Rough Illinois season!!


Ilbowman

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As a first time poster I would like to say hello to all and hope that everyone is having a succesful season!!

Unfortunately my season has been the pits!! I have not had alot of time in the woods this year because of a new job, and when I have been able to hunt the deer have not cooperated at all.. I do have the privelage of hunting Adams county Illinois which boarders everyones favorite whitetail destination in Illinois, Pike County. I have some great friends that allow me to hunt their farms since I do not own my own land and to that I am very blessed! So really anytime you get to hunt and have a place to hang a stand its better than a good day at work!!

I look forward to posting a good success story and some pics but as of right now that does not look too promising.

I will say that I am a little to picky ( as my wife always says is the reason the freezer runs low every now and then on venison lol), but I have not even had a doe close enough to shoot.

I will say that some of the forum members I have met and are very nice people. I had the privelage of being in Gillette, WY. for the Bucks for Buckee antelope hunt for about a day and half with my good friends the Oitkers and will say that Mr. Beilgards home and hospitality was second to none.:)

Unfortunately I did not tag an antelope either, but I send my congrats to those that did have great success!!

Good luck to all and hope to see alot of pics of everones trophy the rest of the season!!!

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Thanks!! and good luck to you as well! Today is supposed to be 75 here! that is crazy but par for the course it seems like the last few years with the warm weather in early november.

It will turn around this week with a cold front coming in on wed into thursday and those just happen to be my two days off!!:)

Ryan

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My season has been pretty slow too. Up until this week I was lucky if I saw a deer each hunt. Then this week all I really saw were 1.5-2.5 yr old bucks roaming around. I saw a couple does, and luckily got one close enough to shoot. She's in freezer. I was getting worried about putting meat in the freezer as well, now the pressures off and I can look for a big boy. Good luck.

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Welcome and I agree with you about this being a tough season. It has! I too have seen very little deer activity. We hunt in the same general area (I'm in Greene county) hunting farms of people I know. In years past I typically see 10-15 deer an evening. This year I'm luck to see one.

Let's hope November will be better than October!

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The weather is horrible for deer hunting, great weather for this time of the year. But for deer hunting it is horrible. The 3 days of cold we had at the beginning of the week were good & people were seeing lots of bucks. Once it warmed up , it basically came to a standstill. I didn't even go this morning because to hot. Might as well get caught up on some things that need done around the house. Supposed to stay warm all week & coll off a little this coming weekend. I think that next weekend will be the start of some good hunting. I am on vacation from Nov. 15-25 & think that will be perfect timing. That is actually the predicted dates for the best time of the rut this year. I think that is going to be right on. No need to get discouraged yet. Warm weather & it is early yet. It will get better , a lot better. There will be a nice one or some nice ones killed every day or week even when it is slow. Reason being there are so many hunters in the woods in Pike/Adams Counties right now. Put all those hunters in the woods , even if it is slow, someone is going to have some luck. Again don't get discouraged , hang in there, it will get better. Lots of guys spend thousands to come here & go home empty handed, some mad , some understanding that it is hunting. Some come with the idea that they will see monster buck after monster buck. Sorry but thats not the way it is. We have some great bucks but they don't hide behind every tree. Sorry , I kind of got off track & made this sound like a rant. Thats not what it is or what it is intended to be. In the past I have dealt with a bunch of hunters, 99 % of them great guys. It's that 1 % that gets my goat,LOL.

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udate on rough season.... same thing different day!

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and looks like a couple of you guys are hunting pretty close to where Im at so I am sure your feeling my pain!!

I went out this morning to my old faithful stand that I have only hunted once this season besides today and figured it might be a good sit. Was a little warm but foggy and damp so I figured the deer would get on their feet and a few did.. at first light I had a fork horn come out of the standing corn field right in my shooting lane but thats not what I am looking for, after that it was about an hour before I seen the next deer, and here is where I am concerned.:confused: The three deer that I saw was a fawn doe and two fawn button bucks and no mother in sight!!! This really worries me that some bucks are in lock down in my area all ready!! This property I was hunting has had some good bucks on it in the past and one of my buddies took a good 135- 140 buck that had to weigh like 250 lbs. But other than doe's that is the only buck taken off the place in the last 5 years. I have missed (who doesnt?) two P&Y bucks out of this very stand and seen numerous good bucks on the place so I know they are here.. Im sure the standing corn in two 500 to 1000 acre fields is not helping any either.. So since I have to work till wed I wont be doing anymore whining:D..

The truth of the matter is its only a matter of time, like some of you have said, till it really gets going!! I just hope I have a chance to be in the woods when it happens!!:)

Ryan

Ps. If your in or arround adams and pike county and you want someone to blame for the warm weather blame it on the morning weather anchor at Khqa in Quincy, Il!! I know her pretty well and I give her grief every day!!:D:p

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and here is where I am concerned.:confused: The three deer that I saw was a fawn doe and two fawn button bucks and no mother in sight!!! This really worries me that some bucks are in lock down in my area all ready!!

I doubt the bucks are in lock down. Perhaps the doe mother was shot or hit by a car. I saw 2 doe mothers with their fawns eating beans in the morning this past Saturday. No bucks were following much to my despair.

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Stay calm!!

I didnt even hunt this weekend cause of the temp but dont worry the corn getting out late , the temps will all pass here in the next two weeks . Im kinda glad things are working out like this ,like brownie i have taken off 14th through 24th. The moon and all other facters will come together just perfect. Its Illinois its going to be great . Good luck all !

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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.

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