With the added outfitting, the elevated interest in larger racks and the Midwestern states being the focal point of monster deer, I believe man has caused beast to make permanent changes in their behavior. Add the fact that some states are aggressively trying to reduce the deer herds, for whatever reasons, this ongoing pressure of deer has an everlasting effect. Constant pressure from man, from any angle, will ultimately create different life styles and habits for the whitetail deer.

Animals, of any type, can and will adjust to humans. That’s a fact. Petting zoos, public “no hunting” areas and heavily industrialized areas are all prime examples (through both ends of the spectrum) of how wild animals react to civilized inhabitants. When forced, man and beast will share the same environment whether we like it or not. With man constantly exposed and wild beast ever being the elusive, what changes do animals have to go through to constantly safeguard their well being?

The answer to that is “Many.” Invasion of privacy and how to remain incognito is an ongoing dilemma our wildlife must deal with on a daily basis. For anyone, especially today’s hunters, not to recognize this fact, will only push a non-successful hunter deeper into confusion. For anyone who doesn’t appreciate what these animals must endure on a daily basis will only be that much farther away from constant success.

The definition of the word “Hunt” means: To pursue (game) for food or sport, to search through (an area) for prey. Some questions you have to ask yourself when hunting are: Are you searching or pursuing when you hunt or are you sitting and waiting? Sitting and waiting may be just fine if you’re hunting in the right areas but getting in that “right” area will most likely always change, especially if your target animal is under constant pressure.

Delivering a cognitive approach is a mandatory prerequisite if your quest for an elusive whitetail is your objective. Today’s Midwestern whitetails are habitually changing their living patterns for the reason of survival. Deer that are in survival mode are always on guard and are aware of EVERYTHING around them. Keeping safe, being elusive and proper timing when satisfying their survival needs is all planned perfectly, by nature! Not recognizing what a whitetail deer has to endure on a daily basis will only keep you father away from ever being a successful whitetail hunter. 

Today’s hunter unfortunately isn’t getting this pertinent information regarding whitetail behavior from very many sources. Tune into the hunting channels on TV and you’ll be hard pressed to find anything educational with respect to hunting whitetails. Our youth, or anyone who is just beginning to hunt deer, will watch these “Fast food entertainment segments” and believe this type of hunting as gospel. With this mindset, people are chucking thousands of dollars to hunt for a week with an outfitter expecting to bring home a huge-racked whitetail in 5 or so days.

Hunting celebrities are pushing trash to beginners that in return think these “fabulous” products are going to give them the edge over the next guy. Is this really what we want to teach to the next generation? Granted, some products are really fantastic and some hunters are really great at what they do but how does one decipher which is good and which isn’t? I think it’s time to bring more attention to whitetail behavior and real world education to hunters new and old.

So what’s a good blueprint for success? Start at the beginning and take nothing for granted! For those of you, who hunt the same properties and the same stands every year, start from scratch. Chances are your deer have YOU patterned. Years of hunting by rote (by doing the same thing over and over) will only make your face a common entity in the whitetail’s living room. They know you and they know when to avoid you. The element of surprise is about as secret as a Tiger Woods’ life.

Pick a small spot and hunt it. Rotate into another spot after a couple of days and make notes. Move around in your property over and over, never allowing the deer to pattern you. Never let them know where you’re going to be next. Take the time in the off season and learn what the deer in your area are feeding on. Notice times of landmark actions like feeding and bedding in relation to weather changes. Replace your mind with a big buck’s mind, even if you’re hunting for a mature doe and you will find a completely different world that you never knew existed.

Watch for seasonal changes with pressure from farmers, children in the area, etc. and notice how deer to react regarding these changes. EVERYTHING COUNTS. This is real hunting and this is your path to being an accomplished hunter. These are the ideas that need to be taught on our television shows. Failures need to be exposed also. Hunting IS all about failing through trying. We all need to accept that. But failing through laziness is not hunting.

If you don’t enjoy taking the added steps investigating what the deer are doing in your hunting property, your sport will be monotonous. Hunting to me is a game of chess. If I fail, (and I have many, many times) I still enjoy the hunt because I’m hunting and not merrily showing up to the same place at the same time. If taking your chances at the outfitter for a week is your bag, then more power to you. If playing chess with an animal that has you pegged is more your style, then get out and learn what makes these whitetails tick.

Understand what they endure everyday.

Feel what they feel when the weather changes.

See what they see when it’s time to hide.

Smell what they smell when they know you’re in the timber.

Become a whitetail and you’ll then be able to beat them at their game.

When environmental pressures cause a change in whitetail behavior, it’s time to figure out a new strategy. Why not put the “hunt” back in “hunting”!

“Yeah, I did shoot some of his decoys,” Weeks said, recalling duck hunts with his father. “He’d always tell me if there’s a (crippled duck) in there, wait until it gets in the clear. But I’d still shoot those decoys.”

Weeks shakes his head. If only there had been an accurate fortune teller in the 1940s, those old wooden decoys would have been treated so much better. Who could know then that the lumps of pine would become iconic pieces of folk art worth thousands of dollars?

Certainly not Weeks, whose father Bob (pictured above in the basement of his Bureau home with a pintail decoy) carved and painted more than 1,000 decoys in a career that spanned two phases. After returning to Bureau in 1924 following World War I, Bob started a life-long hobby by making 24 blocks for a hunting rig (the first of which is pictured below). From then until the 1950s he carved blocks for himself and for other hunters, hollowing out two pieces of clear white pine, gluing them together and then painstakingly painting them.

He also repaired and repainted decoys for the many gun clubs in the duck-crazed Hennepin area. “Our basement from the end of the season to the end of summer was full of decoys,” said Ken, the former Havana superintendent of schools who is retired and lives outside Brimfield. “He’d charge 35 cents to repair a decoy or to put on a new head.”

Occasionally, Bob would also replace a damaged decoy with one of his own blocks. This pleased gun club owners and allowed Bob to collect decoys from a Who’s Who of Illinois River carvers including Robert Elliston, Bert Graves and Charles Perdew.

In fact, a set of 12 Perdew green-winged teal decoys that Bob hunted over for years are still known to collectors as “the Weeks teal” according to decoy expert Donna Tonelli.

After taking a break in the 1950s when plastic decoys became all the rage, Bob carved again until his death in 1978, focusing mostly on miniatures sold at the Ranch House in Bureau.

“But he would never admit he was making a decorative decoy. He always said he was making a hunting decoy. An Illinois River Valley hunting decoy,” said Ken, who also carves and makes pens and duck calls in his spare time. “His goal was to carve five birds per week. But when he died, he was two years behind in orders.”

Some Weeks decoys will no doubt be displayed next Sunday during the 42nd annual Henry Decoy Show. Bob also has dekes at the Illinois State Museum in Springfield and at Lakeview Museum in Peoria.

Though not as well known as Perdew, Graves or Elliston, Bob has a growing reputation as one of the last of the traditional Illinois River carvers. He learned from Henry Holmes of Bureau and was noted for skillful painting, which involved using graining combs to create a feather pattern.

Bob was also known as a skilled duck hunter and praised for the sounds he could make with a Perdew duck call. He did most of his hunting at Bridge Lake or at the Princeton Fish and Game Club. In honor of his father – who is buried overlooking the Illinois River with a sleeping mallard carved on the headstone – Ken assembled a bound collection of pictures, stories and articles about the man he called, “the best father anyone could have.”

One story was of the 1946 season opener, for which Ken was excused from school – provided he could give the principal four dressed ducks. That didn’t take long. Shooting time started at noon and when Bob arrived at 12:10, his youngest son was waiting idly in the blind.

“He asked why I wasn’t shooting and I told him I already had a limit of seven ducks,” said Ken, who is pictured below holding decoys carved by his father at right and by Perdew at left. “As he counted them on the lake, a great smile came across his face.”

Like father like son.     

So this spot is just a natural funnel especially on a day like Nov. 10. The deer can lay low out of the wind and they seemingly love cedar thickets when it’s drizzling rain.

I climbed into my stand and got settled in about 1:30 p.m. The day was slow with absolutely no activity. At about 2:30 I was scanning the draw and turned behind me towards the northeast to scan the timber behind me and the oak ridge to my left. I didn’t see anything so I slowly turned back around to my right and scanned the draw on that side of my stand.

Aout 3 minutes later I turned back to my left where I had just been looking and I saw a deer bedded down under a cedar tree that was not there 3 or 4 minutes ago. As I looked through my binoculars I could tell that it was a good buck, however I didn’t know if he was a shooter. I videoed the buck bedded down and actually watched him lay his head on the ground sideways and go to sleep like a horse. That was the first time I had ever seen that happen. I’ve had deer bed down on me before but, never like this.

