Day 4

Afternoon Hunt: P.J. Reilly hunted near a pond. He saw 7 does, a 4-pointer and 6-pointer passing by him going to the pond.

Morning Hunt: 
Dave Parker hunted a wooded travel corridor between a freshly cut corn field and a bedding area. At the crack of daylight Dave glassed some dark movement. It was a raccoon 80 yards away in the woods. Ten minutes later it was at the base of Dave's tree looking up at him. Dave tried to spit on it but missed a few inches. Like a lightning bolt the raccoon climbed the tree. In an instant the raccoon and Dave were even and Dave kicked at it -- but missed. The raccoon jammed on the brakes and raced back down the  tree and disappeared in the woods. And that was it for Dave this morning. 

P.J. Reilly hunted the same travel corridor that Dave was in, but on the opposite end. A 4 pointer walked by at 15 yards at 8:00.

I hunted in a 15 yard circle of woods surrounded by a recently cut corn field and was knee deep in deer action. I am working on the pictures and video to show you, so bear with me a few hours to get everything downloaded to my computer and work some pics and video up.

Day 3

Afternoon Hunt: P.J. Reilly hunted a hedgerow between two corn fields. He saw two fawns and an impressive 7-point with two kickers. It didn't get in range but if he would have P.J would have shot. Dave Parker saw 6 does. He hunted by a CRP field bordering a cut corn field. Wade Nolan hunted a hedge row and didn't see any deer.

Brent and I hunted in a tall tree, in a corner of two perpendicular hedge rows between two cut corn fields. Fifteen minutes after being ready to hunt a mature 8-point stood up 80 yards into the woods. It had been bedded down and for half an hour it browsed around and finally went into the adjacent corn field. 

Minutes later a doe and fawn came running down the edge of the corn field behind our tree. They stopped by us. The fawn stopped in some ground cover and the doe came over to the edge of the corn field in front of our tree and watched it for a good while. A doe and a fawn came out into the field catty corner 600 yards away. 

The nearby doe walked over to its fawn and made an odd barking sound and the fawn came to it and they both walked into the field they came from.

Next up was a spike buck and he went after a doe we hadn't seen yet. Around 6:30 the 600 yard doe and fawn walked across the corn field to our the corner where our treestands were. Another doe came out of the woods and went to the does. Then I saw a 4th deer walk out of the woods 65 yards away. This one was a buck. It went to the does.

This buck has very long brow tines, especially for this area of Illinois. It also had a crippled left front leg from a past injury and it walked with a slight limp.

4:14am - The weather channel predicted rain last night and this morning. Wrong again. Ross Rinehart from Bear Archery and  Sherry Green with Tree Saddle are arriving this morning and will show the writers their new products after the morning's bowhunt.

After The Morning Hunt: Dave Parker hunted in the woods and saw a flock of wild turkeys feeding. P.J. Reilly saw a young buck and a doe with a fawn. Brent saw wild turkeys, a coyote and two groups of does.

Ross Rinehart and Ben Blosser with Bear Archery arrived this morning. They drove over from the corporate office in Evansville, Indiana.

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