I have hunted deer in Illinois since just after they started it back up in the fifties. For years I relied on private or public ground. I was fortunate to be able to find and buy a little patch of ground, 45 acres of timber, creek and a little tillable, in the east side of the "golden triangle" in Fulton County in 2005. This has been a very enjoyable venture and has been a great thing for me, my two boys and two nephews. We have rehabbed an old garage into a comfortable cabin with a real furnace, bathroom, and a few other perks. We have built two towers, Taj 1 and Taj 2.0 and have another ten or so ladder and hanging stands placed around the property giving us the opportunity to hunt during any kind of weather or wind condition. One large food plot, and three smaller plots keep the deer, turkey and dove populations fat and happy.
I had spinal surgery in 2011 and the results were great. However, a year later an infection set in and after seven months on i.v. antibiotics (and a episode of anaphylactic shock), wearing a hardshell brace, I was left with ruined legs and developed bad arthritis. This changed my deer hunting methods. My boys and I built Taj Mahal 1.0 for me (we all use it), a box blind with a stairway and handrails. It makes it easier for an old guy who can't climb trees any more to still get out and hunt.
This year, first gun weekend, my oldest son and I went out to the Taj. We were a little slow getting out there and the weather sucked anyway, blowing, spitting rain, and just not very agreeable to an arthritic old codger. I had dreams of seeing the buck I named "Big Luke" that had been teasing me all bow season. Wide beamed ten with a pretty good heft to him. I had seen him every day I'd hunted, always a hundred yards off and never responding to grunts, rattling, or bleats. Anyway, we got in the blind at 8:15 not expecting to see anything for a while. I looked across the oat patch, our big four acre food plot, and there was Luke, on the opposite end of where he usually appeared. John, my son, and I just stared for a minute. Luke turned as if to walk toward a smaller plot behind some woods and John grunted. Luke stopped. This continued for five minutes and then Luke started walking a path parallel to us. Every time he'd start to move away John would grunt. He even stopped Luke from crossing the creek to get up behind us. Finally, Luke just put his head down and started strutting or swaggering right toward us. At thirty yards, John whispered, "Get your darn gun ready". I had been so entranced I had not even picked it up. I got it up, eased off the safety and turned the scope to 1X. I shot him at fifteen yards. He jumped once, trotted fifty yards into some brush not giving me another shot, and then walked unconcernadly across the plot and up the hill. Did I miss? If I did I said I'd never hunt again. Chip shot from fifteen? John went down about fifteen minutes later and found light blood. Luke was down about fifty yards up the hillside, bled out inside. I'd got both lungs and a bit of the liver. SST Hornady 20 gauge evidently didn't even open up as the exit wound was no bigger than the entrance.
My biggest deer ever. 189# hanging dressed and nine points with a tenth broken. If I ever figure out how to post pics, I'll do it. Doing a European skull mount and will score it when I get it back. Won't be a book buck but still my best ever.
John is now known as "The Buck Whisperer (grunter)".
I had spinal surgery in 2011 and the results were great. However, a year later an infection set in and after seven months on i.v. antibiotics (and a episode of anaphylactic shock), wearing a hardshell brace, I was left with ruined legs and developed bad arthritis. This changed my deer hunting methods. My boys and I built Taj Mahal 1.0 for me (we all use it), a box blind with a stairway and handrails. It makes it easier for an old guy who can't climb trees any more to still get out and hunt.
This year, first gun weekend, my oldest son and I went out to the Taj. We were a little slow getting out there and the weather sucked anyway, blowing, spitting rain, and just not very agreeable to an arthritic old codger. I had dreams of seeing the buck I named "Big Luke" that had been teasing me all bow season. Wide beamed ten with a pretty good heft to him. I had seen him every day I'd hunted, always a hundred yards off and never responding to grunts, rattling, or bleats. Anyway, we got in the blind at 8:15 not expecting to see anything for a while. I looked across the oat patch, our big four acre food plot, and there was Luke, on the opposite end of where he usually appeared. John, my son, and I just stared for a minute. Luke turned as if to walk toward a smaller plot behind some woods and John grunted. Luke stopped. This continued for five minutes and then Luke started walking a path parallel to us. Every time he'd start to move away John would grunt. He even stopped Luke from crossing the creek to get up behind us. Finally, Luke just put his head down and started strutting or swaggering right toward us. At thirty yards, John whispered, "Get your darn gun ready". I had been so entranced I had not even picked it up. I got it up, eased off the safety and turned the scope to 1X. I shot him at fifteen yards. He jumped once, trotted fifty yards into some brush not giving me another shot, and then walked unconcernadly across the plot and up the hill. Did I miss? If I did I said I'd never hunt again. Chip shot from fifteen? John went down about fifteen minutes later and found light blood. Luke was down about fifty yards up the hillside, bled out inside. I'd got both lungs and a bit of the liver. SST Hornady 20 gauge evidently didn't even open up as the exit wound was no bigger than the entrance.
My biggest deer ever. 189# hanging dressed and nine points with a tenth broken. If I ever figure out how to post pics, I'll do it. Doing a European skull mount and will score it when I get it back. Won't be a book buck but still my best ever.
John is now known as "The Buck Whisperer (grunter)".
I was happy to read this adventure; and, whilst not thrilled about the poor luck you've had with your health, still glad you could continue to hunt, and have such success too!