I watched him for about 20 minutes then he decided to leave. He stood up, turned, and went back the way he had came from. When he got behind the cedar tree I blew a couple of times on my heat bleat call and then I growled at him three times and he came out from behind that cedar tree and made a B-line straight to the stand.

As he was coming off the ridge is when I could tell he had some real nice, tall G-2’s so I decided to take him if he gave me the oppourtunity. The buck came to within 30 yards of the stand and turned broadside and I thought it was now or never so I drew back, gave him the ole “murrr,”, and sent the arrow flying. He bolted, ran about 60 yards and I watched him expire from the stand.

What a great day! He’s not a monster, but he’s my biggest bow buck to date. He green scored 127. He is a typical main frame 10 with about a 1 inch kicker off his right G-2. The most outstanding feature of this buck was that he weighed in at 220 pounds and was my heaviest deer to date. Seven days earlier I had harvested a doe that weighed 160 pounds

During that special snow goose season, electronic calls and unplugged shotguns are allowed, there is no bag limit and hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half after sunset.

Last year Illinois hunters shot about 85,635 snow geese during the special season — 69 percent in February.

Click here to read the state’s full report on the conservation snow goose season.

As a taxpayer? Not so much. Seems like all we do in government anymore is spend money.

But lofty price tags are what you get when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers marches into town. And since the state of Illinois shows no sign of addressing the needs of its aging, neglected waterfowl sites, the proposed $11.7 million Rice Lake rehabilitation is the best available option.

For that price tag (an amazing $1.2 million of which has already been spent on studies), Rice Lake gets a new pump, new transmission ditches, new levees and more than 400 acres of tree and prairie plantings.

Work could start in August and would likely stretch over four years according to Marv Hubbell, a regional manager for the Corps who discussed the project at an open house last week in Banner. His comment about project length drew a catcall from Danny David of Mapleton, part of a mostly camo-clad crowd of more than 70.

“I hope I’m still alive,” said David, 83.

That’s a legitimate worry for many associated with this project, since discussion started in 1987. That the plan came to fruition suddenly is cause for concern in the eyes of some observers — as are worries about losing trees, the impact on eagles and osprey and the state’s long-term ability to maintain the 6,800-acre site.

To me the tree argument holds no water. To repair and build levees, the Corps expects to cut down 4.8 acres of silver maples, cottonwoods and green ash trees. In exchange, the project calls for planting 352 acre of mast-producing trees on Duck Island, along with 57 acres of prairie over a Native American burial site.

We’ve got plenty of junky silver maples and cottonwoods along the Illinois River and precious few hardwoods, which once dominated the area and provide food for all sorts of critters.

And don’t get me started on those who squawk about eagle habitat. The river is lined with eagle habitat. More to the point, while eagles and ospreys do nest on or
near Rice Lake, no active nest sites will be impacted.

As to the state’s ability to maintain Rice Lake, who knows? The Department of Natural Resources already has a long list of repairs they can’t handle at state waterfowl sites.

In many cases, those needs hamper a site’s ability to fulfill its mission. That’s certainly true at Rice Lake, where summer floods make managing for waterfowl very difficult.

An inability to keep out even small rises in the Illinois River means moist soil plants seldom gain a foothold. In years the plants do survive, waterfowl and shorebirds flock to Rice Lake in impressive numbers.

The Corps’ plan would increase the odds of that happening by helping managers get water on and off Rice Lake, Big Lake and Goose Lake within two weeks. Fish would also be able to escape into the Illinois River during draw downs, which is not the case right now.

New and improved levees would also hold out water up to 14 feet at Havana, halting about half of the floods that now plague Rice Lake. While some would like to see larger levees and even more protection, the cost and environmental damage required would be too great.

“Is this a perfect plan? No. But from an environmental standpoint it’s a lot better than what we’ve got,” said Bill Douglass, site manager at Rice Lake. “This will help us get the water off in a timely fashion and put the water back on in a timely fashion. That’s the key to management for waterfowl and shorebirds.

“This is the opportunity we have to make a significant difference for a major backwater of the Illinois River. There are very few left and they’re not working as is.”

Donald Wasilewski, the son of Jim and Rosemary Wasilewski of Freeport, Ill., works for the Hoyt company in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a product engineer. To be more exact, he is a composite development engineer and co-designer of the latest high-tech bow offered from Hoyt, the Carbon Matrix. This is the world’s first carbon fiber bow and is really creating a buzz in the archery world.

“The bow, which took two years to develop and holds many special patents, underwent a complex manufacturing process with much trial and error to assure that the bow flexes correctly and to get the center of gravity just right so it would balance the way we wanted it to,” said Donald Wasilewski.

The Carbon Matrix

The unique design of the new bow results in a product with very little forward jump when fired, resulting in no need for a wrist strap for many shooters. With arrow speeds of 318 feet per second, this is not just a pretty bow; it is a fast and flat shooting bow. One of the characteristics of the carbon fiber riser is its failure to retain cold.

“We had the bow in a freezer at minus 10 degrees for eight hours, and it was warm to the touch in 10 seconds,” said Donald Wasilewski.

Hoyt puts its new products through a very rigorous testing process prior to releasing it to the public and the Carbon Matrix was no exception. This bow was dry fired 3,000 times without incident or sign of damage. The riser was run over by a 3/4-ton pick-up truck and still shot straight.

Anyone seeking to add this revolutionary bow to their shooting arsenal had better move quickly. The Carbon Matrix is on a limited release. Even with a price tag of around $1,600, they are going fast.

Embracing the Outdoors

Donald Wasilewski, who grew up in the Dixon area, has been an avid outdoorsman since an early age. He began fishing at 7 years old with his father, and has many great memories of the time they shared. Donald Wasilewski’s father brought home an old Indian bow one day in an effort to expose his children to all aspects of the outdoor life.

“(Don) really took to it and has been interested in archery ever since,” Jim Wasilewski said.

Donald Wasilewski spent three seasons as a hunting guide in Montana prior to getting his mechanical engineering degree. However, he lists his favorite hunting memory as that of a turkey hunt when he was still in high school. As a youth, Donald Wasilewski delivered The Rockford Register Star before school. He knew at an early age that work comes before play and made arrangements to deliver the paper early. With help from his father, young Donald Wasilewski was able to meet the truck which delivered his papers around midnight. He began delivering his paper route at 2:30 in the morning.

This allowed the young hunter to spend an hour in the woods each school morning. His hard work paid off when Donald Wasilewski harvested a nice turkey early one morning.

“I had spent a lot of time reading every old article I could find about turkey hunting and it paid off. Having my dad there when it happened was just perfect and remains my favorite memory,” said Donald Wasilewski.

His dad also remembers his son’s well-deserved victory.

“You could have heard him yell 10 miles away when he got that bird. I was very happy for him,” said Jim Wasilewski.

Making the Grade

Donald Wasilewski spent his early career in the aerospace industry. He worked on aircraft, rockets and satellites. He faithfully watched the Hoyt company, waiting for an opportunity to join its team, and finally his big chance came. When he spotted an advertisement seeking a composite engineer, Donald Wasilewski sprang into action and his dream came true – he got the job.

Today, Donald Wasilewski says elk hunting is his biggest passion. Outside of designing radical new bows, he spends as much time as he can in the woods. He is passing on his love for the outdoors with his own son now and handing down all of the knowledge he was given from his father.

Donald Wasilewski says that he feels honored to be working for Hoyt and that the team, from the president on down, are top-notch. Donald Wasilewski is living his dream and doing what he loves to do and he gives thanks to his parents for instilling good ethics in him and his father for passing along his love and knowledge of the outdoors.

When it comes to following a dream and living the ultimate outdoor lifestyle, Donald Wasilewski proves you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to do it – or maybe you do. 

Photo by Jim Kilchermann
Donald Wasilewski, above right, an engineer with Hoyt, shows his dad Jim Wasilewski of Freeport, his newest development, the Carbon Matrix. Father and son are avid outdoorsmen.

Sadly, things are disturbingly different today in the hunting world; it somehow became tainted, like molding bread. When I first started writing for Bowhunter and North American Whitetail magazines twenty years ago, it made my week to get the latest copy of either magazine. Reading about the successes of fellow hunters spawned anticipation for my next hunt and helped me get through the year inside Corporate America’s belly at Caterpillar Inc.

Then Corporate America bought these magazines.  M.R. James sold Bowhunter and David Morris sold North American Whitetail and Game&Fish. These and others ended up with a New York-based investment corporation, InterMedia Outdoors. In my opinion, they held one main goal: make bigger profits for investors … regardless of how. Their magazines began taking on more advertising and promoting non-hunting products — sex-enhancing pills, for one.  Maybe corporate higher-ups thought hunters could not perform after a hard day in the field. Wrong! Were they not smart enough to figure out that our kids were also reading these magazines. 

