fly

Thanks William. Butchered him up this evening. Still had a considerable amount of fat for a November buck.

This 2.5 year old 8 point took the wrong trail on November 6th to flee from a neighbor on a 4 wheeler. The full on rut hasn't hit in IL yet but should any day now. This buck was taken with my TenPoint Stealth XLT using Rage 2 blade Crossbow X broad heads. The 2 inch slightly quartering away cut went through both lungs but did not leave a blood trail as the manufacturer advertises. However, the blades opened and the deer only ran 50 yards and fell over. I watched it fall from the stand and it expired in less than a minute. It is always nice to know that your shot was true and that the harvest is a sure thing. This deer was taken on a private ground farm that I will likely be loosing permission to hunt on after 12 years due to family members of the owner needing a place to hunt. I had set my goal of a mature deer early in the season but after finding out the news I decided any deer presenting a good shot would do just fine. I'm very happy with him.

Team 1 fly Buck - 8 point

Been tough this year with limited hunting access so I had decided to take whatever presented a good shot. This 2.5 year old 8-point took the wrong trail today. No rut activity - was scared to me by a 4 wheeler. Whatever... I’ll take it. Only a 15 yard Shot with the X-bow. He ran 50 yards and fell over. Great feeling knowing you have a gimme track job. He’s no giant but given my current circumstances I’m happy to get him. Oh yea... on the drag out I got chased by some cows. Had to drop the deer cart and jump a fence. They mooed a while then finally left. Crazy cows.

Awesome news Pat! I haven't been hunting in a week but will be out as much as possible for the month of November. I took the girlfriend down to S. IL this past weekend. We stayed in Alto Pass (Union County) and I did some scouting and hung a stand in preparation for deer camp in a couple weeks. Was walking on snake road to scout an area I hunt and had quite the experience. We walked about 100 yards on the road and saw a huge cotton mouth on the road. The girlfriend freaked of course. She wanted to go back to the truck so we did. Saw 6 more snakes on the way back we didn't see the first time. Pretty crazy stuff! https://thesouthern.com/news/local/environment/shawnee-forest-snake-road-closes-sept-to-protect-endangered-reptiles/article_b2873810-ad45-11e8-b074-d3159c452379.html#4

Great looking buck Pat. Congratulations! Hunting has been tough so far. Been out about 7 or 8 times and only had one shot opportunity at a tall four point. He walked right under my stand at 7am yesterday. I have seen one shooter while on stand and that was last week. He was walking in a field about 150 yards away. I grunted and he heard me but had no interest in a fight. It's been a long while that I've went this far into the season without harvesting a deer. Unfortunately I Lost half of the 50 acre farm i have been hunting for the past decade. A relative of the farmer has started hunting and put up a stand 20 yards from one of my stands on the east side of the property . He took down my trail cam and left a note to call him. Nice guy and all but sucks for me. I've been saving for land (got about 20K for a down payment) and hopefully can find a reasonably priced parcel for next season.

Around here we get the October lull for that middle week in October. The summer movement pattern is shifting as crops are all but out now. This is fine with me as all I've seen have been does and too far to shoot. Probably will get out on evening this week even though we are smack dead in the lull.

Well Pat????? I sat for 3 hours yesterday AM - not a deer. Still was good to be in a tree on opening day.

Nice work Pat! A week from tomorrow and I'll be up a tree. Can't wait.

Glad to be back on a team with you again Pat. Hopefully you'll be fortunate enough to cross paths with another one like that fantastic buck you took last year.

A thousand dollars is a lot for a hide but some gator skin boots that you hunted would be pretty cool. I'm sure that would be over 2K!

Nice job! Going to keep the skull or any of the hide?

fly (Frank) checking in with Team 1. The KY season has already started but I haven't been down there yet. I probably will not get down there until October or November. I was NOT fortunate enough to get into any good public ground draw hunts this season but one never knows what can happen. I'm primarily concentrating my early season and pre-rut efforts on a private ground farm in Green county IL. I'll hit KY for the rut and hunt the immediate post-rut on public ground in the Shawnee at our annual Deer camp. I'll then be back to the private ground farm to finish out the season. My goals this year: 1. Take three deer by seasons end with one being taken at deer camp. 2. With the exception of Deer camp (any deer will do) I'll be holding out for a buck that is 4.5 or older. Don't care about the score this year.

Thanks William and Tim. Tim, thanks for the tip on Gilbreth taxidermy. The guy does amazing work at a more than reasonable price. I'll be recommending him. I saw the deer in his shop and they too look amazing.

For 2K I'm very happy with this mount.

Good luck Al. Those are some great trophy deer!

Tim, I have 5 and have them hanging on walls throughout the house. One is in hanging in the basement because I cooked it to long as William mentioned. Several of the bones and teeth fell away from the skull and it looks terrible. I did this one by first cutting off the head of the deer after skinning. I then removed as much meat (and eyeballs) with my knife as I could. I then wrap the base of the antlers in foil (keeps them dark). Then I use my turkey fryer burner (outside) to SLOWLY boil the head in water. I add a few scoops of borax. The top of the skull needs to be submerged to the level of the antler bases where the foil is. After a few hours I remove the skull and scramble the brains with a screwdriver. I then shake it to remove the brain. I then cut away more meat. A few days later I’ll boil again in the same manner. If you boil it on too high of a heat the teeth will fall out. Light boil only and not more than 3 hours at a time. You may need to do it multiple times to ensure all the meat is off. I then place in the sun and brush the 40 volume peroxide on it and let it sit all day. Then hose off and remove the foil. I've heard taking it to the car wash and pressure washing it works well but I'm afraid it might damage the bones in the nose.

Great place for sure. That mineral flow has changed a lot since 2014. It used to look like an old mans face.

Four months is unheard of! I hope it looks as good as your wife says. We’ll see....

Finally finished the Texas mount for my October 2017 Crossbow buck. Boiling is such a time consuming process but it’s always nice having one displayed you did your self.

Just got a call today from Kevin Gilbreth Tim. My Manitoba Spring 2018 Bear will be done next week!!!!!!!

Been using it for years. I don't think it scares deer any more than my own scent.

fly Frank / 47 Illinois: October - mid-January Kentucky: September - mid-January

Thanks William.

Thanks Tim. The poster is a picture from Pere Marquette - the area I harvested him from.