Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Midwest fawns are fine eating, and that's a nice sized one you got. Enjoy
Ben's 2019 Semi-live hunt log
- Thread starter TheBenHoyle
- Start date
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Great Buck! Congrats
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
Thank you. I couldn't be happier. Although I am already kinda missing the idea of hunting this coming weekend. I told my wife we could do family stuff, but it feels so much like a hunting weekend. I'm sure I will be super busy and it will fly by. Planning on getting my new smoker out and doing up a beef brisket on Sunday. Plus I have about 150 pounds of apples from my dad's place that I need to crush and press so I can make apple wine.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
If I had gotten a better look at him as he was coming in I would have been at full draw for 30 minutes just waiting for a chance, but I didn't realize he was what he was until he popped out from behind that tree.Congrats!
That was more than "nice buck" in my book, by the way!I'm pushing 25 years of deer hunting and don't think I've ever seen one that big in range.
Hopefully I learned a lesson from this and next time I will not miss out on an opportunity like that.
MN_Bowhunter4
Well-known member
Heck yes! Congrats on the deer. Glad all the worrying over the shot was for naught. Well done!
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I did not hunt this weekend. Having tagged a deer last weekend and having hunted pretty much every weekend prior since 10/1, I figured some goodwill from the family was in order. So I stayed home and we did lot's a fun stuff like playing in the fall leaves, seeing a movie, etc. I did pick up my venison from the meat processor. Was very happy with them. Eventually I would like to do the processing myself, but I do not have a good space set up to do that at this time. Hopefully by this time next year I will though.
I have an unofficial goal of getting what I refer to as a Fall Slam: a squirrel, a duck, a goose, a turkey and a deer. So far I have a squirrel and a deer, but now I am turning my sights to turkeys, ducks and geese. Sadly those are the three that I have the least good opportunities for. I have some chance of waterfowl hunting in December but it is at invitation of a buddy of mine and it is very hit or miss. No invitations have come through yet although I think I will get to go out a couple times.
That being said, in my neighborhood there is a pretty much constant presence of ducks and geese. They have a pond, a stream and two football fields to graze on. I can't hunt them with a firearm in town and not on other people's property. But I have told myself that if they land in my backyard (which is not common) maybe I can put an arrow in one. (To be honest, I doubt this will ever happen, it is more of a daydream than an active pursuit.) WELL, on Sunday, I had a few moments and I pulled out my bow and practiced out at 30 yards since any turkeys I am liable to encounter next week will likely be further than my deer was. When I was done, I put the bow away and my wife asked me to pull out the camera and get a nice shirt on so that we could take a nice picture out in the yard with the whole family and the pretty fall leaves.
SO we get dressed up and I set up the tripod and rake up a big pile of leaves. And we are just sitting down for a nice picture and 6 ducks land in my yard. They waddle around for about 20 minutes. One got so close that I could have jumped on it... They stuck around the whole time we were taking pictures and then they jumped up and flew over the houses behind us to the pond... Oh well, more fodder for my backyard duck hunting day dreams. Hopefully that December opportunity will come up and I'll get a limit of them.
As for turkey hunting, I have a plan for next Sunday and some public land. There is a spot that looks to have timber and ag fields that I should be able to cruise on the roads. I'll be looking for a flock in the fields that I can try to get into a position on. I'm unfamiliar with this place directly, but I figure it will be a good opportunity to see if there is a spot worth more effort. If it doesn't look promising, I will probably try to get back to the place I took my deer. There are turkeys in that general vicinity and I still have a buck tag and I am sure there are bucks around there.
However it works out, I'll have a post next weekend.
I have an unofficial goal of getting what I refer to as a Fall Slam: a squirrel, a duck, a goose, a turkey and a deer. So far I have a squirrel and a deer, but now I am turning my sights to turkeys, ducks and geese. Sadly those are the three that I have the least good opportunities for. I have some chance of waterfowl hunting in December but it is at invitation of a buddy of mine and it is very hit or miss. No invitations have come through yet although I think I will get to go out a couple times.
That being said, in my neighborhood there is a pretty much constant presence of ducks and geese. They have a pond, a stream and two football fields to graze on. I can't hunt them with a firearm in town and not on other people's property. But I have told myself that if they land in my backyard (which is not common) maybe I can put an arrow in one. (To be honest, I doubt this will ever happen, it is more of a daydream than an active pursuit.) WELL, on Sunday, I had a few moments and I pulled out my bow and practiced out at 30 yards since any turkeys I am liable to encounter next week will likely be further than my deer was. When I was done, I put the bow away and my wife asked me to pull out the camera and get a nice shirt on so that we could take a nice picture out in the yard with the whole family and the pretty fall leaves.