Next, the outdoor channel was born and things got worse quick. Instead of reading about everyday hunters in our magazines, we got stories shoved down our throats with an overload of equipment promotion and accommodating outfitters. Somehow being handed free high-dollar gear and “complimentary” hunts (in slam-dunk situations) does not equate to the real-world hunting that you and I deal with yearly. Many of the “pros” who entered the limelight were arrogant individuals who had a bachelor’s degree in baloney. I hate that many young, naive hunters worship these egotistical garbage-peddlers.

Yeah, there are a few television shows that promote good causes and reputable products. However, too many promote trail cameras that are junk and scent-control products that smart hunters do without. What upsets me most is that instead of spending research and development dollars for giving hunters better-quality products, manufacturers pad the pockets of “pros” to sell you and me on television and in magazine ads. I never thought I would see the day when archers spent $100 for a $20 target or $200-$400 for scent-free clothing, especially when a bale of straw is $2 and Carhartts for under $100 do a better job of containing body odor. Have we gone nuts? Why does a near-nude young women entice us into buying a bow?

Corporate hunting America has slowly indoctrinated us to believe that we cannot be successful without listening to the pros and using the products they do. The pros have become Corporate America’s link into our pocketbook. It has gotten to the point where I would not believe any pro-staffer even if he said snow was white. I am also beginning to believe that magazines will soon be printed in China so their corporate owners can further boost profits.

As a freelance writer, I feel badly for the editors and their staffs who were on board before Corporate America gobbled up our hunting magazines. They either had to bow down to corporate demands… or quit. What most hunters do not realize is that editors are some of the hardest working, most highly educated, most underpaid people in our workforce today. They are usually salaried very low and expected to work 60 – 70 hours per week. A job they once enjoyed generated into one they are now chained to with no end in sight.

One of the most elite editors I ever wrote for finally took a stand! North American Whitetail editor Duncan Dobie quit the magazine in late 2009 when he was asked by corporate to put turkey hunting in this longstanding trophy whitetail magazine. He told corporate that this move would ruin the magazine for subscribers. They rebutted his advice, so Duncan got on a white horse and road out. There were other disturbing problems Duncan had with corporate, but the icing on the cake came with the turkey-hunting insertion into Whitetail.

The long and short of this move by the owners of Whitetail is this: In my opinion, they brainlessly considered advertising dollars over subscribers. If Whitetail readers wanted a turkey magazine, they would have subscribed to one, bottom line! What made things worse, the now acting editor, Gordon Whittington, tried justifying this corporate screw-up in his editorial in the February 2010 issue. It is too bad Whittington is not as strong in his convictions as Duncan. Duncan, I salute you!

My guess is that one of three things will happen with Whitetail: 1) subscribers will write and call in with complaints, many dropping their subscriptions. Whittington will soon after eat his words in another editorial; 2) the magazine will go under, or; 3) the owners will sell off the magazine to another group of corporate investors. If the third option happens, my hopes are that the new owners are smart enough to rehire Duncan and fire the individuals who did not have the guts to take a stand on the turkey thing.

I severed all ties with InterMedia Outdoor magazines after the deal with Duncan. It was with heavy heart that I asked for my name to be taken off of Bowhunter’s masthead. Publisher Jeff Waring, Editor Dwight Schuh, and Assistant Editor Brian Fortenbaugh are good people, to say the least. Fortunately, I hooked up again with Deer & Deer Hunting magazine and will write for them regularly. They have very ethical staffers and down-to-earth television hunters. None of this “Give me a minute, folks” stuff or arrogant biologists who shoot three-year-old bucks and call them six or seven to save face.

I think it is important for all sportsmen to ban together and take issue with 1) magazines that carry more advertising than stories, 2) television shows that promote high-fence hunters and severely altered film footage that deceives our youth hunters, and 3) “pro hunter” advertising campaigns that promote junk products. I hope you agree and speak out. The power of the pen and sharing conversations and ideas on websites like this are invaluable to the future of our outdoors.

Cheever nicknamed the buck “Lefty” because of his 6x4 rack. “He showed up weekly until September and we hadn’t seen him since,” Cheever said.

That changed on Nov. 13.

“He showed back up and came into a buck and doe decoy,” Cheever said. “It was his last trip into our food plot! He had broken off his sticker on the left but added a considerable amount of muscle mass for the rut!”

Cheever had hunted for the buck on Nov. 5, 6, 7 and 13 with a bedded doe decoy, a standing buck decoy, doe estrous, buck urine, a scent line and rattling horns.

“I pulled out all the stops and went for broke,” he told Mike Hanback. “I rattled in three mature bucks on the 5th, one on the 6th, saw nothing on the 7th, rattled in two shooters on the 13th, saw nothing on the 14th. So it goes to show, be in your best stand during the rut and they will come in, just not every day!”

The buck green scored 143 2/8 inches and netted 134 4/8.

Writes QDMA:

“In discussions about the ‘I’ states, Indiana often takes a back seat to neighboring Illinois and Iowa, but the Hoosier state outranked them in our analysis.”

In assessing deer management through the 2008 season, QDMA did not rank Illinois in the top five in the Midwest, opting instead for: 1. Kansas, 2. Missouri, 3. Indiana, 4. Nebraska, 5. Wisconsin.

Analysis was based on how well a state was achieving desired deer population levels, what percentage of the harvest was 1.5-year-old bucks or 3.5-year-old bucks and what percentage was antlerless deer. QDMA explains its rankings as follows:

(The) rating system is meant to commend states that are doing well, rather than point a finger at states ranking lower. It’s also an arbitrary system, but one that addresses QDM principles. Our rating system used four variables:

1) percentage of a state’s WMUs at the desired deer goals
2) percentage of 2008 antlered buck harvest that was 1.5 years old
3) percentage of 2008 antlered buck harvest that was 3.5 years or older
4) percentage of 2008 total harvest that was antlerless deer

Number 1 above is an index to the percentage of a state’s WMUs where the deer herd is in balance with the habitat. Higher percentages are obviously preferred over lower numbers.

Numbers 2 and 3 are indices to having a balanced age structure for bucks. The QDMA promotes protecting the majority of yearling bucks (1.5 years old), so states with lower percentages of yearlings ranked higher than those with higher percentages. Conversely, states with higher percentages of 3.5 years and older bucks ranked above those with lower numbers.

Number 4 is an index to having a balanced adult sex ratio, and in many cases, to balancing the deer herd with the habitat. Higher percentages for this variable are generally preferred over lower numbers.

Click here to see the full report.

“Illinois deer hunters taking to the field for the last three days of hunting last weekend enjoyed some excellent conditions,” said Illinois Department of Natural Resources Forest Wildlife Program Manager Paul Shelton.  “For mid-January weather, this was about as good as it gets – and a good way to close out another successful season.”

Hunters in Illinois took a preliminary total of 64,845 deer during the 2009-10 Archery Deer Season (Oct. 1, 2009-Jan. 17, 2010), compared with the archery deer harvest of 64,920 in 2008-09.

The combined preliminary harvest total of both the Late-Winter Antlerless-Only and the Special Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) deer seasons was 17,826, compared with a harvest of 12,552 deer taken during those seasons last year.  The Late-Winter and Special CWD seasons were expanded to a seven-day split season for 2009-10 (Dec. 31, 2009-Jan.3, 2010 and Jan. 15-17, 2010).  Hunters in Boone, DeKalb, McHenry, and Winnebago counties and Kane County west of Ill. Rt. 47 participated in the Special CWD season, while another 70 counties were open for the Late-Winter Antlerless-Only Deer Season.  The Special CWD season is used to assist in controlling the spread of chronic wasting disease in the Illinois deer herd, while the Late-Winter season provides additional harvest opportunities as a deer population management tool.

Hunters took a preliminary total of 99,493 deer during the 2009 Illinois Firearm Deer Season (Nov. 20-22 and Dec. 3-6), 4,704 deer during the 2009 Muzzleloader-Only Deer Season (Dec. 11-13), and 2,409 deer during the 2009 Illinois Youth Deer Season.

The total preliminary deer harvest for all seasons of 189,277 compares with a total harvest for all seasons of 188,901 in 2008-09.  In this year’s deer harvest, hunters took 50.5 percent does and 49.5 percent males. Illinois’ record deer harvest occurred in 2005-06, when 201,301 deer were taken.

Preliminary county harvest totals for all the 2009-10 Illinois deer seasons are detailed below, followed by a table of comparable figures for the 2008-09 seasons.

