Hello from Chicago!

[arwhntr]

I'm a midwestern born and raised fella currently living 29 floors above the Chicago River in guess where? That's right, Chicago Hence, I've come to adopt the name "high rise hunter". I'm literally obsessed with hunting and when my wife and I are not running our retail furniture stores I'm usually reading and blogging about various hunting topics or stuck on OnXmaps or goHunt.com which is where I came to discover this forum. Pretty excited to be a part of it and I'm a HUGE fan of Randy's show Fresh Tracks. Hope everyone is having a safe and successful 2017 hunting season!

High_Rise_Hunter

 

[SFC B]

Welcome from a Hoosier now in CO!! Look forward to seeing your contributions. You will surely enjoy the time you spend here.

 

[JohnCushman]

Welcome!

 

[Elkhunter24]

Welcome from PA!

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Good to see someone else stuck in Chicago is doing it too.

 

[charliebravo77]

Welcome - I'm in the north suburbs, but work in the loop. Since you are using OnXmaps and Gohunt.com I assume you have been hunting out of state? More importantly, how do you deal with the crippling depression associated with living in Chicago but wanting to be in the west?

 

[pabearhunter]

Welcome aboard.

 

[duckhunt]

Welcome from Iowa

 

[1_pointer]

Welcome!! I'd love to see Chicago in it's former prairie/savanna state. WOuld be quite the contrast to the current condition.

 

[arwhntr]

Thanks fellas!

Flatland Crusoe - how many weird looks do you get in and around your building hauling around those decoys? I think fellow residents think I'm some crazy hick but I love it!

charliebravo77 - 1.) You're not kidding, the depression is real...I think I ask my wife once a week about the possibility of moving out west. No luck yet 2.) I actually just finished my first every elk hunt out in Colorado. It was an OTC, DIY archery hunt and on Day 3 I was fortunate enough to slap my tag on a perfect CO 5 point. I actually put together a couple of videos of this hunt, at first just for myself but my buddies were having so much fun watching I put them out on Youtube. If your bored, you can check them out at

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoBVFWi4A2Bci8ckEROhlZg?view_as=subscriber

I have a couple more western hunts coming up over the next couple months. (A December South Dakota archery mule deer and an early January Arizona Coues.) Should be fun and both new species for me!

 

[charliebravo77]

That's cool, I'll have to watch those videos when I've got some free time. Coues is waaaaaay up on my list of hunts I want to go on. Tried to draw last season but didn't, bought a point this year so hopefully next I'll be able to grab one. Are you archery only or do you rifle hunt as well? We'll have to meet up some time to swap stories and commiserate on being stuck here.

If you're interested, Flatland and I write about a lot of our hunts here and post on associated social media: http://engineeredpursuit.com

 

[Flatland Crusoe]

Thanks fellas!

Flatland Crusoe - how many weird looks do you get in and around your building hauling around those decoys? I think fellow residents think I'm some crazy hick but I love it!

With duck decoys there is nothing hiding what is going on and they make for the more interesting trips especially since in my building you have to go all the way to the ground floor to get to the garage elevators. With big game trips people in the elevator mostly just ask you were you are going camping? Once while wearing optifade in the elevator I was asked if I was in the navy.

The worst building entrance I ever had to do was while I was getting dropped off from a trip and only had one trash bag for either a mule deer head or the bloody quarter bags that I had to carry through the lobby. Most of the building staff think what I'm doing is pretty funny.

On our sundeck I've had some pretty interesting conversations about the meat I am cooking whether it was a full backstrap or an antelope ham on the grill. Wild game is basically the only way to one up someone who just spent $200 on Whole Foods meat and fish.

 

[Addicting]

Welcome, my condolences for loss of your vegetation and wildlife. That city is neat to say I've visited but there is no way I could imagine living there, too much asphalt and concrete.

 

[arwhntr]

Charliebravo77 - It would be great to get together sometime. Here's my cell phone if you want to shoot me a text/call sometime: 920-750-1100. Nothing better than swapping some hunting stories and gripping about the terrible traffic. I just briefly checked out Engineered Pursuit. I'm really into what you guys have going on there! Looks awesome and I'll definitely be spending some more time filtering and reading.

I'm mainly an archery hunter but I'm not afraid to pick up the shotgun to chase birds and always participate in the WI rifle deer season. Archery hunting these AZ coues deer is a tall task but I'm mostly excited to explore some new territory. I'm headed to an OTC unit. Always a good idea to pick up points when you can though. That said, if you haven't already you can purchase bonus points for Montana right now but the deadline is September 30.

 

[arwhntr]

Flatland Crusoe - Those are some GREAT stories! I'm especially laughing at the thought of carrying around a mule deer head in downtown Chicago. I use to live in Minneapolis and remember driving around downtown during morning rush hour with a whitetail buck on a the hitch cargo carrier. The looks I were getting were priceless.

Wild game meat really is the best. Can't get any more organic and definitely can't buy it at any grocery store no matter how fancy.

 

[Don K]

Dang, coming on here and admitting you live in Illinois, and in Chicago Your brave

 

[TLowell02]

Welcome! My girlfriend is from the suburbs of Chicago - Crystal Lake. I have the unfortunate "pleasure" to visit up there every Christmas and as an outdoorsman, I cannot imagine a worse place to live. Don't know how you guys manage!

 

[arwhntr]

Addicting & TLowell02 - It takes a unique outdoorsman to live in Chicago, no question about that . It's impossible not to envy the guy who can walk out his back door and hunt/fish. It makes you really appreciate the times you have in the country that's for sure!

 

[Bowhuntrben]

Welcome to the site! Saw your videos too...great job!

 

[arwhntr]

Bowhuntrben - excited to learn and contribute what I can to the site and thank you about the elk and video!!!