SO we get dressed up and I set up the tripod and rake up a big pile of leaves. And we are just sitting down for a nice picture and 6 ducks land in my yard. They waddle around for about 20 minutes. One got so close that I could have jumped on it... They stuck around the whole time we were taking pictures and then they jumped up and flew over the houses behind us to the pond... Oh well, more fodder for my backyard duck hunting day dreams. Hopefully that December opportunity will come up and I'll get a limit of them.
As for turkey hunting, I have a plan for next Sunday and some public land. There is a spot that looks to have timber and ag fields that I should be able to cruise on the roads. I'll be looking for a flock in the fields that I can try to get into a position on. I'm unfamiliar with this place directly, but I figure it will be a good opportunity to see if there is a spot worth more effort. If it doesn't look promising, I will probably try to get back to the place I took my deer. There are turkeys in that general vicinity and I still have a buck tag and I am sure there are bucks around there.
However it works out, I'll have a post next weekend.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
I love it! I'm a squirrel short for 2019
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I had heard that about you.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I got out on Sunday for a hunt and it was a pretty good day. A bit of an education although I will probably be mulling over what lessons I can learn from some of this for the rest of the season.
I'm really hoping I can put an arrow in a turkey this season, although I don't have any really great options for an archery turkey hunt. There are turkeys in the neighborhood of the small timber I have access to on private, but they are normally on some private land that I don't have access to.
Also, the private land I have access to is hunted by 2 people besides myself and it is not big. Also my connection has a couple of grandsons who are pretty little now, but in the next few years they may be old enough to archery hunt and I may no longer be invited. So I know that I need to get out and learn more about some public areas. With that in mind, I drove past my normal spot on Sunday morning to get to a public area about 45 minutes further down the way. It is a big area and there definitely has to be turkeys somewhere in there.
My plan was to drive the roads and stop at the parking areas and look at as much of it with my binos as possible. And then I would try to hike a portion looking and listening for turkeys. I wasn't optimistic, but I figured I should spend the time to educate myself. On my drive in I had 4 does cross the road in front of me about a mile from the hunt area. This was just a little before sunrise and it was neat to see deer up and moving.
I liked what I saw from the road. This is a unique area for public in my area in that it has some ag fields with timber and some grassland/natural areas. Most of the public land I have been to has been just natural areas and no ag fields or edges. I picked a parking area that didn't have any cars parked in it and set out to the west. As I was getting out of the car, I saw a doe travelling a field edge about 80 yards north of me down into a wooded draw to the east.
I enjoyed my hike and I found a pinch point where it looks like deer travel along pretty heavily, but I didn't see or hear and turkeys and I didn't see any tracks either. It was a mile loop I did and as I was coming back to the car I saw another doe cross the road and work her way down that same field edge to the wooded draw and before I got everything put away in my car I heard some snorting and wheezing coming from that wooded draw.
So that part of the day was an education, but more about potential deer hunting sites than about turkeys. I'll have to get out there some more.
I'm really hoping I can put an arrow in a turkey this season, although I don't have any really great options for an archery turkey hunt. There are turkeys in the neighborhood of the small timber I have access to on private, but they are normally on some private land that I don't have access to.
Also, the private land I have access to is hunted by 2 people besides myself and it is not big. Also my connection has a couple of grandsons who are pretty little now, but in the next few years they may be old enough to archery hunt and I may no longer be invited. So I know that I need to get out and learn more about some public areas. With that in mind, I drove past my normal spot on Sunday morning to get to a public area about 45 minutes further down the way. It is a big area and there definitely has to be turkeys somewhere in there.
My plan was to drive the roads and stop at the parking areas and look at as much of it with my binos as possible. And then I would try to hike a portion looking and listening for turkeys. I wasn't optimistic, but I figured I should spend the time to educate myself. On my drive in I had 4 does cross the road in front of me about a mile from the hunt area. This was just a little before sunrise and it was neat to see deer up and moving.
