MUDRUNNER

Congrats again Martin....he's a dandy. I just checked the scoreboard, and it looks like we're only a doe away from taking the lead.

I finally closed the deal Friday during our Illinois shotgun season. He's no giant but I've been hunting hard ,the freezers low, and he was too god to pass up. I climbed in the treestand with the old Winchester Friday morning about 5:45. Cold temps, decent rut activity, and a few inches of snow had me stoked for the morning sit. Two coyotes came through right away and kind of had me bummin thinking they might have scattered the deer from my area. I saw my first deer around 7:30. A small forky I've passed a few times this year was dogging a hot doe. He was grunting like crazy and chasing here all over the place. They hung around me for about 20 minutes, and I couldn't believe a bigger buck never showed up. The rest of the morning was pretty steady action. Every 30-45 minutes some fawns, does, or small bucks would come cruising by. Things slowed down about 10:00, and I was planning to get down at 11:30 to go get some breakfast. As I was climbing down I look over my shoulder and another deer is coming down the trail. At this point I climb back up & decide I'm just going to sit it out all day since deer are moving so good. At 12:45 this buck pushes a doe out of the bedding area and straight towards me. He is grunting like crazy too, and just dogging the doe hard. I decided to let him have it at about 45 yards. It was just a great morning to be in a tree and I wanted to end it on a high note. All together I seen 14 deer Friday....one of the best days I've had in a tree in quite a few years. Just a solid 3 year old Illinois 8 point. Now I can spend some time trying to get my daughter on a buck with the crossbow.

Team 3 8 point buck

Congrats Martin! He's a great north country buck! I got some points for the board Friday. I'll get him entered & post a story in the deer hunting room. Not a giant by any means, but a decent 8 pointer.

Geez Rhino....couple of great bucks. Congrats! Seems like you guys have that farm dialed in. If he makes it that 8 is going to be a giant next year. You have more patience than I do lol.

Off to deer camp tomorrow morning. It should be a great gun season, so we'll see what happens.

Looks like an old mature buck. Always cool to shoot a deer you have some history with. Coyotes around here are terrible too. If we would leave a deer overnight like they do on the hunting shows there is about a 100% possibility that the yotes will find it before we would the next day. No matter how many we kill it never seems to put a dent in the population.

The calendar says it's mid November, but looking out the window is more like January. We are getting our third measurable snow of the year and it's not even Thanksgiving yet. Looks like we are at about 4-5" so far & the kids are happy because school got cancelled for the day. Temps have been about 20 degrees below normal most of the month. Pretty unusual stuff for this part of Illinois. On to the weekend plans! Illinois shotgun season starts tomorrow, so I'll be in a tree most of the weekend. It should be a good weekend. Weather looks great, rut should be swinging still, and snow on the ground. Pretty much my only plans....no football, no softball, no parties.

That sounds pretty good! I haven't saved the roasts for a couple of years. I always liked it, but they tend to dry out really easy and the wife & kids don't care for it.

Still nothing here. I hunted Saturday. Seen 8 deer and passed on a couple of small bucks. It was 16 degrees and had about 2" of snow at the farm....pretty unusual to have that kind of weather around here this early in November. Everything shut off around 8 a.m. and was completely dead after that. Just like Martin, gun season is this weekend here in Illinois. As the season wears on my standards will start getting a little lower lol. The freezer is getting low.

Sweet November...what are every bodies plans? I just got back from Atlanta yesterday, so have some crap to take care of around the house tonight. I Plan to be in a treestand most of the day tomorrow. A low of 19 & a high of 35 ought to get some deer on there feet and the bucks chasing. A buddy of mine texted me this morning & shot one of the shooters we were after. Emma got asked to be in another tournament with the 18U team this weekend, so she'll be playing ball Saturday & Sunday....gonna be a cold one for softball.

Congrats Frank! He's a nice 8. Man, that's a bummer that you are loosing that ground to hunt on....I've been there. The rut should start firing up big time. A buddy of mine just shot a nice 8 that was on my hit list this morning. Him & another buck were chasing a doe. Can't wait to climb in a tree tomorrow.

Congrats Al! That is a beautiful 8 point....great brow tines & not busted up.

Well nothing over the weekend. Weather was decent, but deer are just not moving on our place for some reason. I pulled my cards & have several pics of someones dog that I assume has been running deer in the bottoms that i hunt.

Going to give it a go in the morning and see what happens.

A day early on the check-in thread. I took off tomorrow for a Friday-Sunday softball tournament that Emma is in. The schedule is out & we don't play until Saturday morning, so she & I are hitting a treestand tomorrow. Then it's off to Cape Girardeau Mo for the weekend unless it gets rained out. What does everyone else have planned....a little hunting I hope? It should be getting good.

Good luck to anybody going out this weekend! It looks like i'm booked pretty solid so probably won't be able to get out.

The last Friday of the month is here. What's on the agenda for the weekend? Tonight we have a team party/bonfire for Evan's football team. My wife works tomorrow. Also tomorrow & Sunday Emma has a softball tournament. She got asked by another team to fill in and play up in the 18U age group, which is pretty good considering shes 14. I imagine the conversations in the dug out might be a little different than what she's used to lol. On Sunday Evan's football team has their first playoff game. The team they are playing is quite a bit bigger than us and we already lost to them once this year, so they'll really have to step up in order to play past this weekend. It looks like no hunting for me this weekend.

Made it out Sunday morning. The Illinois weather has been great for October. 23 degrees when we arrived at 5:30 a.m. The deer have not been cooperating though....pretty bright moon so I think most movement is at night. I had a group of seven does & fawns go running behind me, but that was it for the day. About mid morning my throat started hurting & nose started running so I headed home and didn't hunt the evening.

What's planned for the weekend? The wife has to work tomorrow and Evan has a football game, so no hunting for me that day. It's his last regular season game of the year so football is winding down. His team is 7-1 on the year so hopefully have a few playoff games after this weekend. Emma has a softball tournament up in Peoria at the Louisville Slugger complex, but we are just sending her with a team mate this trip. Sunday the weather looks prime for deer hunting, so I'm planning on spending some time in a tree.

In the past I have used coon or fox pee. Just squirt it on the ground & rubbed my boots in it. I've actually had young bucks follow the scent trail straight to my tree. Mostly now I just spray some scent eliminator on my Mucks and don't use cover scent much.

Yea I had to take a picture of the computer screen so the pic is a little sketchy lol. Plus for some reason I have a bunch of daytime pics that used the infared.....no idea whats up with that. I thought the same as William after looking at it a little more. It's not just her belly, but it does look like it runs all the way up through her chest. It's the only picture I got of her, so she may have wandered off & died if she was sick. I've been hunting this place for 30 years & never seen anything like it.

I pulled the card on my trail camera Saturday morning and had this big fatty on it. What are every bodies thoughts? I don't know how she could still be pregnant in August, but that's what it looks like to me. Something else wrong with her maybe?

I sat in a tree from 5:30 until 11:00 Saturday morning. Only seen one deer, a 2 1/2 year old 8. The corn is almost all out & the weather looks like it's going to stay cool so it should only get better. I did have a couple of decent bucks on the trail camera so my hopes are high.

Good stuff...congrats!