Day 3 of my Illinois archery whitetail deer season began as expected. A quick morning sit in the blind resulted in only a few spooked deer. With no time to lose, I broke down the blind and decoy and headed back into the big valley where I had seen deer activity previously.
Soon after getting setup on a heavily used deer trail I decided to take advantage of a break in the wind noise and do a rattling and grunting sequence.
Within a couple of minutes I had a big buck sneak in on me undetected until we locked eyes at the exact same moment. After a brief standoff, and no chance to draw my bow, the 10 point buck bounced back the way he came.
If I had seen this big boy just seconds earlier I think this story would have had a different ending.
After the morning sit I took one of the kids out to see if we could see our first deer from the treestand together. I didn't take long and we had a young fork buck under us snooping around. Just as the light was fading we had a parade of does walk right under us adding a little extra excitement to the days hunt.
Stay tuned for Day 4 as I try to break the curse and put some meat in the freezer.
#deerhunting #archeryhunting #bowhunting #illinois
6 сен 2024