I liked what I saw from the road. This is a unique area for public in my area in that it has some ag fields with timber and some grassland/natural areas. Most of the public land I have been to has been just natural areas and no ag fields or edges. I picked a parking area that didn't have any cars parked in it and set out to the west. As I was getting out of the car, I saw a doe travelling a field edge about 80 yards north of me down into a wooded draw to the east.
I enjoyed my hike and I found a pinch point where it looks like deer travel along pretty heavily, but I didn't see or hear and turkeys and I didn't see any tracks either. It was a mile loop I did and as I was coming back to the car I saw another doe cross the road and work her way down that same field edge to the wooded draw and before I got everything put away in my car I heard some snorting and wheezing coming from that wooded draw.
So that part of the day was an education, but more about potential deer hunting sites than about turkeys. I'll have to get out there some more.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
After I left the public land, I drove back over to the private land that I have access to hunt. I had almost scrapped my plan to go to the public land as I was driving past this place in the dark. I really wanted to try to get in to turkeys and while there are turkeys in the neighborhood they are not usually in my huntable area. But low and behold I found turkey tracks in the snow as I walked in to my stand.
I almost fell over when I saw them as I have never seen the turkeys in that area.
I got up into my stand and got settled and then I realized I didn't put down a scent trail like I had planned, so I got down and using some doe and buck urine on a drag, I walked a nice sized loop in front of my stand and back to the north behind my stand. When I was about 30-40 yards north of my stand I started noticing turkey scratchings.
The picture doesn't do justice to the discovery. They were fresh and they were everywhere. So now I was really excited about the chance of seeing turkeys. Although I couldn't help wondering if I might have already gotten an arrow in a turkey if I had just come to the stand in the dark instead of spending the morning checking a new place.
Sadly, it had started to rain/sleet and I was not terribly sitting in my stand. There was not much going on, and then I heard turkeys. And when I say I heard them, I mean I heard all of them. It was like a war had broken out in the woods. So much noise. I could just barely see some movement on the far west side of my woods. And as I sat there listening I could tell they weren't really moving my way. So I decided to get down and try to sneak in on them. I did get to about 40-50 yards, but there just wasn't the kind of cover I would need to get any closer.
Here is an aerial view of mu hunt area. It is only about 10-12 acres of woods with ag on all sides. I come in from the east and then turn north. The turkey tracks are marked in red on the lower right corner. My tree stand is marked with a purple circle. The orange line is my first sneak and the yellow squiggles are the approximate areas where the turkeys were. I think the hen flock was in the north part and the turkeys I saw to the south were the tom flock.
After my blown sneak I went back to the stand and spent about an hour or so, hoping to see a deer come cruising by or maybe have the turkeys circle around to my south. About that time, I was getting cold again and I could hear the turkeys again, so I decided to try another sneak. This time, I decided to use the old quarry, which is kind of in the middle of the woods and runs east west. I was hoping it would keep me concealed longer and put me in range with the toms I had seen.
I had sneaked down the quarry last year and right at the end on the north side I had found what was obviously a bed and I surmised that it would be a good place for a buck as it looks down to the north and west and is somewhat sheltered by a couple of logs. As I was sneaking down the quarry I thought, "hey there's that buck bed I found once." But like an idiot, I didn't slow down to assess whether there was a deer up there. I'm not sure how I would have as it was about 6 feet higher than I was, but sure enough I got within approximately 6 feet of a buck, who jumped up and trotted out of sight. This sneak is marked by the green line and the brown star is where the buck was bedded.
I felt like an idiot, I was too concerned about looking out the end of the quarry for turkeys to be on the look out for a buck. And as it turns out, he had no idea what had startled him because as I stepped up the slope I could see he was only about 20 yards away. He was screened by brush and was slowly walking from my right to left By the time he got to an open shooting lane he was about 30 yards out and pointing straight away from me. To top it off, there were no turkeys in sight.
I went back to the stand for the rest of the hunt. About 10 minutes before sundown I had a buck appear on the field edge in the corner. I never had a shot opportunity, but I got to watch as he walked south along the fencerow. I did hear the turkeys again but they sounded further to the north and west. I might be able to get back out there in late season and I do hope that it will turn into turkey dinner, but I think I may have missed my only real opportunity this season.
I probably won't get out hunting for a few weeks, but when I do I will be back with an update.
I almost fell over when I saw them as I have never seen the turkeys in that area.
