fly

Way to go Buckee!

Question to answer is: Why would the deer want to leave the 300 acres of state land to get to your 20 acres? Do you have something the deer need? The basic needs for deer include food/water/cover. Looks like about 5 acres of your 20 is timber (in the swamp). It also looks like the 300 acres is mostly timber. If the 300 acres already has water (which you say it does) I'd concentrate on providing food. Especially food that will be available when other food types are not. I'm not into food plots, but I've heard late season food plots work great. I'd also suggest allowing at least a narrow strech of thick cover to grow from the road to the swamp area. That might bring in deer before darkness hits. Good luck!

Heard about this on BBC this morning. Didn't catch it all I was busy getting my kids off to school. The thing that caught my attention was the speculation that the experiment could cause a black hole. Reminded me of that movie The Neverending Story and the Nothing that engulfed everything. I'd like to think it's just a waste of time, but with the high dollars associated with it...??? Perhaps I'll make a point to be at church this Sunday.

Hi Tim, Is there some reason you're not supposed to discuss the particulars of your hunts this fall? I too was wondering where in IL. you would be hunting. Perhaps you will not know until the last minute? I know some outfitters have hunting ground in several counties. I was also wondering if you could fill me in on the RT videos you have appeared in? My wife and kids hate September because I can't get away from the hunting videos. It would be nice to show the family a first class hunter putting the smackdown on a whitetail and then tell them... See that guy there, that's Tim Andrus and we talk on the RT forums. You might say we're best friends. Once I get that 300 class deer this year Bill Jordan will probably pair us up on the next Monsterbucks. Yea, I'll likely be quiting my job after this year. Then my wife will do the >Frank

Looks like we're Team Predator! Swampy, would you do the honors and submit the name? Sorry I've been gone the past week. I had to go to Salt Lake City and my wifi connection at the Super-8 was slower than dial-up. The trip was work related, but I did sneak in a little trout fishing on the Provo river. I caught a couple brookies, a brown, and a rainbow. Wierd fishing a river and not knowing what kind of trout you might hook up with. >Frank

I like Team Predator as well as Team Antler Quest. Where's the rest of our creative minds?

Sounds like you and the fella's at your camp that week had a great hunt. Congrats! Too bad for the group before you that scored a blank. Did they use the same outfitter as you? It's scarry thinking you could shell out 4-5 grand and not even see a bull. I know hunting doesn't = harvest every time, but think about how you'd be feeling if you had selected the week prior? Great pictures by the way, thanks for sharing.

Yup. I save the rattle bag for the last few days in October, I'll start grunting in mid.

Hi Swampy and the rest of lucky team #7. This is my first deer contest. I can't wait to get started! I participated in the spring turkey contest and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately I didn't make a contribution. This fall will be different.. I'll be deer hunting in Illinois this year. Our bow season opens October 1st. I have permission to hunt a gem of a farm that I have been lucky enough to harvest P&Y bucks from the past 2 years (although last year it took me until the very last day (Jan. 17th) at last light to do so). I'm a teacher at SIUE School of Nursing and this semester I have a very hunting friendly schedule. I hope to do our team proud. Do we want to be known as team #7 or come up with something else? If we want a team name why don't our creative minded members post a few ideas and we'll go from there. Looking foward to reading your stories, seeing your harvests, getting to know you all better, and kicking butt. >Frank

Welcome!

So far this year my 3 pins are 10,20,&30. I shoot from the top of my roof about 20-25 feet high. I just started shooting last week. The farmer behind me has beans right up to my backyard fence and since my yard is small I can only practice out to 30 yards. Right now my grouping at 30 yards isn't as good as I'd like. I prefer consistent grapefruit size groupings before I move further back. Once I get 30 yards down, I may practice elsewhere and try getting consistent at 40 yards.

Ditto, Except I still forget once in a while if the kids are not in the car.

Welcome! You know the Illini are going to put it to Mizzou today don't you.

I'd have to agree with Tom & Ranger Clay. 150 non-typical. The interesting thing is that he doesn't look to be that old. Maybe I'm wrong but by the way his neck joins the body I'd say he was probably 3.5 years old (no more than 4.5). What a buck next year!