Here is a pdf that is easier to read with all totals.

2009-10_Illinois_Deer_Totals.pdf

Here are totals in a hard-to-read format. Sorry. The pdf above is much better for printing purposes.

Illinois Deer Harvest Summary for 2009-2010 Season

County   YouthGun MzldrLW Archery Total
Adams   81   2480 81 560 1411 4613
Alexandr 4 560 33 275 872
Bond 23 842 30 105 429 1429
Boone 8 155 7 47 169 386
Brown 34 1478 72 392 890 2866
Bureau 25 1285 97 444 895 2746
Calhoun 42 1385 91 366 1081 2965
Carroll 21 1027 56 233 636 1973
Cass 17 731 39 138 637 1562
Champaign 11 286 44 410 751
Christian 18 606 27 122 498 1271
Clark 29 1328 62 192 812 2423
Clay 36 1318 46 211 632 2243
Clinton 28 809 24 77 408 1346
Coles 12 703 16 90 636 1457
Cook 221 221
Crawford 24 1161 40 188 838 2251
Cumberland 13 889 26 110 402 1440
DeKalb 4 215 17 82 225 543
DeWitt 9 391 29 576 1005
Douglas 2 188 12 164 366
DuPage 70 70
Edgar 20 771 43 106 442 1382
Edwards 6 510 25 80 220 841
Effingham 34 1028 23 105 489 1679
Fayette 61 1909 60 329 815 3174
Ford 5 113 7 73 198
Franklin 31 1206 48 796 2081
Fulton 79 2616 124 709 1816 5344
Gallatin 14 644 42 388 1088
Greene 32 1385 57 285 765 2524
Grundy 9 398 23 132 432 994
Hamilton 27 1307 54 178 550 2116
Hancock 37 1953 109 466 808 3373
Hardin 26 1062 67 340 1495
Henderson 4 601 27 134 255 1021
Henry 12 698 56 193 547 1506
Iroquois 20 654 47 489 1210
Jackson 33 2154 82 748 3017
Jasper 35 1246 62 656 1999
Jefferson 81 2381 103 492 1555 4612
Jersey 26 938 34 174 589 1761
JoDaviess 50 2282 114 640 1061 4147
Johnson 31 1771 67 219 614 2702
Kane 1 55 3 29 410 498
Kankakee 4 207 14 345 570
Kendall 3 97 14 273 387
Knox 37 1431 85 409 1004 2966
Lake 10 487 497
LaSalle 30 1140 71 421 1291 2953
Lawrence 7 670 28 108 437 1250
Lee 18 668 47 514 1247
Livingston 8 483 30 333 854
Logan 4 395 19 112 266 796
Macon 11 318 32 580 941
Macoupin 47 1737 56 272 952 3064
Madison 26 941 33 135 1037 2172
Marion 68 1998 68 332 1154 3620
Marshall 23 761 35 145 396 1360
Mason 28 644 34 106 417 1229
Massac 11 657 41 332 1041
McDonough 22 1109 64 277 610 2082
McHenry 4 376 18 121 621 1140
McLean 20 673 49 193 585 1520
Menard 8 449 26 115 364 962
Mercer 12 871 50 180 410 1523
Monroe 20 1088 24 94 278 1504
Montgomery 27 1191 36 175 737 2166
Morgan 23 1093 39 169 641 1965
Moultrie 17 292 28 353 690
Ogle 21 1105 58 333 831 2348
Peoria 43 1514 68 432 1307 3364
Perry 31 1345 37 285 606 2304
Piatt 6 194 10 234 444
Pike 120 3266 221 945 3579 8131
Pope 7 1769 63 763 2602
Pulaski 7 726 36 279 1048
Putnam 9 563 37 174 363 1146
Randolph 77 2259 82 381 879 3678
Richland 18 879 22 130 427 1476
Rock Island 20 914 43 271 673 1921
Saline 25 965 56 179 501 1726
Sangamon 30 831 45 172 816 1894
Schuyler 36 1687 93 431 988 3235
Scott 10 560 27 92 245 934
Shelby 34 1443 53 210 749 2489
St. Clair 25 922 40 130 711 1828
Stark 9 306 22 64 153 554
Stephenson 17 935 37 262 527 1778
Tazewell 21 736 31 177 748 1713
Union 32 1761 79 309 768 2949
Vermilion 26 824 52 290 1160 2352
Wabash 6 310 11 38 222 587
Warren 3 612 29 128 298 1070
Washington 13 1172 37 405 1627
Wayne 42 1890 82 483 1007 3504
White 27 1043 61 278 656 2065
Whiteside 18 771 50 193 524 1556
Will 9 362 27 956 1354
Williamson 39 1626 50 753 2468
Winnebago 10 447 23 192 442 1114
Woodford 25 938 55 255 685 1958
Total 2409 99493 4704 17826 64845 189277

Illinois Deer Harvest Summary for 2008-2009 Season
2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008
County Youth Firearm Muzzleloader LW/CWD Archery Total
Adams 34 2651 70 352 1404 4511
Alexander 1 543 34 0 250 828
Bond 4 914 19 104 441 1482
Boone 3 160 10 30 126 329
Brown 28 1477 83 273 990 2851
Bureau 19 1623 79 219 842 2782
Calhoun 16 1343 66 240 1116 2781
Carroll 8 1131 51 116 613 1919
Cass 10 757 29 85 572 1453
Champaign 3 320 22 0 410 755
Christian 4 670 30 58 451 1213
Clark 15 1304 54 169 787 2329
Clay 11 1434 51 177 604 2277
Clinton 4 876 19 70 426 1395
Coles 5 749 24 55 626 1459
Cook 0 0 0 0 201 201
Crawford 8 1195 57 162 799 2221
Cumberland 6 921 24 80 385 1416
DeKalb 4 245 8 68 235 560
DeWitt 5 487 30 0 537 1059
Douglas 1 205 6 0 143 355
DuPage 0 0 0 0 78 78
Edgar 12 785 35 54 430 1316
Edwards 4 515 16 68 214 817
Effingham 10 1059 35 110 441 1655
Fayette 33 2115 70 292 830 3340
Ford 1 162 7 0 74 244
Franklin 8 1206 43 137 772 2166
Fulton 31 2699 93 428 1820 5071
Gallatin 3 624 49 0 306 982
Greene 7 1485 60 190 857 2599
Grundy 0 409 18 83 462 972
Hamilton 10 1347 45 172 614 2188
Hancock 24 2358 85 337 857 3661
Hardin 13 1107 55 0 419 1594
Henderson 7 676 22 58 229 992
Henry 7 894 39 96 542 1578
Iroquois 5 823 49 0 460 1337
Jackson 20 2209 64 235 888 3416
Jasper 17 1291 55 164 650 2177
Jefferson 41 2456 137 378 1459 4471
Jersey 13 1024 24 133 696 1890
JoDaviess 28 2373 113 342 864 3720
Johnson 19 1851 68 163 661 2762
Kane 1 63 5 12 402 483
Kankakee 1 242 12 0 324 579
Kendall 0 106 11 0 225 342
Knox 8 1623 66 229 1054 2980
Lake 0 9 0 0 444 453
LaSalle 11 1436 55 207 1171 2880
Lawrence 2 609 21 68 422 1122
Lee 10 700 21 91 476 1298
Livingston 5 597 24 0 313 939
Logan 3 459 21 35 278 796
Macon 8 341 37 0 548 934
Macoupin 26 1847 65 207 1026 3171
Madison 17 924 40 108 1067 2156
Marion 23 2037 103 266 1143 3572
Marshall 7 836 27 78 384 1332
Mason 8 683 52 0 423 1166
Massac 3 630 15 72 439 1159
McDonough 7 1155 38 128 617 1945
McHenry 3 374 20 88 585 1070
McLean 11 731 38 119 675 1574
Menard 2 431 24 62 370 889
Mercer 6 982 28 112 387 1515
Monroe 5 1104 25 80 312 1526
Montgomery 20 1231 32 130 712 2125
Morgan 7 1007 43 128 647 1832
Moultrie 2 339 32 0 304 677
Ogle 14 1184 46 143 730 2117
Peoria 23 1653 57 296 1324 3353
Perry 16 1386 37 238 642 2319
Piatt 2 206 7 0 226 441
Pike 55 3356 257 638 3754 8060
Pope 7 1841 48 0 943 2839
Pulaski 1 819 37 0 266 1123
Putnam 1 538 37 94 330 1000
Randolph 40 2494 72 309 941 3856
Richland 8 883 25 94 441 1451
Rock Island 8 985 38 157 602 1790
Saline 5 1036 44 107 533 1725
Sangamon 14 887 46 120 841 1908
Schuyler 16 1783 95 261 957 3112
Scott 5 578 20 90 260 953
Shelby 10 1436 71 134 746 2397
St. Clair 12 988 21 90 705 1816
Stark 5 361 17 44 153 580
Stephenson 7 1088 44 133 465 1737
Tazewell 10 765 20 116 780 1691
Union 7 1898 80 179 799 2963
Vermilion 11 967 50 135 1060 2223
Wabash 1 312 12 35 263 623
Warren 1 740 26 60 265 1092
Washington 3 1183 28 109 495 1818
Wayne 11 1989 81 343 957 3381
White 14 1041 69 228 697 2049
Whiteside 10 832 34 105 523 1504
Will 3 417 22 0 916 1358
Williamson 15 1794 44 154 825 2832
Winnebago 1 509 29 81 418 1038
Woodford 11 1100 49 141 734 2035
Totals 1045 106018 4366 12552 64920 188901

I was standing in my stand leaning against the tree. There was about about a half hour of daylight left. I saw a deer walking through some honeysuckle so I was watching there to see if the deer would come my way.