I got up into my stand and got settled and then I realized I didn't put down a scent trail like I had planned, so I got down and using some doe and buck urine on a drag, I walked a nice sized loop in front of my stand and back to the north behind my stand. When I was about 30-40 yards north of my stand I started noticing turkey scratchings.
The picture doesn't do justice to the discovery. They were fresh and they were everywhere. So now I was really excited about the chance of seeing turkeys. Although I couldn't help wondering if I might have already gotten an arrow in a turkey if I had just come to the stand in the dark instead of spending the morning checking a new place.
Sadly, it had started to rain/sleet and I was not terribly sitting in my stand. There was not much going on, and then I heard turkeys. And when I say I heard them, I mean I heard all of them. It was like a war had broken out in the woods. So much noise. I could just barely see some movement on the far west side of my woods. And as I sat there listening I could tell they weren't really moving my way. So I decided to get down and try to sneak in on them. I did get to about 40-50 yards, but there just wasn't the kind of cover I would need to get any closer.
Here is an aerial view of mu hunt area. It is only about 10-12 acres of woods with ag on all sides. I come in from the east and then turn north. The turkey tracks are marked in red on the lower right corner. My tree stand is marked with a purple circle. The orange line is my first sneak and the yellow squiggles are the approximate areas where the turkeys were. I think the hen flock was in the north part and the turkeys I saw to the south were the tom flock.
After my blown sneak I went back to the stand and spent about an hour or so, hoping to see a deer come cruising by or maybe have the turkeys circle around to my south. About that time, I was getting cold again and I could hear the turkeys again, so I decided to try another sneak. This time, I decided to use the old quarry, which is kind of in the middle of the woods and runs east west. I was hoping it would keep me concealed longer and put me in range with the toms I had seen.
I had sneaked down the quarry last year and right at the end on the north side I had found what was obviously a bed and I surmised that it would be a good place for a buck as it looks down to the north and west and is somewhat sheltered by a couple of logs. As I was sneaking down the quarry I thought, "hey there's that buck bed I found once." But like an idiot, I didn't slow down to assess whether there was a deer up there. I'm not sure how I would have as it was about 6 feet higher than I was, but sure enough I got within approximately 6 feet of a buck, who jumped up and trotted out of sight. This sneak is marked by the green line and the brown star is where the buck was bedded.
I felt like an idiot, I was too concerned about looking out the end of the quarry for turkeys to be on the look out for a buck. And as it turns out, he had no idea what had startled him because as I stepped up the slope I could see he was only about 20 yards away. He was screened by brush and was slowly walking from my right to left By the time he got to an open shooting lane he was about 30 yards out and pointing straight away from me. To top it off, there were no turkeys in sight.
I went back to the stand for the rest of the hunt. About 10 minutes before sundown I had a buck appear on the field edge in the corner. I never had a shot opportunity, but I got to watch as he walked south along the fencerow. I did hear the turkeys again but they sounded further to the north and west. I might be able to get back out there in late season and I do hope that it will turn into turkey dinner, but I think I may have missed my only real opportunity this season.
I probably won't get out hunting for a few weeks, but when I do I will be back with an update.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I guess someone has a game camera stationed right near where I park when I hunt that small piece of timber, because I was just sent this picture.
That's my car and that nice rack belongs to the deer I saw heading south along the fenceline. He must have continued on to the east at the field edge. I lost sight of him and I wasn't sure if he went east or south there. Maybe he'll make it through the firearm season this weekend and I'll see him after Thanksgiving.
That's my car and that nice rack belongs to the deer I saw heading south along the fenceline. He must have continued on to the east at the field edge. I lost sight of him and I wasn't sure if he went east or south there. Maybe he'll make it through the firearm season this weekend and I'll see him after Thanksgiving.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
OK, mini update time. I didn't hunt last weekend as it was the first firearm season in Illinois and I have no interest in being out in the woods with a bunch of firearm hunters around. I might feel differently if I was involved in a group of other hunters, because then I would at least know where everyone else was, but as a lone hunter on a small piece of ground that others might be shooting towards, I'll pass.
However, I did manage to get a whole bunch of home work done. Leaves raked, garage partly cleaned, two new kitchen cabinets installed, etc. And I had some good fun family time too.
On top of that I have worked things out that since my mom is hosting Thanksgiving this year (I usually host) and she lives 5 minutes away from this little piece of timber I have access to, we will be headed out Wednesday afternoon and I will be in my treestand Thursday morning. I have always wanted to do a Thanksgiving hunt and this is a kind of unique opportunity for me.
