Steve Bartylla
Bowhunting Performance Outdoors 2004 - Illinois Day 1 Late in the 2003 bow season, Jake & Justin Roach, owners of www.performanceoutdoors.com contracted me to help them with one of their farms in Illinois. Controlling over 17,000 acres of land in Illinois and Iowa, annually running exceedingly high success rates for their clients on P&Y bucks, they know how to spot great ground. What is now referred to as The Sanctuary Camp is not an acceptation to this. After winter, spring and summer scouting trips under my belt, I had located 26 potential stand locations, as well as determined the hunters access routes and targeted which phase of season each would be best suited for. To further help keep the 550 acre farm fresh, I divided it into northern and southern sections. Between creating areas off limits for hunting, selecting good access routes and alternating groups on each section, I was confident that the farm would remain fresh and greatly out produce the harvest totals from the previous year. My hunt began there in early November. My cameraman, Craig and I spent our first afternoon putting up stands, including one along one of my food plots. With the stand up, I slapped out the RoboCoy decoy and climbed in. The hope was that the does feeding on the plot would serve as early bait for the approaching rut. If a shooter stepped out, I knew that the RoboCoy would do the rest. My hopes were not to be fulfilled
today. Though doe and fawn sightings were plentiful we didn’t see an antler
among them. Tomorrow is another day.
The morning passed without a deer sighting. However, as we left, I checked the scrapes and mock scrape around the stand. It was obvious that the big boy was working this route again this season. The size of the fresh tracks in the scrapes would make any hunter drool. We decided that, after prepping a couple more stands, flinging some arrows and doing quick showers, we’d hunt the same stand in the afternoon. The big boy had been through sometime between 3 PM the day before and 5 AM this morning. Obviously, spraying down hard with Scent Killer, along with wearing Scent-Lok and Elimitrax allowed us to prep the stand without leaving alerting odors. Maybe we’d get lucky and meet him. It wasn’t to be. A doe and her fawns were all that came through that afternoon. NEXT: To Day #3
For a fantastic Illinois or Iowa bow hunt, contact www.performanceoutdoors.com via the web or at 800 996 0477.
Equipment
Custom Robotic Wildlife RoboCoy Decoy www.wildlifedecoys.com
 For
those looking for every advantage in understanding whitetail deer, Steve
Bartylla's column Becoming
A Student Of Whitetail Deer is a must read. |