Then I heard a noise over my right shoulder, looked over and there he was about 15 yards away and walking right past my tree.

I got turned and grabbed my bow. I drew my bow and tried to stop him but he wouldn’t stop. So I placed the pin and shot.

Noticing the shot was back I waited until dark and climbed down and left trying not to make any noise. A friend and I went back out the next morning and started looking for him. We followed good blood for about 100 yards and the blood just stopped. But we kept looking until we both had to leave.

Then I went back out the next morning and started looking again. I looked for about two and a half hours and was about to give up. Before I quit I decided to check one more place. There he was. He had doubled back and was only about 200 yards from where I shot him.

His gross green score was 207 7/8 and net green score was 195 7/8.

I’m so happy I found him!

The wooden gate

At one time, the wooden gate was used daily. But when I first saw it, the gate had not been opened or closed for years.

The gate was on a farm an old friend and I were quail hunting that looked quite promising. The property we were hunting belonged to my cousin and was adjacent to land being developed for commercial use.

It was a November morning and the sun was just starting to burn off the overnight frost. In front of us was a blue-and-white speckled English setter. This was my second hunting adventure with the setter that I had recently purchased. The first hunt had been unsuccessful.

We hunted for about 30 minutes, just tagging along, talking like good friends do on such an enjoyable morning. Watching the setter weave and quarter across the field and ditches was such an enjoyable sight. As we walked to the end of the property we crossed the ditch so we could come back on the other side of the creek. We continued walking, talking and just enjoying the way the setter handled himself.

As we did we got closer to the gate and the cross fence where the gate served its purpose. At that point there was a large bush and tall weeds and grass.

As we approached, there he was in one of the most beautiful sights any quail hunter could witness: A beautiful English setter frozen on point, tail not quite straight up but not moving, with only loose tail hairs waving in the morning’s light breeze. Other than that, the dog was motionless.

Memories

This hunt happened more than 20 years ago. But I can still remember the point as if it were yesterday, the flush of quail as if it just happened. I cannot remember how many quail were killed or missed or how many shots were fired.

I can remember the beautiful retrieves as if this setter had done it every day.

I can remember returning to the truck and having a hot cup of coffee and talking about the beautiful hunt we had just enjoyed.

I can remember this and many other good hunts old Mac and I enjoyed.

But the old gate is gone. The big bush is gone. In their place is concrete and blacktop.

The developer

I wonder what the developer of the property would have thought if he had walked there that day and seen me and old Mac?

“What are those men in orange vests doing there?”

“And why doesn’t the dog move?”

“Those old guns they have look almost inoperable. Why would they hunt with something so old, with no bluing and the stock and forearm scratched and faded?”

“What would two grown men be doing watching a dog frozen for a few precious moments by an old gate on a beautiful November morning?”

The operator

Can you imagine what the operator of the bulldozer would think if he was getting ready to push the gate and the fence down while we were there?

“Is that dog standing there to be pushed away, too?”

“What about the two guys in brush pants with beat up guns? They should have enough sense to move, or do they?”

“Why are they just standing there and admiring that blue-and-white dog that is just standing there, his tail in the air and his nose straight out?”

I bet he would wait. Wait as we took a step or two and the air exploded with birds. Then he’d watch aswe lifted our guns. Some birds would fall. Most would fly away. After a command, the dog would run off and then return with a tiny bird and a mouthful of feathers. One of us would bend over to take the bird from the dog. And then the blue-and-white blur would be off again.

Only then would the operator be ready to push over the gate, the bush, the grass and the fencerow.

More memories

Old Mac is gone. The blue-and-white dog is gone. All that remains are memories, concrete and blacktop—poured in the name of progress.

I have not been back to any of the properties around this farm, but I can still remember some of the sounds and smells that we encountered in between the point and the rise of the covey.

Off in the distance I remember hearing the sound of a hog feeder lid slamming as a pig backed out after feeding ... the scolding call of a blue jay in a nearby tree ... a calf in a pasture bawling for its mother ... a chickadee pecking on a diced-up horseweed ... a crow cawing.

I can still smell the freshly harvested corn field ... the odor of an old hunting coat that must have hung in a basement ... the smell of the snuff Old Mac chewed.

A question

I have not been back to any of the properties around this farm. But I wonder, if a fellow would stop on a soft June morning and listen, would he hear the call of a bird from that covey that provided us so many memories on that beautiful November morning? Would there be a big, proud bobwhite sitting on top of an old hedge corner post that holds up an old wooden gate?

Above is a picture of Schaub’s hunting buddies Frank Cernich (left) of Farmington and Bob Strode of Maquon after a successful quail hunt along the Spoon River.

“I just figured I’d leave the quail alone for the rest of the year,” Elmwood upland hunter Schaub said in mid-December. “It’s been a tough year for them with the wet spring we had and then all this snow and cold.”

Actually, it has been a tough few decades for bobwhite quail. The popular game bird once so plentiful in the U.S. has declined by more than 65 percent over the last 20 years in much of its range.

Not surprisingly, the number of quail hunters has also dropped precipitously. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources estimates just 21,962 scrambled after bobwhites in 2008 — compared to a high of 188,000 hunters in 1956.

Why the decline? Most agree a loss of quail habitat is a primary culprit.

Recognition of that is one reason the folks at Pheasants Forever started Quail Forever on Aug. 10, 2005. At first some questioned the decision and wondered aloud if Pheasants Forever was losing its focus. Not at all said Howard Vincent, president of both groups.

“We were looking for a way to get more acres of habitat on the ground and this was a good answer,” he said. “This has also given us a larger voice in Washington, D.C.”

Instead of having members in just 28 northern states, the creation of QF added conservationists in another 18-20 states and made the combined group more of a national force for conservation. That’s critical, since farm policy decisions in D.C. have far-reaching impact on habitat and, ultimately, on quail.

The timing is important for another reason. The country’s only other quail conservation organization, Quail Unlimited, has been rocked by scandal.

Founded in 1981, QU had a membership of 30,000 and a budget of $6 million early last year. But revelations about ritzy retirement accounts for executives and other questionable leadership decisions jeopardize the future of QU, which in the past year put its offices up for sale, furloughed workers and filed for bankruptcy. Given all that, the future of QU is uncertain.

Even before those recent developments, Quail Forever had been growing steadily. The organization now has 105 chapters across the U.S. including 16 in Illinois — tied with Missouri for most in the country.

QF and PF share the same philosophy: spend money raised on the local level and maintain a very lean executive staff.

“We are a habitat organization and have been from Day 1. That has not changed,” Vincent said.

Last year PF and QF helped acquire, plant or maintain 13,300 acres in Illinois. Since 1982 the Illinois acreage total stands at 300,265. Here’s a more in-depth look at those numbers: Habitat_Work.pdf

To help in that regard, five new farm program biologists start work on Monday around Illinois. Click here to read more.

More habitat would be appreciated by Schaub, who bagged only two bobwhites last fall. That’s a far cry from the 100 or more quail he and two other friends would shoot most seasons in the early 1980s.

“It’s just been going downhill, downhill every year,” Schaub said. “But I have got a lot of good memories.”

Like any upland hunter, though, Schaub would like to see more quail so he doesn’t have to live entirely in the past.

Only the slight rustling of matted prairie grass and some muffled peeps kept the hiking boot suspended above the ground in midstep.

For a moment they were visible, running in a single-file line between clumps of grass. Their mother followed close behind.

In an instant they disappeared back into the protective, waving arms of the tall grass at Long Branch State Nature Preserve near Havana.

