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I'm close - St Louis - but unfortunately only been through KC - don't know it well enough to give you any pointers. You might start with web sites that produce heat maps for high crime areas. Here is a link to one I found. https://www.areavibes.com/kansas+city-mo/crime/

Ross... I'm afraid all I got is IT LOOKS AWESOME! Almost as cool as that knife you made me for Christmas but then again... I'm biased.

Not sure how but I missed this post completely! That is an amazing buck - congratulations to your daughter William. Great story - agree... never too long. Full mount or skull mount?

A decade old post comes to life! LOL I see that I posted that DIY hunts were the only way to go for me back in 2009. Well, I changed my mind in 2018 and went on a bear hunt with an outfitter recommended by Tim Andrus. The active members on here saw the results of that experience. I have changed from NEVER again to requiring reputable references from multiple people or someone I trust before booking with an outfitter. Good seeing some of the old members profiles again.

Welcome back! That KY elk tag is a long shot but generally has pretty good success rates. Looks like a nice one.

Thanks William! This is all new to me. Things I'm picking up on.. Compact over sub-compact. Rotary cutter (stump jumper and slip clutch) that attaches to the PTO that is wider than the tractor. 40hp and Realtree Coupon for 50% off if I place a RT Outdoors sticker on it! I'm getting there.

It'll be at least a year before I buy a tractor. Will borrow my friends for this year. Not exactly sure but I believe it is a 40hp LS (might be bigger). My thinking is a 40hp more tractor is more than I need but we will see. I don't know squat about fixing tractors so it'll have to be a newer machine. One question I've tried to find an answer to and have not been successful is related to pull behind brush hogging. I've seen the ride over rotary blade cutters on the newer tractors. Are these just for mowing the lawn every week or two or can they be used to cut brush? When I say brush I mean the weeds and vegetation that grow around field edges and on trails after an initial removal of the trees 1 inch in diameter or bigger. I would plan on cutting this brush once every 2 months during the growing season (May - August). I would assume a pull behind rotor cutter a little wider than the tractor is preferred but maybe not?

Glad it worked out for you on your own ground Adam! Thanks for the tips William. It'll be a steep learning curve for a guy with little farming knowledge and experience. Here in IL hunting land prices are the lowest they have been in the last 15 years. The fiscal irresponsibility of the legislature in this state has seen a rapid outflow of people which is one of the primary reasons. I also don't think the younger generation has as much interest. Does anyone have a recommendation on tractor size for a piece of property like this? Looking for something to cut and work the 1 acre field, cut trails through the forest, and get my deer out with. My thoughts would be a sub-compact or compact tractor with a pull behind brush hog and a front loader.

Congratulations Team 3!

Thanks again to the new comers! Can’t wait to do some morel hunting in April and just spending some spring afternoons in a stand observing. If I’m fortunate enough to take a deer it’ll be posted right here! Probably the sweetest meat I’ll ever eat. LOL

"Maybe I missed it but do you have any tillable land? " Currently there is about a 1 acre section (the red oval) that is tillable. It was marketed to be a building location but I'll probably place it in clover this summer. Yes, I need to get a small tractor with as opposed to a 4 wheeler. I've heard they are more stable on uneven terrain and better for managing the food plots. There is another smaller flat spot (below the number 2) that I could create a small food plot on after clearing some trees but that's down the road. There are corn and bean fields all around, but no late season foods which is what I'd focus on.

I'll plan to place it in a tree program to keep taxes under 100.00 per year. Won't build for a long time but maybe one day. Perhaps a get-a-away cabin. Showed it to my son today. Here are some pictures.

