Mach1

We put out 15 dekes and sat in some head-high brush in a fence row between a cut corn field and cut beans. Drove right to the spot at 8:00 am, threw out our dekes, a little bit of calling when we heard birds, bang-bang, and we're literally loaded up and driving away at 9:10 am. Easiest, but best hunt I've been on ever.

It's not deer, but it was still a good 45 minutes of hunting in heavy snow yesterday morning...

I think we were sometime over the last couple years. Definitely not seeing the deer numbers that we're used to seeing, both does and bucks.

Congrats to all who have scored on deer. It's been a rough season for us. We've not seen any what we would deem as shooter quality bucks and even seeing does within shooting range has been tough. This past Saturday afternoon I was hunting a field edge next to about 2-3 acres of standing beans. We had 3-4 inches of snow on the ground, so we had a good food source for the conditions. I had three does come in and were within 50 yards of me for 45 minutes or so, but I was waiting to see if one of our mature bucks would come in. I had a 135" buck come in, but he's not what I'm looking for, so he got a pass. Muzzleloader season coming up this weekend, so I've got another shot with the gun. Not sure if I'll get another chance to get out and hunt after this weekend, so I'll be hoping to get one down.

My dad call me around lunch time today and said the deer have really been moving the past few days. Lucky him as he has the rest of the month off work for vacation time. I'll be packing up the kids and heading back to to our hunting area tomorrow after work. They're calling for temps nearing 70 and rain all weekend though.

I've been out some each of the last two weekends and will be out again this coming weekend. Being 2 1/2 hours from our hunting land hurts. Movement was slow last weekend as I only saw 5 does/fawns in 3 sits. My dad did get a nice doe Saturday evening.

Was finally able to get out this past weekend for a "real" hunt. Didn't see anything, but it was nice to get out. Drove around Saturday evening for about 30-35 minutes before dark and saw 37 deer, but nothing with antlers, not even any 1.5 yr olds. Seems to be the common theme in our hunting area back home.

Congrats all on the deer. Between my 5 yr old's soccer games and work, I've yet to even grace the woods. That will change this weekend as I'll at least be able to get out on Sunday. With highs in the 50s this week, I'd think movement would be good.

I've checked four stores (Walmart, Farm & Home, Rural King, Bass Pro) in my area for .22 LR over the past few months and haven't seen a box on the shelves. There's just about everything but those.

Team 3 Not sure when I'll get the chance to get out. I'm 2 hours from my hunting area and our 5 yr old has soccer every Saturday in October. A little bit fortunate for me is that my in-laws now own 22 acres five minutes from our house that has some timber on it and we've seen some deer around. My 5 yr old has been chomping at the bit for me to take him hunting (and get him a bow and arrows), so I picked him up some camo at Walmart. I may try to take him out Saturday evening and set up in the edge of a standing cornfield and see if we can see some deer. It's close to the house, so we can sneak out if he gets bored. It's not the area I'm used to hunting, but it will give me a chance to get him exposed to hunting and that can't be a bad thing. Took him fishing earlier this year and he was hooked (no pun intended).

I'll be good with whatever team name is decided upon. Really getting the itch to get in the woods.

Posting Pictures from mobile smart phone I can't view pictures posted on this forum on my smartphone. All I see is the IMG code. Don't have a problem on other forums. I'm not sure if there's a setting messed up somewhere or not.

Hey all, it's been a busy few days and I'm just getting a chance to check in. About 2 1/2 weeks and we'll be rolling around here.

Mach1 32 Oct 1-Jan 19 Illinois

Low 50s here today. Rain starts tonight and switches to snow after midnight and supposed to drop 8-10+ inches before it's done Sunday night. And then we're back into the 50 next weekend.

Depending on the route I take it's 14 1/2 to 17 miles and takes 22-28 minutes.

I don't feel right voting in a poll that I'm included in. I will say that all are fantastic deer from their respective locations and congrats to all the successful hunters, not only in these pics, but to all those in the contest.

Congrats Team 5. Some good looking deer there.

Meat and cheese, no veggies for me. The nationwide chain places (Pizza Hut, Dominos, Papa Johns) are about the only ones around here I've noticed that cut in triangles. Most of the local joints cut in squares. I'm predominantly a thicker crust guy, but there are a few local places and regional chain places that are thin crust that I'll eat. To be honest, I've not really had any style of pizza I wouldn't eat.

Team 3 - Counting Tines Mach1 10 pt

Shot this guy Saturday morning with my muzzleloader. He's a mainframe 8 with muley splits on the G2s. And that's how he got his name when he started showing up on our trail cams eariler this summer...the Muley 10. We green scored him at 154 2/8. I'll get him entered.

No luck for me during our first firearms season. I only saw 7 deer in 2 1/2 days of hunting which is pretty bad for our area. Other hunters in our area are pretty much the same with not much deer movement unless there's a hot doe in the area. My brother was lucky enough to be in one of those areas Saturday morning seeing at least 9 different bucks and only a single doe. He was able to take down a 148" 9 pointer with a 94 yard shot from his muzzleloader at about 11:00 am. He went out that afternoon to try to fill his doe tag and had a bigger buck stand in the wide open at 60 yards for 15 minutes. I'll be back at it with the stick and string for a couple days over the holiday weekend.

No luck on day 1 of our first firearms season. Only saw a forkhorn and a doe that were too far away through the woods. It seems like we skipped the chasing phase of the rut and went right into lockdown which is making for tough hunting even with perfect weather. Be back at it in about 8 hours.

From the reports I've been hearing from my brother, business has really picked up since this cold front went through on Sunday. He's finally been seeing bucks on their feet during daylight hours. With gin season starting Friday, I would expect a good number of bucks to go down around our area.

Hardcore scraping and rubbing has just started within the last 10 days here. Buck movement is still during dark according to our trail cams. We're still seeing most bucks alone and not chasing. Really not seeing a lot of deer movement at all, bucks or does.