Long Branch has what a lot of Illinois does not: habitat for birds such as the Northern bobwhite (better known as quail to upland bird hunters).

Hunters know that for more coveys of quail to rise, there have to be more scenes like the one above during the nesting season.

For landowners hoping to improve wildlife habitat and hunting opportunities, resources are out there, and more help is on the way.

Boots on the ground

On Monday, five new farm program biologists start work around Illinois — their salaries and office space provided by a unique partnership between state and federal governments, non-profit groups and fees paid by hunters.

Their job will be to help connect landowners with programs to help them maximize wildlife habitat opportunities on their property.

New biologists will be based in the vicinity of Lincoln, Champaign, Effingham, Fairfield and Salem.

“Part of their focus will be the SAFE areas (State Acres For Wildlife Enhancement) and Natural Resources Conservation Service programs like WHIP (Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program),” says Aaron Kuehl, conservation director for Illinois Pheasants Forever. “Anything to help us put wildlife habitat on the ground.”

A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant is covering 50 percent of the expense. NRCS is donating office space and in-kind services.

Kuehl says matching funds come from state pheasant and habitat stamp funds plus contributions from Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever chapters.

“We’re pretty excited,” he says. “We’ll probably blow through our CP-33 acres in no time.”

CP-33 is a component of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Conservation Reserve Program targeted to develop buffer zones that serve as habitat for bobwhites and other upland wildlife.

“It’s just a matter of promoting it to the right people.”

Comeback potential

Driving down the highway, potential habitat projects can be spotted everywhere.

“That’s what I do,” says Mel Gajewski of Scheller. “I’m constantly looking at the fields.”

Gajewski is habitat coordinator for Illinois Quail Unlimited, now working in conjunction with the Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation. Quail Unlimited has been going through financial and organizational upheaval, and the Illinois chapter now is aligned with the new federation started by a former QU president.

Gajewski says one of the most important issues is the continuation of efforts to convert fields of fescue and brome grass to native prairie grass.

“A CRP field that has been planted in fescue or brome has almost zero benefit to wildlife,” he says. “We can offer a cost-share to help landowners convert these acres.”

Self-interested hunters who would like to see quail numbers rebound in Illinois ultimately will boost all kinds of wildlife.

“Habitat is the key for wildlife to rebound,” he says. “Anytime you are doing habitat for quail, you are helping every other species, including deer, turkey, pheasant, rabbit and many others.”

Gajewski says Illinois Quail Unlimited has a prairie-grass seed program and clover seed program that pays 75 percent of the cost of seed.

“We have a limited number of acres available to landowners through that program,” he says.
A wildlife habitat project that can be started right away is edge feathering.

Gajewski says Illinois Quail Unlimited will pay a portion of the cost of thinning woodland edgesand creating transition zones that species such as deer, turkey and quail prefer.

Trees cut are left where they fall.

“It’s chop and drop,” he says. “The machine creates instant habitat.”

Gajewski works mostly in central and southern Illinois, but his responsibilities encompass the entire state. He can be reached at 618-663-7423 or 618-625-6538.

Turn the dirt

In many cases, wildlife biologists and conservationists know what has to happen, but the stumbling block is finding dollars to pay the bills and muscle to get the work done.

“It’s the No. 1 challenge for wildlife habitat,” says Craig Alderman, head of the new Quail and Upland Wildlife Federation.

“We’ve got a good idea of what it takes to get (habitat) back, but it is the hands-on sweat equity that is needed,” he says.

First, landowners have to be convinced to let conservationists go to work on their woodland and field edges.

In Illinois, particularly, woodlands have to be opened up so sunlight can reach the forest floor. Without the sun, oaks and other nut-bearing trees can’t grow, and other understory plants and shrubs drop out.

The good news is that woodlands tend to respond quickly.

“It doesn’t take long,” Alderman says. “If there are populations present, they come back pretty quickly and the landowners are pleased.”

The new federation has chapters in eight states including Illinois.

“First, put the money on the ground and turn the dirt,” he says. “Sometimes you get too big and you lose focus about what your members and chapters are all about.

“And they are about turning the dirt.”

The federation is on the Web at http://www.quwf.net.

Start now

“It’s hard to think about (spring habitat projects) with snow on the ground,” Kuehl says with a laugh.

“But we’ve got a bunch of partnerships with the pheasant and habitat stamp funds, plus other grant programs including the Grassland Enhancement Restoration Initiative,” he says.

The latter is for landowners who wish to improve wildlife habitat but don’t have the acreage to qualify for farm-bill programs like CRP.

Another cost-share program is BONUS, or Buffer Our Natural UplandS.

This program is for landowners living near existing state areas — such as pheasant habitat areas. These landowners are offered incentive payments to add private projects that serve to enhance those nearby.

Another is Max CRP.

Landowners putting in at least 20-acre blocks of CRP or establishing CP-33 buffers up to 120 feet wide can qualify for an extra $50 per acre.

Pheasant and quail seasons end Friday in the South Zone, though rabbit season will remain open in that zone through Jan. 22.

Even the nearly four-month long deer season ends Sunday, as archery and the second segment of the late-winter firearm hunts both conclude.

Warmer weather this weekend should give more hunters a chance to get out and bag one last doe, should they choose. Permits are available over the counter for some Illinois counties. Unfilled firearm permits can also be used, provided the county for which they were issued is open to hunting.

Through Monday, archery hunters had shot 62,801 deer compared to last year’s total of 63,620 at the same time. Of those, 50.3 percent were does. Top counties are Pike 3,472, Fulton 1,766, Jefferson 1,471, Adams 1,379 and Peoria 1,274. Archery hunters are reminded that they can hunt this weekend if they wear blaze orange. But archery hunters are not allowed to carry a firearm.

Beyond that, hunting is legal for Canada geese (through Jan. 31 in the Central and South zones), fox (through Jan. 31), squirrel (through Feb. 15), crow (through Feb. 28), raccoon (through Feb. 10 in the North Zone, Feb. 15 in the South), woodchuck, coyote and skunk.

Looks like it will be time to get out the crow decoys or the predator calls.

Preliminary archery deer harvest through Monday, Jan. 11 is 62,801, compared to last year’s total of 63620 at the same time. 

The top five counties are Pike (3,472), Fulton (1,766), Jefferson (1,471), Adams (1,379) and Peoria (1,274). 

Current sex ratios in the harvest are 50.3% female to 49.7% male.

Here are complete county-by-county harvest totals.

Archery_deer_report_1-11-10.pdf

I spotted this buck in a pine tree nursery on my family property. I wasn’t planning on hunting that day, but seeing this buck from a distance changed my mind.

When I entered the nursery I figured he was about 75 yards away, but I couldn’t see him. So I kneeled behind a small spruce for about 5 minutes and used my range finder to get a better idea of yardages. I was expecting if I got a shot It was going to be a long one.

Suddenly I looked to my left and there he was. He was actually in the same row of pines as me about 30 yards away. Since I was directly down wind, he was unaware of my presence. He just stood there scanning the property in front of him for about 10 minutes.

All I could see was the white on his muzzle and the tips of his antlers. I figured he was going to walk to the right of a tree in front of him giving me a clear shot. He started to move so I went to full draw, except he went to the left giving me no shot. Worse yet, he disappeared from sight a few rows up.

So I moved about 5 yards to the left of my original position into a clearing in the nursery where we have removed some trees. I figured he was somewhere within 25 yards to my left. I had a feeling he was going walk across this clearing. But there was no cover to conceal myself once he walked into that clearing. So I figured I had better be at full draw and ready.

All of a sudden I saw the tips of his antlers coming towards me. Not into the clearing but back to where he was originally standing. He came around a pine tree and instantly saw me.

Fortunately I was at full draw already and took the shot. He was quartering to me heavily and rather than trying to shoot him behind the front shoulder and risk a gut shot I aimed in front of his leg, closer to his chest.

I shoot a 70 pound bow with 515 grain arrows so I figured my setup had enough energy for the shot. It did. He only ran about 50 yards before going down. I heard him crash but I waited about an hour before looking for him just to be sure.

He is my biggest buck to date, and my 9th Pope and Young Club buck.

He was green scored gross at 183 1/8. He is very symmetrical and both G3’s are over 14 inches. He is actually a main-frame 10-pointer with an additional sticker on his right G2 and another sticker on his left brow tine.

There are lots of big bucks in Lake county, getting permission to hunt is the hard part.

These drawings were supposed to be held on Dec. 21 and Jan. 4. But due to the backlog of stories and pictures, we have only now been able to hold the drawings. Long story short, we didn’t want to have a drawing until we had accounted for every entry and the holidays and vacation time slowed that process down.