Thanks everyone! Tim... yes, there is a creek that runs from the north east corner to the south west corner. I went on a day it was raining and had been raining for 2 days. Creeks were up everywhere. This creek has a couple places it might be a couple feet deep but plenty of places to easily jump across or ride an ATV through. Flooding will not be an issue. Tim, I hope you're able to one day. William... yes, my son and I will be working together on this property. I bought a tree identification book to help us figure out which ones to cut and which to leave. In addition... he's a junior in high school and has expressed an interest to go into forestry. Adam... I timed it during the day (most traffic) and it took 39 minutes to get from my driveway to the parking area at the property. In the early morning's I figure it'll take 30-35 minutes. Al, yes... I'm having the place re-staked by a surveyor as it would appear there is a ridge tip located at the north and south borders that will make great stand locations. Additionally, the east border has at least 3 great locations for a stand on the high ground. I don't like hunting bottom areas much due to swirling winds. I'm thinking about making a 5 acre sanctuary in the very center of the property (see square in picture below). I'm considering hinge cutting a lot of the 5 acre sanctuary to allow sunlight to enter the forest floor and create a thick bedding area. I figure deer will like to bed on the down slope of that ridge in the square. The orange arrow lines would be trails I would make and the numbers are 10 possible stand locations. I'll likely only get about 3-4 fixed position stands up for this fall but will use my climbers until I figure out the deer travel routes. I'm not going to get in a hurry but possibly put in a 1-2 acre clover plot in the red circle area. It'll be fun trying to make improvements. If anyone has other suggestions I'm all ears.

After many many years of waiting until the right time the good Lord has finally blessed me with deer hunting property to call my own. I choose to buy instead of lease because I'm tired of losing ground to hunt on after spending money and time getting it set up for hunting. My 32.49 acres of ground is in the west-central part of Illinois. There is a county road that ends at the access to the property which means I will not need to pay for road maintenance. There is electric and water going to the property (should I ever decide to build). I can't wait to start putting in a trail system and tree stands for this coming autumn. It is a dream come true for me.

Thanks William! I went out in the afternoon and was met by a 5 foot wall of snow and ice that the snow plows had pushed in front of the entrance to the dirt road I use to access my hunting area. I had to go around to the south end of the property and gain permission to from a neighbor to access my hunting location. The neighbor was a hunter and cool about it and invited me to his house after the hunt to view his trophy room. I agreed and made a new friend. As I walked through the 2 feet of snow I saw more coyote tracks than I ever have before. It must be their mating season. From the stand I saw a smaller coyote (likely the female). Didn't get a shot off as it was in super thick brush about 30 yards away. Then a few minutes later a larger one (male I assume) was following. I got a shot off in the thick brush but could hear the bolt hit branches in route and a clean miss due to what I think was a deflection. Before I could cock my crossbow another larger one walked past. Then a few minutes later a fourth large coyote on the same trail! Bolts and broad heads are expensive so this one would have to be a sure thing as the first bolt disappeared in the snow. I never got that shot and as he passed by so did my 2018 season.

I'm headed out today for what may be my last deer hunt of the year. Haven't had a buck on camera over 130 inches all season so I'm not to hopeful. However, it is my birthday so I think I'll get out one last time.

My taxidermist sells capes for 30 dollars. I've never heard of air brushing a cape. I decided to just hold off on buying a cape and used one from a friend that wasn't mounting his deer that was about the same size. I'm more concerned with matching the size first then color.

Some years you take what you can get. This year was like that for me as well. Congratulations on a great looking 7 point.

I'm still hunting from time to time. All that is left is archery but it goes until January or something. Looks liek our team has done pretty weel this year. Any luck ODH?

My 2 cents... The term trophy hunter is commonly used by anti-hunters as a negative term. We all know they want all types of hunting destroyed but they can't get that so they target what they can. When a hunter kills a lion the anti's will always refer to the hunter as a "trophy" hunter - even if the meat is eaten and the lions mane is bald. If the term gets enough negative publicity (social media) people will develop an automatic negative reaction to the term and hunters will start justifying what they kill as "non-trophy" to avoid backlash. I think we as hunters need to stop this and say HELL yes I'm a trophy hunter! It doesn't matter if it's a doe or a buck or has 150 inches or 10 inches. If you legally harvested a game animal that you are proud of then it's a trophy! You don't have to mount it because you'll have the memory and to me that's the real trophy. Now that I've said that... yes I do take pictures and mount the bigger animals I hunt. Mostly because I like to decorate my house with them and have the reminder of those memories each day I walk through my house.

Nice!

Truly amazing! You all are sure doing something right!

Congrats Lewis! I'm still hunting but not too heavily any more. Deer camp was fun but no deer this year. Saw a few small ones but nothing we wanted to shoot or that was in range.

Awesome! If we took 150 class bucks every year it wouldn't be as big a deal. Congratulations!

Thanks everyone. We had some arctic weather come in. Should make for some good hunting with the rut in full swing!