Pre-rut bruiser buck

Most years, bowhunter Nate Campbell would still be waiting to celebrate.

He’d still be climbing trees, waiting for the rut to kick in and dreaming of an encounter with a 29-point buck.

But this has been a very unusual archery season. Cold. Wet. And wild.

Big bucks started falling with amazing regularity across the Midwest in mid-September and the trophy watch has continued ever since. Minnesota, Wisconsin and Ohio have already produced world-class bucks. Illinois is right there too, with four confirmed monster whitetails that should top 200 inches.

The biggest of those may well be Campbell’s 29-pointer, which he shot on Oct. 10 in McDonough County. Most years, Oct. 10 falls during a period bowhunters call “the dreaded October lull.” After moving early in the month, bucks get wise to hunters and typically go nocturnal during the warmer days of early October.

This year the warmer days never really materialized and the “lull” did not kick in until later in October. That was fine with Campbell, 22, who is in his fourth year of bowhunting. A recent graduate of Western Illinois who studied natural resources and parks and recreation, Campbell had scouted what he viewed as a promising spot. The area included plenty of acorns, water and tall grass and brush for bedding areas.

So on Oct. 5, he set a climber stand, cut some shooting lanes and backed out. Little did he know what would happen when he returned the evening of Oct. 10.

“That deer had never been seen before,” he said. “I’ve got trail-camera pictures of a deer from last year that’s similar, but I don’t think it was him.”

No matter. He was in a good spot. A very good spot. After two hours of waiting on Oct. 10, Campbell saw a big buck approach him along a deer trail.

“I quickly noticed the drop tine on his left side,” Campbell said.

Without much time to get nervous and only a narrow, 10-inch lane to shoot through, he quickly launched an arrow that hit the deer farther back than Campbell would have liked.

“From the look of the shot I thought I had gut-shot the buck and would never find him,” Campbell said. “I soon became overwhelmed with anger and disappointment.”

Campbell had to live with his unease all night after opting to back out of the area and return the next morning, so as not to spook the buck. That decision, like his earlier choice of a hunting spot, proved wise.

The next morning Campbell returned with his father and three friends. They quickly found a blood trail, then briefly lost the trail before splitting up and discovering the buck 200 yards away. Only then did he have time to admire the huge non-typical rack, which includes 35 points (six that are under 1 inch) and is expected to net more than 230 inches.

“I have never seen a celebration like the one that took place among five grown men,” Campbell said. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime deal.”

For Campbell, yes. But maybe not for all archers this season. The rut is still coming. Who knows what other monsters lurk in the woods of Illinois waiting to be discovered.