For that we apologize. More importantly here’s the long-awaited drumroll…

The latest winners are:

Doug Schrock of Amboy won an Elite Hang-on stand for submitting a story about his 15-point Lee County gun kill.

Eric Selph of Mackinaw won a set of Lone Wolf climbing sticks for submitting a story about his 9-point Fulton County buck.

Thanks to everyone who submitted pictures and stories this year. We will be posting more of your pictures and stories throughout 2010. And we promise to have even more prizes for the 2010-11 promotion.

As always, special thanks to Lone Wolf for providing the excellent prizes.

The winner in our Dec. 7 drawing was:
Wes Poppenhager of Astoria. He won an Alpha Hand Climber stand. He submitted a story about killing a 15-point Fulton County buck on Nov. 5.

The winner in our Nov. 23 random drawing was:
Brian Koziel of New Lenox won an Alpha Hand Climber stand. He submitted a story about killing a 10-point Will County buck on Nov. 12.

The winner in the Nov. 9 random drawing was:
Jamie Duke of Bloomington won an Alpha Assault hang-on stand. He submitted a story about killing a 12-point Putnam County buck on Halloween.

Winners in the Oct. 26 random drawing were:

Brian Kiel of Taylorville won an Alpha Assault hang-on stand from Lone Wolf.
• Nate Campbell of Beardstown won a set of Lone Wolf climbing sticks.

Winners in the Oct. 12 random drawing were:

• Dustin Tetrault of Mackinaw won an Alpha Assault hang-on stand from Lone Wolf.
• Kathy Long of Morton won a Lone Wolf quiver combo mount.
• Jason DeSotel of Hidalgo won the Night Strike Swivel that offers ultraviolet, blue, red, green and white lights. The blue lights are supposed to be ideal for illuminating blood trails. Night Strike is sold by Cabela’s.

The next drawing will be Dec. 21. So there’s plenty of time between now and then to submit your Big Buck Story and pictures. So far we have received more than 106 entries. Those who submit a story will be eligible for all our drawings this year.

Resubmitting a story that you sent in last year does not qualify you for this drawing. So get creative and get hunting.

Basically how it will work is this:

1. You send in a picture and story or video about your big buck from this year or any other year. Submit your story by using this form or by e-mailing a picture and plenty of details to editor@prairiestateoutdors.com.

2. We post your story, pictures and video on our popular Big Buck Stories page, or as a Picture of the Day or even as one of our Tuesday Tales from the Timber.

3. You are entered for a chance to win Lone Wolf tree stands and gear. Drawings will be held every two weeks in October, November, December and once in January. Scheduled dates are Dec. 21 and Jan. 4.

The whole thing is simple. It’s fun. And it’s enjoyable for everyone. So get your pictures and stories and videos together and start submitting stuff.

Last year we gave away nearly $1,700 worth of Lone Wolf gear and this year the total will be closer to $3,000. Prizes this year will include four Alpha Assault hang-on stands (above), 2 Alpha hand climbers, 1 Elite hang-on, 2 Pro series climbing sticks and 1 Lone Wolf quiver combo mount.

We’ve also got a cool new flashlight from Energizer called the Night Strike Swivel that offers ultraviolet, blue, red, green and white lights. The blue lights are supposed to be ideal for illuminating blood trails. Night Strike is sold by Cabela’s.

Winners last year included:

• John Schultz of Peoria Heights
• Mike Howie of Potomac
• Max Letterly of Lincoln
• Jason Waldschmidt of Pontiac
• Jim Mordacq of Springfield

Admittedly, hunters cannot fully appreciate the political hurdles that our DNR must clear each time they try to do the right thing. And I am not sure that concerned hunters have always done the best job expressing their desires to the DNR. I say this because I recently listened to a DNR employee on an outdoor radio show and his interpretation of the views expressed to DNR by hunters looking for a well managed deer herd were simply “off-base” from any views that I or anyone that I am aware of have expressed.

This person seemed to believe that there is an outspoken group who “wants to protect every button buck in the state until it wears Boone & Crocket class antlers” and that this same group wants a deer population significantly higher than it is today. Both assumptions are totally wrong.

Along with a small army of other concerned Illinois hunters, I have been involved for many years in efforts to get our DNR to manage our deer herd for better quality. Other than a limit on the number of bucks which can be shot, I know of no efforts to force any sort of restrictions on bucks which can be shot or which are off limits.

There has been occasional banter by a very few individuals concerning regulations such as antler point restrictions or spread limits. These ideas were never embraced by a large group and are frankly not the kind of regulation changes that are needed. In fact these ideas are not supported by the majority of those hunters who have actively lobbied our DNR for positive regulation changes.

Instead we have asked for some simple tweaking of the current regulations so that the results are a deer herd that is more balanced in terms of sex ratios and age structure. In the past DNR admitted to managing Illinois deer herd simply by numbers, without regards to other herd dynamics. This is what many of us oppose.

Simple issues such as the timing of seasons can go a long way towards improving our whitetail herd and the enjoyment that all Illinois citizens get from it. A perfect example is the timing of our Illinois antlerless season.

Our current approach of harvesting surplus antlerless deer at the end of the hunting season can be greatly improved by moving it to the other end of the hunting season; in September. In fact many other states are already doing it. The benefits are so overwhelming that they cannot be ignored.

1. Participation: In September hunters are itching to get to the woods, weather is good and does are easier to pattern. Inlate December and January many hunters have had their fill of hunting, have their freezers full of venison and the weather can be brutal. We saw that last weekend during a frigid first segment of the late-winter hunt that saw reduced hunter participation.

A September hunt is also much more appealing to youth, women and older hunters. With hunter numbers declining and DNR looking for ways to “increase recreation opportunity”, a September antlerless season makes perfect sense.

2. Harvesting target animals: The whole reason for the antlerless season is to harvest female deer to control or decrease population growth. During the January season many bucks that have shed their antlers get shot as do button bucks which are hard to distinguish from their mothers at this time. A September alternative completely eliminates any shed bucks from being shot and at this time it is far easier to distinguish mature does from button buck fawns.

Furthermore, any deer that survives through 3+ months of hunting season is a pretty tough challenge come January. A September season is far superior for harvesting the target animals (does)

3.Timing: One major negative of any whitetail herd is the deer-vehicle accidents that are inevitable. Having an antlerless season before the period of highest deer-vehicle crashes should help decrease the number of these accidents and makes far more sense than having it after the peak time for these accidents.

4. Benefits to the herd:- Research and surveys have proven that most hunters want to harvest about two deer per season as this is about what they will utilize during a year. With the January antlerless season, many hunters have already filled all the tags they care to and often with two bucks. The September alternative allows hunters a chance to get some venison in the freezer before they even start hunting for bucks. 

Admittedly, a September antlerless season may or may not have much effect on the buck harvest during later seasons. But it will surely decrease the number of bucks shot during it. Furthermore, our current late antlerless season coincides with the regular archery season where both bucks and does are legal game.

It is easy to imagine bucks getting shot with firearms during the late antlerless season and then tagged with archery tags and called in as archery harvests. This is just another reason to move the antlerless season to September.

In summary, an antlerless season can and should do much more than just kill some more deer. A well thought out antlerless campaign can address the issue of population control while also having the benefit of getting the sex ratio of a herd in line. I don’t think anyone could successfully argue the merits of a January antlerless season over the September alternative. This is but one example of how tweaking our current deer hunting regulations can result in a healthier and more balanced deer herd while also offering other benefits such as population control and hunter opportunity.

In closing I want to express my opinion that the best way to address any concerns we have with the management of our deer herd is through the DNR, not through legislators. It seems in recent years too many special interest groups have begun taking their plights to legislators and trying to legislate their desires. This is the wrong approach.

Think about it: the vast majority of legislators have probably never even been hunting and yet some are asking these folks to vote on hunting and wildlife management issues. We may not always agree with the DNR or even question the motives of some individuals within DNR but that is still the group ultimately responsible for the management of our deer herd and the group we should be taking our concerns to. As we strive to improve Illinois whitetail herd, moving the antlerless season to September would seem to be without negative consequences and a no-brainer.

It is these kinds of changes that benefit both the herd and the hunter that most of us wish for. Having the DNR working with concerned hunters to make this happen is a positive step in the right direction. Hopefully it is only the first step.

It’s in her blood, as Brian Brueggemann writes in an article in today’s Belleville News-Democrat.

“I was born Dec. 28, and my mom was still hunting at the end of November. She was out there every day in the duck boat,” Thomas said.

Before long, Thomas was scurrying around in the duck boat with her parents, Jim and Lynn Thomas, of rural Carlyle.

“I wasn’t allowed to go out in the boat until I was 2,” she said. “They finally got clothes that were warm enough for me.”

