Illinois Dream Buck

[3855WIN]

Zim, been seeing you on the boards for many years. Congrats on an incredible buck. Glad you beat the Rona.

 

[noharleyyet]

I cannot begin to fathom that level of exhilaration...and with a stick and string.

 

[Oak]

Took buck in southern part of state. An overlooked County. I got rack in spare bedroom now and don't even look at it or touch it. It's so foreign to me like it's not real. Out of my league.

Seriously? If that was a mule deer it would be on the king right between the wife and me.

 

[Zim]

I cannot begin to fathom that level of exhilaration...and with a stick and string.

I can't describe my disbelief when I found him. Nearly passed out. Wish every bow hunter could experience. And so thankful my rotator cuffs were healthy enough to use my compound. Doing anything to avoid an xbow.

 

[Zim]

Zim, been seeing you on the boards for many years. Congrats on an incredible buck. Glad you beat the Rona.

Ya you know what Randy and I exchanged several emails about western hunt units like 20 years ago, before he made his videos. I never even realized who he was until I pulled out some old files on past trips for another hunter I was trying to help. LOL

 

[crock239]

Man, that is a dream lifetime buck for sure! Many, many congratulations. Sounds like a reward well-earned from many years of hunting.

 

[Elkhunter24]

Congrats!!!

 

[bonedogg]

stud deer congrats on putting a tag on that bruiser buck!

 

[Cotten]

Beautiful buck!

 

[Bassf123]

Man!!! What an incredible dream buck!

 

[Khasburgh]

After losing virtually my entire deer season to a severe case of Covid last year, I can’t describe how great it was just to be in a tree this fall. I spent the peak rut 2020 quarantined on a cot in my Kodiak 10'x10' tent. Getting out just once to go to the ER for oxygen. It was so awesome just to be outside to watch the leaves change and take in the views. On November 3rd I took a nice 140” Illinois buck with my first Illinois tag. Then on November 16th, after 32 years of bow hunting, my dream buck finally paid me a visit.

That morning I overslept an hour and had to rush just to get to my stand at dawn 6:15 am. That may have actually helped me. Wind was light and variable. I always move around between trees and areas to keep my setup clean. This buck may have been patrolling and scented me had I been there longer. Will never know. Was set up in a telephone pole tree 22’ high with a primary bedding area marsh to my back. Facing a thick briar filled clear cut. With timber, lots of rubs/scrapes beyond that 30 yards. Forty minutes later at 6:55 am this buck walks out of the marsh to my right 30 yards and I freeze. He was downwind but not completely. I had about a 15 degree advantage. My next pacer checkup at Central DuPage the cardio nurse is probably going to ask me what I was doing 11/16/21 at 6:55 am.

The buck stared me down for about 20 seconds, but I did not budge. To my surprise, he then just put his head down and proceeded across the clear cut. When he went behind a shrub, I was able to stay seated and pivot my legs to the right, in position to draw. 8” Tree was too thin to stand up and not shake. Buck walked up a trail I had ranged the evening before at 25 yards. My only chance would be to draw now, before the trail split, because if he took the right trail I would only see his rump. My mode shifted to stone cold and I held the 20 yard pin a bit high, rock steady at release. (My 30 yard pin had bent the day before pulling it through some briars) The pop sound on impact was right, but he bounded off before I could see the arrow. It was not an easy shot. I had to squat down to send arrow under an overhanging branch. And the buck’s bottom 1/3rd of his torso was covered by grass. Despite my confidence, I stayed on stand for 2 1/2 hours, giving him time.

At 9:30 I climbed down and began searching. Found no arrow and zero blood for an hour of searching, so began a grid search. Not ten minutes into it, looked up and saw an image I thought was a mirage. A bow hunter’s dream mirage.

Taxidermist green scored him at 205” but said he would not trust his number because he was not sure how to measure all the junk. Most folks who looked at him said more like 190”. I have no idea because I’ve never shot anything close to this caliber. Will find out in January when I’ll have him measured by P&Y. Was very fortunate to buy the last real Illinois lifetime hunting license back in 2006. Finally paid off when I bailed on the state and moved here to Indiana two years ago. Otherwise I could not have even bought a 2nd archery buck tag this year, much less for only $26.

Nice one!

 

[EKYHunter]

Nice one; that guy has more junk than Fred Sanford.

Yep, going to use that.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

One cool buck , congratulations ! I know what your talking about on how you feel about it not being real. I got my dream Blacktail back in 2018 and there’s still times when I just look at it and I’ll just shake my head and think , I can’t believe I really did that.

 

[MTANTELOPEHUNTER]

After losing virtually my entire deer season to a severe case of Covid last year, I can’t describe how great it was just to be in a tree this fall. I spent the peak rut 2020 quarantined on a cot in my Kodiak 10'x10' tent. Getting out just once to go to the ER for oxygen. It was so awesome just to be outside to watch the leaves change and take in the views. On November 3rd I took a nice 140” Illinois buck with my first Illinois tag. Then on November 16th, after 32 years of bow hunting, my dream buck finally paid me a visit.

