Ilbowman

Thats a good Adams County buck!! what part of adams county are you in? I am near quincy and hunt the surrounding county.

Thanks buckee!! It was great meeting you and everyone else. I wish I could have stayed longer:(. There is always next time! Ryan

I hunted 3 different farms this past weekend during gun season and I think the rut is officially over or the deer knew it was gun season!! It was the least amount of activity I have ever seen during the first gun season. I did see a real nice 8 that had to be atleast 6 and 1/2 years old but he was running away at about 100 yds. I am hoping that the deer will go back on good feeding patterns in the next couple days and I can get a chance at a good one with my bow. Second season has always been pretty good to me so maybe that will be my luck.

Well have you ever heard the saying :" If I did'nt have bad luck I would'nt have any luck at all"? That is exactly how Randys hunt ended today in pike county. At first I thought he was going to have a great hunt as I got a text from him around 2:45 that said 2 does walked out of the timber into the field and one looked like it was run out by buck but it turned out that their was two dogs running through timber! Then to top it all off on the neighboring property a 4 wheeler drove down the fenceline, stoped and the guy got off and started to sight in his shotgun for gun season that starts friday!!! The man had every right to do it since it was his property but that still sucks! The kicker to this whole story is that they still seen about 8 does in the field and one shooter and a small buck, also a longbeard, but the deer were real flighty and the buck would not even give a second look to Randy rattleing or snort wheeze and grunting but a little buck they had seen was ready to brawl!! The good news is Randy has been speeking with the land owner he hunts with in Kansas and he said its rocking their as well. So as soon as little miss Tiffany( Randys sister) knocks down a buck during the first Illinois firearms season they are headed to kansas for a crack at one their giants!! Stay tuned maybe we can have live hunt number 2 from Kansas! Ryan:D

Not much going on in the stand as of now according to Randy. The wind is blowing like crazy and that pretty much sums up the whole season in Illinois. I think they are in for an all day sit unless they see movement near an another entry point the deer are taking into a bedding area. Normally they would not pressure the bedding but it is the last day of the hunt and with the wind blowing up to 25mph gusts they need to be as close as they can get cause the big boys are not going to move very far. Keep your fingers crossed for another Illinois bbd for Randy! Ryan

Well nothing down unfortunately but they had a great encounter with a big 8pt! They had some does out in front of them with about 30 minutes of daylight left, and seen what they think would be about a 150 8pt! He was on the other end of the field about 700 yards out and was just feeding in a corn field with a couple does. Randy decided to rattle, grunt and snort wheeze( pretty much did everything but throw the kitchen sink at him) to get him to come accross the field. Once the deer heard he started walking then running right for them!!! The deer ran for about 100 yrds and would stop and Randy would grunt and rattle some more.. With only so much day light left and the camera on low frames per second he had to act quick.. Well unfortunately light ran out and the deer walked off to a water way and was gone! The only thing they needed was a decoy Randy said and that deer would be down!! So tomorrow is the last day of the hunt so hopefully its a last second buck down!!! stay tuned!! Ryan

Ok so as a write this I am getting a update from the stand from Randy. They seen 2 big bucks and one was a giant but as the old story they got busted by a doe behind the stand that they did not know was there and the buck locked up and would not come in.. I think between now and the end of the day Randy should have a bbd!!! stay tuned! Ryan

No problem Steve. Darla said you were going to be on the road for a couple hours and I had a few minutes to spare. Thanks again for you and your families hospitality in September and hope all is well on the home front. Ryan

Thanks man Appreciate it!! Ryan:)

There is always next time Luke!! Atleast you got to fling some carbon at them speed goats. Things hopefully will be better after January. Just pray for my brother in law and myself. Its a bad deal all around. Ryan

No problem Luke! You might need more coppies though for your friends and family since now you have hit some celebrtiy status!!! You will be signing some autographs for them along with the rest of the crew. Not sure if you remember me or not but I was with Randy and his dad in gillette for the antelope hunt but had to leave early cause of an unfortunate circumstance.. It was nice to meet you and the rest of the forum members. Ryan

Luke and all the others that signed picture releases please email Randy at [email protected] with your address' and they will mail you your copy. I spoke with his mom just a bit ago and she has them ready to go. Any questions feel free to ask.. Ryan

Day 3 in pike county Ok so Randy has seen atleast 2 more shooters and one was close enough to shoot!!! He said it was real tall and not real wide but would look good on the wall!! He knows their could be a monster at anytime so stay tuned we might have one down sooner than later!! Ryan

ok just got a message from Randy Sr. and basically Randy Jr. just passed about a 140 ish 8 pt with a perfect video!!! Needless to say dad didnt sound too happy but Randy knows there could be a giant lurking arround the corner since he is hunting in pike county. Still about 45 minutes of shooting light so stay tuned this could get good! Ryan

day 2 in pike county I spoke with Randy this morning and they seen alot of deer early on and 1 really nice one that they said would go about 160! Also seen a real wide 7 pt that was chasing does. all in all a good morning they said. They were moving stands closer to where most of the deer were coming in and out of the timber in hopes of catching the big one making a mistake following one of the 40 does they seen during the morning sit. I wish I had seen 40 does!! the only thing I saw was about 40 head of squirrels! More to come as soon as I hear some news. Ryan