Gross.

LMBO Thanks for the tip.

The smell of hot chocolate simmering over an open fire. Ah!!! Uh oh. Strike that from the record please.

I have studied this extensively. I eat a lot of deer meat as well as my family. Currently there are no reported CWD cases in Southern IL. Northern IL has several reported cases. IL has a special CWD deer season in Jan. Check out the link below for IL reports from 03-06: http://dnr.state.il.us/cwd/index.htm There is a lot about CWD that we don't know. In humans it is called creutzfeldt jakob disease, in cows (mad cow disease), and in sheep (scrappy). It's 100% fatal when acquired. Currently the evidence does not suggest that people can acquire it from eating infected animals. However, I wouldn't want to take that chance. The primary place of infection is the nervous system. This disease is characterized by the presence of prions. Prions are not bacteria, they are not a virus, or any kind of bug at all, but a mis-shaped protein that causes other proteins to become mis-shaped. Prions cause the nerve cells to die. As nerve cells die the symptoms get worse. In deer it might start to wander and walk in circles. Lose it's fear of man and run into trees. Although some recent reports have found trace amounts of the prions in the muscle tissue of infected deer there is no documentation on contracting the disease by eating the meat. For safety reasons I try to keep the nervous tissue (brain/spinal cord) out of the grinder. I also wrap the nervous tissue in plastic before throwing away. I'm also more carful not to get brain tissue all over when cutting antlers off.

This is the first time I've noticed the sheephuntress has been back in the forums. Yea! Great pictures. I love the one with your rifle and the mountains. No doubt a truly remarkable accomplishment. I felt for you when you said it broke your heart not bringing in a ram. I know my spring Idaho bear hunt fails miserably in comparison, but I too had a similar feeling. My second time hunting bear and I really wanted to bring home a bear this time. I tried everything, hunted hard, and learned a lot (as you and Terry did). Ya know the fastest animal in the world (the chettah) only has a successful kill one out of every ten hunts. Next time.

Sounds like a great weekend. I'll be heading for Salt Lake City on Wednesday. Not to scout, but work related. I may get to do a little fly fishing between meetings. If you hear of a good place near SLC to catch some trout let me know.

I hate to hear about the closures. As a state of IL employee I have to sweat out my 3% raise every year since Ryan initially screwed things up. One year no one received a raise where I work. School started 2 weeks ago and I still have no idea if I'l lget a raise. I know the cost of living has to be up more than 3% and I'll bet Blog. is getting his. Whitetail hunting is one of the few things IL has going it for it. Maybe next year the larger state parks will close and deer hunting in those parks as well.

Thanks for the replies everyone. Looks like a unanimous decision. I'll set the pee free from the tree. I'm sure it was my dad who told me that when I was first learning to hunt over 20 years ago. Don't get me wrong I love my dad and am thankful to still be sharing deer camp with him. However, I have to say he was NOT a very good teacher when it came to deer hunting. Probably why he only gets a deer about every 5 years. Of course he tells me it's because he's waiting on a big one.

I was born in 1971, but I can still see a lot of changes. My daughter (2nd grade) gets 1 day of gym per week. Man I lived for gym in grade school.

Does human urine effect deer and if so how? I've always heard that deer will smell human urine and avoid those areas. I'm planning to hunt all day in a treestand this year and was wondering what is better: A) stay put and pee from the tree. -or- B) get down and walk 100-200 yards away then go back. Option B creates noise and may leave scent from walking. I'm not sure about option A???? Thanks

Have those animal activists in Ca move to the South Pole and re-institute mountain lion hunting. I'll bet you'd be seeing more deer. I got lucky and took an 8-point my first year. Then 10 years and only a doe and button buck. Then in 1998 I finally figured out how to hunt public land and also how to gain the nerve to ask farmers for permission to hunt their land. I've harvested at least one deer since 1998. Your set up sounds good, but don't over hunt it. I rarely hunt the same stand 2 days in a row. During the rut try to hunt a "good" location all day. Bucks will often move at mid-day during the rut. Never give up! A terrible hunt can change into the hunt of a lifetime in 10 seconds. It'll happen if you stick with it.