Bowhunting.Net
3rd
Annual Bowhunt - 2006
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Bowhunting.Net
3rd
Annual Bowhunt - 2006
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and on the spot pictures -- by Robert Hoague
Online
Whitetail Bowhunts - 2006
Pre
Rut Illinois Bowhunt - 2006
The following companies were represented at the Whitetail University Writers Camp: Mike Jordan of ATSKO, Dana Brackins of Carbon Express , Alan Ainsworth of NULLO, and Jay Leitchy of Grim Reaper Broadheads and The meetings and bowhunt are at Dreamwoods Adventures. in Southern Illinois. The organizers of the event were Wade Nolan and Bruce Ryan of Whitetail University.HUNTS | Home Page For Illinoi Hunts | Day #1 | Day #2 | Day #3 | Day #4 | Day #5 | Actually the hunt ended yesterday. Befrore dinner our outfitters Doug and Greg said that anyone who was able could hunt a 5th day. Everyone had airline reservations except Jay Liechty and mer, so we said we would hunt. Wake up time came and I looked out the front door and was greated by one heck of a big rainstorm. When it cleared off the deer would likely be moving. Jay and I waited. At 1:00 I checked the internet weather and the prediction was that the storm would switch to scattered thunderstorms at 11:00 tonight. I put on my rainproof IDI Gear and packed my gear in my truck and left around 3:00. I want to say something about the camp food. Honestly, I have eaten absulutely great food at a number of different deerhunts. Brenda Doty, the cook for Dream Woods Adventures, is top notch. Besides making remarkably good food she gave personal attention to each individual hunter. She was always friendly and when she smiled at you after a long day in the woods it really made you feel good. I arrived two days early on this 2nd hunt and everyone in camp went to the local small town restaurant (Nannys) and ate. The Pies Of The Day list included Raisen Pie. When I ordered it they were out. Two days later before we ate another delicious dinner Brenda told me she had a recipee for Raison Pie. And she baked me one. Ohhhhh Boy was it the best, most tasty pie imaginable.
Half an hour after I walked to the blind in the dark the sun painted red highlights on the clouds in the sky. It was, at the same time, beartiful, serene and errie.
Daylight came and I watched off and on raindrops settle in the food plot in front of me. As pre-arranged, at 11:00 Cory Nolan drove up on the 4-wheeler and we loaded the blind and my gear and drove to my truck. Yesterday's news said rain was comming and we wanted to get the blind out. Also the 4-wheeler would have helped get a deer out. But I didn't see any. That afternoon I used my own truck and went to a stand on a wooded hillside. The weather predictions of rain held true and it alternated from light to medium rain. The temperature dropped into the low 30's and I got a very good test of the I.D.I. Gear parka and pants. I didn't get wet, didn't sweat up walking to and from the stand, didn't get cold, and nothing smelt me. This is remarkable clothing for hunting conditions. (If you want to check out this new clothing visit IDI GEAR). Mid afternoon a buck walked one foot from my tree and slowly walked through the area. He was fat and had a heavy but very short tined rack. A little before dark I got down and walked uphill to my truck. Back at camp there were once again stories of the big ones that were seen. Jay Liechty saw a mopnster 16 point. And Joe Doty had a story for us. Joe
Doty And His Left Handed Buck
While observing several of the Dream Woods Adventures food plots for deer Joe brought a video camera along and videoed for 5 days, during which he videoed 25 different bucks. He took his bow with him in case he got an opportunity at a buck he wanted to take. On the last afternoon before Joe had to return home an aggressive 8-point pushed a buck out of the food plot and then ran some does around. When the 8-point buck stopped 22 yards at a quartering angle Joe saw his opportunity. He drew and took his shot. The buck bolted into the woods and disappeared the adjacent high grass. In them minutes Joe checked for the arrow. It looked good. The trail went 70 yards to the buck. Joe told me, "I didn't expect
it to go that smooth. Everything just went right. It is a good feeling
to know that I can still do this and not have to give it all up."
When
I arrived at the new food plot blind before daylight. High winds had blown
off most of the cut brush we stacked on the top of the blind and messed
up my disguise to break up the rigid lines of the top of the blind. The
sunrise was beautiful as it turned the overcast sky brilliantly red. Here
it is below, looking through the blind's window.
8:04
another deer blasted me from the trail behind the blind. This deer stayed
for 10 minutes snorting regularly. I waited half an hour and moved to the
opposite side of the food plot and set up near the edge where there were
as tall as the blind.
I waited until 11:00 and left for the lodge and ate lunch. Brenda Doty is the cook for the camp and she cooks food that is absolutely as good as it gets. Every meal is super duper tasting. She made me a Rasin Pie and surprised me with it this afternoon. Ohhhhh boy was it delicious.Thank's Brenda. Below is a closer pic of the blind that I took when I returned for the afternoon hunt. The opposite side of the food plot is 22.5 yards so if a buck walks through my end of the plot there whould be a chance for a shot.