Click here to read the rest of Brueggeman’s story.

The Wisconsin Democrat is co-sponsoring a proposal crafted by New York Democrat Charles Schumer. It would let deer hunters deduct the cost of processing game from their taxable income, when the meat is donated to a soup kitchen or food pantry.

Wisconsin Public Radio says processing fees typically range from $60 to $90.

The senators say the proposal could help charities that have been hurt by the flagging economy.

Edie Miller works for a meat processor in Columbia County. She says she’s seen firsthand the dip in venison donations.

She says her company processed about 100 deer last year for food-donation programs, down from more than 200 in previous years.

But as Frank Lyerla of Bethalto proved during the 2007-08 bow season, sometimes the last few days—even the last few minutes—of archery season can still be productive.

Here in his words is the story of Lyerla’s hunt for a Greene County 11-pointer that he shot on Jan. 17, 2008 in the final minutes of the final day of bow season.

Last minutes of the last day

It was the last day of the 2007 archery season (Thursday, January 17th) and I had planned on one last evening hunt in Greene County.

However, things were working against me making out that night. A meeting that was scheduled in the morning was delayed until noon. Luckily it ended early and I was able to rush home trying to beat the sun.

I made it to the private farm I had permission to hunt on with about three hours of light left. It was cold and windy. I had hunted this exact spot the week prior and did not see a single deer. The tree my climber was in was an oak about 10 yards form the corner edge of a corn field. I was set up 30 feet high and had a perfect wind. 

After a few practice shots I was dialed in and ready! After two and one half hours the sun began to set. I was extremely cold, my legs and feet were numb. I was worried that my last day of the 2007 season would end without even seeing a deer. 

I said a quick prayer asking God to send a doe, or something my way (I really wanted an encounter if not a shot). Well as it got darker I began to think about getting down. However, my legs were so numb I was afraid I would fall if I tried to stand. I started wiggling my toes trying to get some blood to them before starting my descent. 

Then minutes before losing legal shooting light I spotted a doe (or possibly two) on the ridge walking towards me. They were about 50 yards away and would not come closer if they stayed on the trail they were on. I often use my climber in a tree that is on the trail the does were on and began to think I had selected the wrong tree! 

I know deer have a way of sneaking up on you and I knew deer often walked up from the valley my stand was positioned near. I also knew from experience that when you see one deer there are often several other deer in the immediate area. I looked all around and saw nothing. Then one of the does began to walk towards me very slowly and then stopped 45 yards away. 

As I hoped for a shot I suddenly heard something coming from the valley that caused the doe to stop. I turned and saw a big buck walking up the hill towards the does about 30 yards from the base of my tree stand. I remember noticing that the buck’s antlers were thick at the bases. I remember thinking he’s a shooter, possibly Pope and Young even though his tines appeared short. 

I expected them to be larger since his bases were so large. Being this late in the season I figured some tines might have been broke from fighting. As I positioned myself for the shot the buck continued to walk up the hill presenting me a broadside shot. As I began to lift my bow the buck stopped and turned his head in my direction. 

The wind and my elevation prohibited him from smelling me. After a few seconds the buck lowered his head and started walking up the hill. The shot was now or never. There was a bunch of thick brush that would prevent an ethical shot after a couple more steps. 

Given the low light level I knew every second counted. 

I could not stand since my legs were still numb, so I pulled the string and acquired the buck in my sights as he was quartering away from me up the hill and out of range. My eyes had teared up from the wind causing a blur as I looked through my glasses and peep sight. I didn’t have time to clear my eyes, so I blinked fast giving me just enough sight to place my first pin on the buck’s vitals and release the arrow just before the buck disappeared behind the thick brush.

I remember seeing the arrow hit the deer in the crease just in front of the back leg. I distinctly remember hearing the thwack an arrow makes as it penetrates a deer’s body. The deer jumped and ran up the hill (past the brush) and then back down the hill toward the valley. He slowed as he reached the bottom, that’s where I lost sight of him. 

I knew the shot was not one of my best, but hoped the quartering away angle played to my advantage. Strangely the feeling had returned to my legs and I was able to climb down the tree.

I quickly walked to the site of the shot to look for my arrow before all light was gone. I was so excited to see the arrow sticking out of the ground covered in what I assumed to be dark liver blood. Knowing it was better to back out I returned to my truck and went home for a sleepless night.

The next morning I returned with my cousin and found the largest buck of my life about 150 yards from my stand. After the adrenaline surge I began to get very worried!  What would happen when I checked in my buck the day after the season ended!

After tagging it I returned home and called the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to explain my situation. I spoke with an official and offered to bring the deer to their office so he could verify the deer had been shot the previous day (the deer was frozen solid). He commended my ethics but stated that it was not necessary. 

I wrote down his name and the specifics of our conversation any way. The magnificent buck grossed 171 2/8 inches and netted 162 2/8.  His tines were not broke or short they only appeared that way during the hunt because he had such great mass!

He will now live forever on my wall and in the Pope and Young and Boone and Crockett record books.

Through Jan. 3, archery deer hunters have harvested a preliminary total of 61,567 deer, just below the comparable 2008 season total of 61,734. 

Top counties so far are Pike (3408), Fulton (1717), Jefferson (1445), Adams (1355), and Peoria (1253).

Here’s a complete county-by-county rundown.

Archery_deer_report_1-4-10.pdf

Hunters shot a preliminary total of 9,491 deer during the first segment of the expanded late-winter hunt and of the special five-county CWD season. This is the first year that gun hunting has been offered during this period. 

Top five counties were Pike (441), Fulton (378), JoDaviess (346), Adams (280), and Wayne (245).  A spreadsheet of county harvest is attached.

Despite the cold, some hunters enjoyed success in the field. Among those was 10-year-old Nick Anderson, pictured above, who shot a doe on the afternoon of New Year’s Day. He was hunting with his father, Bryan Anderson, who wrote, “She stepped out into our Buck Forage Oats plot just after 4 o’clock and Nick made a perfect 50 yard shot and dropped her in her tracks. She was taken in Fulton county with a T/C Encore 209x.50 muzzleloader.”

Here is a complete county-by-county list.

First_segment_LW-CWD.pdf

Flooding, ice and finicky ducks made things difficult for Central Zone waterfowlers who planned to shoot from the relative comfort of a big, wooden blind fixed in one spot.

About the only hunters who enjoyed consistent action were those with boat blinds, and a willingness to change spots frequently. Since that doesn’t include most waterfowlers and since Illinois offers so few free-wheeling opportunities, the recently concluded 2009 duck season will go down as a disappointment — or worse.

“I’ve only been here 10 years, but this is the worst season I’ve seen,” said Montey Collins, who runs the usually productive Woodford Conservation Area. “The only consolation is that we weren’t the only ones.”

To the contrary, even hunters at top clubs along the Illinois River struggled mightily.

“Except for the Rice Pond, all the clubs we talked to were doing pretty poor until that last freeze-up when they killed a few more ducks,” Marshall manager Tony Colvin said.

The problems were multiple. For starters, flooding wiped out much of what had been a promising food crop in the Illinois River Valley.

Then just as the season started, another flood arrived, forcing hunters to cobble together boat blinds, to add string to decoy lines and in some cases to abandon fixed wooden blinds.

High water also offered ducks plenty of places to get out of harm’s way. That was particularly true in the Copperas Creek and Rice Lake walk-in areas, which were not hunted all year and basically served as refuges.

And then in December, ice ended the hunting for at least a few weeks in most shallow backwaters.

Not everyone cursed the flood, though.

While duck numbers were generally below average in the Illinois River Valley, there were birds in the flooded timber. Hunters who improvised and targeted the timber did well, particularly on sunny days.

That was true whether at the exclusive Rice Pond or at the public Sanganois Conservation Area — where the implementation of flood-induced “river rules” meant hunters could go wherever they wanted on the massive site.

“It was a lot more positive of a season than I figured it would be,” Sanganois manager Doug Jallas said. “When the shooting died out in one area, the guys would just move to another.”

That wasn’t possible at most state sites, though, which limit hunters to staked areas to minimize overcrowding. That explains why the average of ducks per hunter was down at most locations.

The Emiquon Preserve held impressive numbers of ducks, but a lack of vegetation is one reason for the average of 1.5 ducks per hunter — well below last year’s 2.29 dph.

Other top public sites were Woodford (1.25 dph), Anderson Lake (1.25 dph) and Rice Lake (1.2 dph). But you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who hunted those sites that would call this a good year.

Most would more likely side with the sentiment of Spring Lake manager Stan Weimer. “I’m looking at this duck season like a Cubs fan would. Wait until next year.”

What else is there to do?