Ok I finally have a chance to give you the final update on the day. The deer where they were ran from 12-2 and the bucks were checking fields. They did see some nice bucks today just nothing close enough to shoot. They are hunting at this location till wed and it might only take tomorrow morning to fill that other Illinois tag. I am hunting in the morning but once I get to work I will let everyone know how their morning hunt goes! good luck to everyone else that has a tag or two left! Ryan

I just got an update from the stand from Randy and he says its rockin down their!!! His dad just seen a giant 8 go in the timber close to them and is hoping for a shot! He said it is snowing and sleeting pretty good so hopfully that fires all the deer up to move earlier in the day! more info coming soon! Ryan

Hey all I have been getting updates from Randy on his hunt that started in pike county, Il this morning. Its crazy windy in these parts so with that said here we go.. Its the first day of the hunt and they have had some good action considering the wind. They have seen about a 140 chasin and some smaller bucks and they seem to be on the move all day.. As of right now they are in the stand and once I get an update I will post some more. Ryan

Hey forum members and good hunting friends of the Oitkers. Randy has scored on a nice buck on his home farm in Adams County Illinois!! I will be posting the full story, and some pics for him shortly since he is blowing and going in the land of the giants in west central Illinois in search of another BBD! Details soon!!Ryan Here is a sample story on the buck, and Randy himself will give ya the rest when he gets some time between chasing down another shooter and farming with his dad! Randy shot a nice main frame 10pt with a sweet kicker off the right g2. We were hunting about 300 yrds apart and had been seeing about a 140 class running does about 4:00pm. The action that afternoon was pretty good and we think the rut is kicking into full swing in that area. at about 5:00 pm Randy heard "crunch crunch" coming through the timber to his right and out of no where this buck shows up and Randy put an AWESOME!!!! shot on this buck!! He backed out of the area cause it got dark fast and gave the buck about 4 hours to expire but I guarantee you with the shot he put on this buck he died within minutes of the shot!! Most of you know that Randy hunts his family farm pretty hard in between traveling with doing shows and hunting all accross the country, so this buck means alot to him and his dad. This is the biggest buck he has taken off of the farm and I will tell from personal expierence and privelage to hunt the farm with Randy that it is a huge accomplishment for Randy to take this caliber of deer off this farm with all of the pressure that happens in this area... Pics will come as soon as I figure out how to take them off my email... any suggestions on how to post them would be greatly appreciated. I finally got a pic attached of this brute!! The body on this deer was huge and we guessed he was live weight at 300lbs!!!!! Ryan

Yesterday it was awesome!!! I seen three shooters and one was fifteen yards but it was too dark to see my pins:( He was a monster and I believe its the buck a couple of my friends had seen last friday. Once I realized It was too dark to shoot I put my nikon 10x42 binocs on him and almost fell out of the stand he was so big!!! He was atleast 25 inches wide!! If he would have walked by 5 or 10 minutes sooner I would have had a shot!! Thats huntin I guess but I will back at it at 9 till dark! Needless to say Tim its really heating up in Illinois and you might be hitting it at the peak of the rut!!

Kirk, I have the same problem on one of my farms I can hunt. He started to take it out on wed. but he did not finish as of yet and its starting to annoy me. Hopefully he gets the rest of it out today so when I go to my stand in the morning the deer should be running arround the timber next to the field. Good luck man! its heating up quick Ryan

If your in Illinois you better be in a stand when you can for the next two weeks! I seen a monster trailing a doe on my way to work this morning. He was not chasing her just following her waiting for her to come into heat! I wish I would have just went a couple hours before I had to come to work it might have been worth my while.. Oh well I will be in the morning for a 4 hour sit befor I have to go back to work. I have Wed. and Thurs. off so I will be in for all day sits on those days. Good luck to all! Ryan

Here is my 2 cents.. As a lifelong muzzy shooter I will never switch to a expandable but one of my hunting buddies has went from a expandable to muzzys and now to the rage, he has lost 2 does that he shot both through the shoulder and the arrow did not pass through. Last night he shot a doe right through the pocket quartering away and man did it do some damage. I could have put a tennis ball in the entrance hole and the left lung and heart were gone! If the broadhead hits bone straight on I would be concerned but if you can get th shot off in the pocket you should be good. I will never change cause I dont believe in changing something that is not broke, but if I were to go to any of the expandables I would have to say this one would be on my list.

Actually Craig Mack, this countrys downward spiral was all brought on by Clinton if you knew anything at all!! He is the reason that we are in a terrible ecinomic state.. W just had too much on his plate when he took office ecspecially after 9/11.. Dont you remember that clinton was the one that wanted everyone, regardless of how much money you made, to be able to own a home that is why he made it possible by voting for low or no interest loans!! Yeah now you see how that turned out with all of these financial institutions going belly up or our government having to bail them out!!

I wish I had some vacation left cause I would take the next two or 3 weeks off!! I used mine up in September for a antelope and Elk hunt in Wyoming, and then I changed jobs and lost 50 hours of vacation!! It was the right move switching jobs so I cant complain.. I definately plan on taking a week off next year cause I dont have any plans on going out west. I think by thursday this week it should start to get rocking and the weekend looks great.