I was optimistic about the afternoon hunt and was back inside the blind before 2:00. Later I walked the 3/4 mile back to the truck as it got dark. No deer came to the plot this afternoon. Lon Lauber rattled in another nice buck but it hunt up. Jay Leichty saw a bunch of deer and shot a doe. One of the deer he saw was a monster, heavy beamed buck. Other deer were seen by hunters. One thing we all saw was a mixture of drizzly to medium rain. Greg took us to the same area we hunted yesterday. Lon Lauber and Joe Bell wanted to hunt until noon and I had web work to do and wanted to be picked up at 9:00am so I went to the closest stand. The route to this closer area was every bit as wet and muddy as the one yesterday. Fifteen minutes after good light I saw a doe pass through 65 yards away. Twenty minutes later another one did the same. A few minutes after 7:00 I saw a large doe in the same direction but further away. I doe grunted and saw the doe reacted and then changed route and walked right towards me. Two more does were following a good distance behind it. The doe nosily slogged through the water. Surprise! When it was close it picked up my trail in the mud and water and followed it to my tree. Surprise again, it looked up at me and then at two more nearby trees. It didn't notice me up there, standing stone still, and turned toward the other deer, now 50 yards away. The bigger doe walked back to the area they were in before I grunted. Soon they all soon disappeared.
Twenty minutes later I saw another deer 60 yards away in the same area. A buck, very aggressive acting but real small. A nice 9-point walked out from behind a large blow down tree and quickly approached the small buck. I aimed my Haydell's grunter at the ground behind me and grunted twice. The 8-pt looked in my direction and turned toward me. Time stood still. But the small buck bounced further away and I saw a doe 50 yards further and walking briskly the wrong way. Apparently the 8-point had not seen the doe but now it did and it cut off the small buck and followed the doe.
At 8:50 I got down and looked to see where the doe had investigated my trail. My boot tracks were visible in the water and mud. Because the doe had not gotten nervous or spooky I am sure it did not pick up any smell, especially because the tracks were under water. My guess is it saw my tracks and followed them to my tree and then looked up can checked my tree and the other two near it.
Then I walked and waded to the pick up point. Greg was there already and we drove to the lodge. I changed clothes and drove to Elizabethtown and uploaded a site update at the Rose Hotel. It took longer than I planned and when I got back to the lodge it was too late to hunt this afternoon. However, Doug Doty drove me to a food plot in a dense CRP and set up a pop up ground blind in the thick brush a few yards from both the food plot and a trail leading to the plot. We walked out in the dark. The deer didn't move much today but 3 big bucks were seen. No one got a shot at one. When everyone reported in at the end of the Day One hunt 73 deer were seen. My hunt went like this. When I was ready the outfitter Greg Griffith asked me if I had rubber boots with me. I did, but I was thinking that the insulated boots I had on were juts the ticket for this windy, cold afternoon. Greg said I would need the rubber boots so I found them in my truck and switched boots. Greg Griffith drove Lon Lauber, Joe Bell and myself to a long area of woods bordered by corn and soy bean fields and told us how to get to our stands. We began our separate walks.
Lots of standing water was along the edge of the field as I walked to the first flag at the edge of the wood lot. There was plenty more water in the woods. Greg had the route to the stand marked with orange flagging and it was easy to find the treestand. It was located where a drainage ditch crossed the faint remnants of an old woods road. I climbed up and used my Nikon range finder to check yardages to the drainage ditch, the old road and some trees to use for landmarks. Then I settled in. A faint noise behind me to the right had the right sound. I used the slow head turn to check it out. In the farthest range of my peripheral vision I saw a deer!. And it had antlers. A buck was on the opposite edge of the drainage ditch, casually walking in my direction. I turned slightly and got ready to shoot, anticipating it to come into my rangefindered 18.5 spot on the ditch. When I got a clear view of the buck he was a six point and I let him walk on by. An hour later three does ran up behind me. A buck was after the largest doe and he scattered them all around the area. It was a different buck, a small but aggressive forky. I waited at the ready in case their racket drew the interest of a larger buck. It didn't and eventually the big doe ran for the adjacent bean field with the forky on her tail. The other two does followed at a distance. That excitement in the woods had me on full alert for the rest of the afternoon. When daylight began to fade I lowered my BowTech and climbed down. Coming in I could see the dry spots but in the low light it was more like a mud and water battle wading my way back to the Greg's truck. The rubber boots I mentioned were Wolverine 100 gram Thinsulate boots that I received just before the hunt. They definitely got broken in slogging through 500 yards of mud and water to and from the stand today. They did not leak and my feet did not get wet or cold. In my experience rubber boots are not good for cold weather. But these boots, with the Thinsulate kept my feet warm. The boots were comfortable too, even for their first outing Lon Lauber had rattled a "shooter" buck across a corn fired but the buck hung up out of bow range. He also saw two does being chased by a buck. Ron Bell zipped. 2006 Bowhunting.net Deer Hunt Sponsors
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