That morning I overslept an hour and had to rush just to get to my stand at dawn 6:15 am. That may have actually helped me. Wind was light and variable. I always move around between trees and areas to keep my setup clean. This buck may have been patrolling and scented me had I been there longer. Will never know. Was set up in a telephone pole tree 22’ high with a primary bedding area marsh to my back. Facing a thick briar filled clear cut. With timber, lots of rubs/scrapes beyond that 30 yards. Forty minutes later at 6:55 am this buck walks out of the marsh to my right 30 yards and I freeze. He was downwind but not completely. I had about a 15 degree advantage. My next pacer checkup at Central DuPage the cardio nurse is probably going to ask me what I was doing 11/16/21 at 6:55 am.

The buck stared me down for about 20 seconds, but I did not budge. To my surprise, he then just put his head down and proceeded across the clear cut. When he went behind a shrub, I was able to stay seated and pivot my legs to the right, in position to draw. 8” Tree was too thin to stand up and not shake. Buck walked up a trail I had ranged the evening before at 25 yards. My only chance would be to draw now, before the trail split, because if he took the right trail I would only see his rump. My mode shifted to stone cold and I held the 20 yard pin a bit high, rock steady at release. (My 30 yard pin had bent the day before pulling it through some briars) The pop sound on impact was right, but he bounded off before I could see the arrow. It was not an easy shot. I had to squat down to send arrow under an overhanging branch. And the buck’s bottom 1/3rd of his torso was covered by grass. Despite my confidence, I stayed on stand for 2 1/2 hours, giving him time.

At 9:30 I climbed down and began searching. Found no arrow and zero blood for an hour of searching, so began a grid search. Not ten minutes into it, looked up and saw an image I thought was a mirage. A bow hunter’s dream mirage.

Taxidermist green scored him at 205” but said he would not trust his number because he was not sure how to measure all the junk. Most folks who looked at him said more like 190”. I have no idea because I’ve never shot anything close to this caliber. Will find out in January when I’ll have him measured by P&Y. Was very fortunate to buy the last real Illinois lifetime hunting license back in 2006. Finally paid off when I bailed on the state and moved here to Indiana two years ago. Otherwise I could not have even bought a 2nd archery buck tag this year, much less for only $26. Noticed this buck was blind on the driver’s side. Probably helped to prevent him from seeing me in that toothpick tree.

After losing virtually my entire deer season to a severe case of Covid last year, I can’t describe how great it was just to be in a tree this fall. I spent the peak rut 2020 quarantined on a cot in my Kodiak 10'x10' tent. Getting out just once to go to the ER for oxygen. It was so awesome just to be outside to watch the leaves change and take in the views. On November 3rd I took a nice 140” Illinois buck with my first Illinois tag. Then on November 16th, after 32 years of bow hunting, my dream buck finally paid me a visit.

That morning I overslept an hour and had to rush just to get to my stand at dawn 6:15 am. That may have actually helped me. Wind was light and variable. I always move around between trees and areas to keep my setup clean. This buck may have been patrolling and scented me had I been there longer. Will never know. Was set up in a telephone pole tree 22’ high with a primary bedding area marsh to my back. Facing a thick briar filled clear cut. With timber, lots of rubs/scrapes beyond that 30 yards. Forty minutes later at 6:55 am this buck walks out of the marsh to my right 30 yards and I freeze. He was downwind but not completely. I had about a 15 degree advantage. My next pacer checkup at Central DuPage the cardio nurse is probably going to ask me what I was doing 11/16/21 at 6:55 am.

The buck stared me down for about 20 seconds, but I did not budge. To my surprise, he then just put his head down and proceeded across the clear cut. When he went behind a shrub, I was able to stay seated and pivot my legs to the right, in position to draw. 8” Tree was too thin to stand up and not shake. Buck walked up a trail I had ranged the evening before at 25 yards. My only chance would be to draw now, before the trail split, because if he took the right trail I would only see his rump. My mode shifted to stone cold and I held the 20 yard pin a bit high, rock steady at release. (My 30 yard pin had bent the day before pulling it through some briars) The pop sound on impact was right, but he bounded off before I could see the arrow. It was not an easy shot. I had to squat down to send arrow under an overhanging branch. And the buck’s bottom 1/3rd of his torso was covered by grass. Despite my confidence, I stayed on stand for 2 1/2 hours, giving him time.

At 9:30 I climbed down and began searching. Found no arrow and zero blood for an hour of searching, so began a grid search. Not ten minutes into it, looked up and saw an image I thought was a mirage. A bow hunter’s dream mirage.

Taxidermist green scored him at 205” but said he would not trust his number because he was not sure how to measure all the junk. Most folks who looked at him said more like 190”. I have no idea because I’ve never shot anything close to this caliber. Will find out in January when I’ll have him measured by P&Y. Was very fortunate to buy the last real Illinois lifetime hunting license back in 2006. Finally paid off when I bailed on the state and moved here to Indiana two years ago. Otherwise I could not have even bought a 2nd archery buck tag this year, much less for only $26. Noticed this buck was blind on the driver’s side. Probably helped to prevent him from seeing me in that toothpick tree.

Very nice

 

[rjthehunter]

Incredible buck!!

 

[Ironworker515]

That is an amazing deer! Congrats!

 

[Duck-Slayer]

whoa congrats on a huuuge deer!
Matt

 

[publichunter1]

Congrats man on a true buck of a lifetime!

 

[Zim]

I have one more week drying time before P&Y measurement, but did confirm he will be entered in the nontypical category. Found out he must have >15” of extras and he has >20”.

 

[KipCarson]

Incredible buck!! Many congrats!