I won't have a lot of time, from legal shooting light in the morning (6:30-ish) until maybe 9:30, but I will hopefully have the opportunity to see something and maybe get a shot opportunity. I talked to my dad's friend who is giving me permission to hunt in these trees and supposedly no one hunts them during the firearm season, so they might be pretty thick with deer and turkey after 3 days of hunters disturbing all of the surrounding cover (a lot of deer driving happens in the neighborhood).
So all in all I am hoping for a good, albeit short hunt Thursday morning. And I'll have another update after.
However, I did manage to get a whole bunch of home work done. Leaves raked, garage partly cleaned, two new kitchen cabinets installed, etc. And I had some good fun family time too.
On top of that I have worked things out that since my mom is hosting Thanksgiving this year (I usually host) and she lives 5 minutes away from this little piece of timber I have access to, we will be headed out Wednesday afternoon and I will be in my treestand Thursday morning. I have always wanted to do a Thanksgiving hunt and this is a kind of unique opportunity for me.
I won't have a lot of time, from legal shooting light in the morning (6:30-ish) until maybe 9:30, but I will hopefully have the opportunity to see something and maybe get a shot opportunity. I talked to my dad's friend who is giving me permission to hunt in these trees and supposedly no one hunts them during the firearm season, so they might be pretty thick with deer and turkey after 3 days of hunters disturbing all of the surrounding cover (a lot of deer driving happens in the neighborhood).
So all in all I am hoping for a good, albeit short hunt Thursday morning. And I'll have another update after.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
I'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but I think tomorrow morning's hunt has a lot of elements lining up to make it successful. It is very windy, 25mph with gusts of 30 from the Northwest. And it is warm. Overnight the temps will drop close to 20 degrees and the wind will die down to 5-10 mph switching to the north.
I'm hoping that the wind today will have the deer sheltering in the woods and that they will be moving first this in the morning. It will have to happen first thing though as I will have to be out by 9:30 to get back to my parents for Thanksgiving Day family gathering. Maybe I'll get a shot at a nice buck or if I'm truly lucky the turkeys will be roosted nearby. I will have to be very quiet as I get in to my stand as there could be deer and turkey bedded/rooted very close.
I'm hoping that the wind today will have the deer sheltering in the woods and that they will be moving first this in the morning. It will have to happen first thing though as I will have to be out by 9:30 to get back to my parents for Thanksgiving Day family gathering. Maybe I'll get a shot at a nice buck or if I'm truly lucky the turkeys will be roosted nearby. I will have to be very quiet as I get in to my stand as there could be deer and turkey bedded/rooted very close.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
Update time. Thanksgiving morning was cold and cloudy and I noticed on my walk in that they had picked the beans immediately East of the trees I was hunting. Also the field to the south is half beans and half corn and they had picked that corn and baled the corn stalks. Based on the tractor tire tracks, it had been done sometime in the 2 or 3 days immediately prior. I would love to hear an experienced ag land hunter's take on how you hunt pressure created by harvesting. I'm sure there is a strategy, although I wouldn't even know the timing of the harvesting activities anyway, so it's a bit immaterial.
I was in my tree stand well before shooting light and made sure I had all of my prep done in the dark, just in case something came in right at first light. As it was I had a deer come in from the west just before legal shooting light. It spent a decent amount of time milling around at about 15-20 yards but it was too dark for me to tell if it was a doe or a buck. I was hoping I would get a look at it, and if it hadn't been so overcast I might have, but by the time it was light enough to see detail the deer had wandered back to the west. It didn't wind me or spook, so that was good. But it was also not interested in the estrus doe and buck scent I had put down, so I assumed it was either a doe or a young buck who had learned to stay away from the bigger bucks during the rut.
I heard the turkeys but they sounded like they were roosted to the north, and I never did see them or even really hear them after fly down time.
At about 8:30 I had a young buck come in from the west. He never got very close, maybe 35 yards, but I had a lot of time to look at him in my binos. He has very short 3 points on each side, but they were very thick. It was neat to watch him and maybe I will see him again when he is bigger.
I did get down and sneak through the quarry and almost stepped on a bunny before it ran off into the brush. I really took my time and had fun trying to spot anything out in front of me. Ultimately there wasn't anything, but I did find a lot of freshly rubbed saplings, so there has to be buck activity in there still.
