Illinois 200+ pounder falls to the smoke pole


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Was out scouting a couple miles out from camp the day before the IL firearm opener (about 2:30pm) and this buck ran right by me at 20 yards! Nose on the ground and could care less I was even there. Thought about it and since I'm hunting public ground I decided he was just big enough to take on opening day, and the LONG drag out. I marked the spot with my GPS and placed my climber in a tree a few yards away. The next morning after a 45 minute walk in the dark I located my stand and got set before daylight. At 8:35am guess who shows up! He was on the same game trail as the day before so I knew where he was headed. Once he hit the 60 yard mark - BANG! The old ML had the sky around me filled with smoke. As it cleared I saw the buck running as fast as he could go. He ran down to the creek where he fell, then slid down a small waterfall and didn't get up. It took my dad and I a little over 3 hours to get him back to the truck. His field dressed weight was 200lbs.

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Thanks everyone. I was about 50 feet above the deer and he was slightly quartering to. The bullet went through his heart. He was dead within 10 seconds of the shot - too bad he ran down instead of up. My dad is 67 and said the same thing. (LOL) I was worried about the old guy helping with the drag in, but he insisted. He pulled just as well as I did. Not sure how many more deer camps we'll get to share but this was a good one. I was so glad to see him take a 5-pointer about 30 minutes before I shot mine (his was only a hundred yards or so from the road). It's his first deer in 6 hunting seasons - you can see it in the look on his face. This years deer camp ends one era and next year starts a new one as my son (Frank Jr - 9yrs old now) will be joining us. I just love hunting and everything that goes with it!

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