a tighter grip on things I felt, I really started zoning in on this one area that I know was off and over looked. On map it had very little appeal verse the rest of the property. Lot of Ebikes out there now and guys were going pretty deep I felt. I was not crazy far in but far enough, this area just had very little appeal unless you took a closer look. It set up perfect for a big mature deer to work some does.
So I scouted up along the edge of the timber and this tall grassy field that butted up to this area here. I jumped up a buck that really sounded heavy and I could hear some tines banging off limbs as he bounded away. I looked it over and honestly felt that deer may have gotten my wind so I didn’t have the confidence to really set up on him and I wanted to learn more about the spot beings I was already in there. I located does feeding heavily on oaks about 250ish yards away from where I jumped him. I decided to come back and hunt it the next day but to be honest I forgot about the time change. I was an hour late that morning and as I was getting back in there, I saw a pretty good buck cross this hiking trail/access road with a doe. He only ran a little ways in behind her toward the bedding cover, he then turned and crossed back over. I eased on up to sit tight in case of more action but that was it. The buck I saw chase the doe was a good buck but as I located some of the sign there I was pretty certain the one I saw was not the one making the sign. There was a scrape in a slight little saddle that had a very large track in it. I look at a lot of tracks and this one was one of the bigger tracks I’ve ever seen. Perfect standing track, the best ones to really read the size of the animal. Not always but most the time the big guys have a big distinct track!
As I dug deeper into this area, I felt I had a pretty good idea of what was going on. That buck chasing the doe that turned once they neared the thick cover really made me wonder if the big boy was down there and he knew better than to cross into his area. I decided to come back the following morning EARLY and try it. I made a huge loop to get around where I suspected the deer would be and came in up a draw to the tree roughly 80 yards off the scrape near the oaks the does were feeding. I was gonna try to intercept the buck checking the scrape in the saddle as he worked back to bed. So this hiking trail is long, flat and straight for several hundred yards. The saddle really was bug because it allowed the buck to slip through without being able to been seen from a long distance. I had a small buck come in first and he did just about what I hoped the big one would do. He worked in but the only problem was he was gonna swing wider than I anticipated. He was looping around to the point that if he got by me too far he was gonna get my wind. He did just that but he turned and bounded away without causing too big of a scene. So roughly 45 minutes later I looked over toward the scrape and there was a large thick racked mature buck standing there really licking his nose just looking around. He ever so slowly worked his way toward me as I readied for the shot. Pausing many times to really survey the area. As he’s neared my setup, 50 or so yards away he just started trotting on down towards me. I knew I was in trouble if I couldn’t get him to stop! Just as his head appeared in the shooting lane as he is trotting I grunted with my mount stopping him dead in his tracks. He was very slightly quartering towards me but I was confident in my arrow setup and broadhead to get through the shoulder. I placed it there and the shot went off, the arrow blew through both shoulder and he only made it roughly 60-80 yards and tipped over. Cant ask for much more than that right there, and for him to have the head gear he was packing was just icing on the cake for me!!
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- PK_
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Come on.
That’s crazy man what a tank
That’s crazy man what a tank
No Shortcuts. No Excuses. No Regrets.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Everybody's selling dreams. I'm too cheap to buy one.
Rich M wrote:Typically, hunting FL has been like getting a root canal
- Edcyclopedia
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- Dewey
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Awesome buck. Congrats. We can always count on you to put down a few slobs every season.
- Huntress13
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- john1984
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- backstraps
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Very Nice!! Congratulations!
- headgear
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Amazing buck and always a good story!
- hunting_dad
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Dude That thing is a TANK!! Awesome!
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- seazofcheeze
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Awesome hunt and the mass on that buck
- muddy
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Re: When the plan comes together!
That's some serious mass. Congrats
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- thwack16
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Man, you're on another level. Congrats on that stud!
- Tsom
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Congrats on the behemoth!
- kher
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Re: When the plan comes together!
Congrats!!! So rewarding to have everything play out to how you suspected it to.
“The more I practice, the luckier I become.”
Byron Ferguson
Byron Ferguson
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