I won't be able to get back out to that spot until January, which is ok. I had a nice encounter last year in that stand in January. Maybe I'll get a redo.
I'm shifting my focus to waterfowl. Historically my buddy invites me to go duck and goose hunting in early December. I am a little doubtful about him coming through though, so I may be high and dry on waterfowl this year. There's just not a lot of good public land options in northern Illinois sadly. But if I get out, I'll have an update for you.
I was in my tree stand well before shooting light and made sure I had all of my prep done in the dark, just in case something came in right at first light. As it was I had a deer come in from the west just before legal shooting light. It spent a decent amount of time milling around at about 15-20 yards but it was too dark for me to tell if it was a doe or a buck. I was hoping I would get a look at it, and if it hadn't been so overcast I might have, but by the time it was light enough to see detail the deer had wandered back to the west. It didn't wind me or spook, so that was good. But it was also not interested in the estrus doe and buck scent I had put down, so I assumed it was either a doe or a young buck who had learned to stay away from the bigger bucks during the rut.
I heard the turkeys but they sounded like they were roosted to the north, and I never did see them or even really hear them after fly down time.
At about 8:30 I had a young buck come in from the west. He never got very close, maybe 35 yards, but I had a lot of time to look at him in my binos. He has very short 3 points on each side, but they were very thick. It was neat to watch him and maybe I will see him again when he is bigger.
I did get down and sneak through the quarry and almost stepped on a bunny before it ran off into the brush. I really took my time and had fun trying to spot anything out in front of me. Ultimately there wasn't anything, but I did find a lot of freshly rubbed saplings, so there has to be buck activity in there still.
I won't be able to get back out to that spot until January, which is ok. I had a nice encounter last year in that stand in January. Maybe I'll get a redo.
I'm shifting my focus to waterfowl. Historically my buddy invites me to go duck and goose hunting in early December. I am a little doubtful about him coming through though, so I may be high and dry on waterfowl this year. There's just not a lot of good public land options in northern Illinois sadly. But if I get out, I'll have an update for you.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
Whitetails really don't care about combines, tractors, etc. Equipment won't change their behavior. Once a field is picked there is less cover, so they're less likely to come out in the open during daylight. I usually shift my set up deeper into the cover after harvest. Also, deer may change their favored feeding areas towards crops that haven't been picked yet.
I had a stand that was dynamite when the corn was still in, but the years when beans were planted or after corn was removed it was worthless.
I had a stand that was dynamite when the corn was still in, but the years when beans were planted or after corn was removed it was worthless.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
Good to know. I usually walk in to that stand along the old fencerow and it is like a deer superhighway with noticeable tracks, but on Thanksgiving it looked like a deer hadn't been through there in the last few days, but that is when they would have been harvesting. I live too far away to be able to drive the neighborhood and see what kind of ag activity is going on and I don't go down to the gas station to get breakfast with the farmers. So I don't know what their forecasted plans are either. So I just end up with whatever conditions exist when I get there to hunt... I guess I just have to control what I can and do the best with conditions as they exist.
Pucky Freak
Well-known member
If you scout anytime between June 1 and Sept 1 you can tell how mature the crops are, which will give you the approximate week when they''ll be ready for harvest. The closer to Sept 1 the more accurate it will be. Any row crop farmer can show you what to look for, or I can explain it to you in a PM if you're interested. Beans are usually harvested soon after maturity, and corn is whenever they get to it. One example is where I live in central Iowa it was a very wet April and planting was delayed for about 85% of the crop. Average weather over the rest of the year made for a very late harvest overall.
TheBenHoyle
Well-known member
It was weird to not be going out duck hunting this past weekend. For the past 5 years I have gone out the first two weekend in December for some duck hunting at the invitation of a friend of mine. Well, he has been very busy this fall and last weekend he had an out of town wedding, so no ducks for me.
I am hoping he will get a hold of me this week and invite me out this weekend. It is the last opportunity for ducks in Northern Illinois for me. I might be able to get on some goose in January, but I am not sure of that.
On the upside, I'm cooking up the first of the venison from my deer I got in November tonight for dinner. Can't wait.
I am hoping he will get a hold of me this week and invite me out this weekend. It is the last opportunity for ducks in Northern Illinois for me. I might be able to get on some goose in January, but I am not sure of that.
On the upside, I'm cooking up the first of the venison from my deer I got in November tonight for dinner. Can't wait.
