Illinois Trail Camera Bucks 2014

 A look at some of the bucks we got on trail cam on our lease in Illinois during the 2014 season.

Morgan Takes Her First Deer!

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I have been on many a hunt in my life but I can't remember any that are more fun than hunting with my daughters Jessica and Morgan. I usually reserve this week each year to do a little hunting with them as it is antlerless season. There is always more goofing around than huntin' going on when you share a stand with those two characters.

Deer movement has been marginal even though the moon says they should be moving. With work & school, Jessica has not had much time to hunt but we went thanksgiving morning. It was in the 30's that morning and she about froze. By 8:30 AM she had taken all she could stand so we called off the hunt without seeing a deer.

Morgan and I hunted the following evening. It was the last day, last evening of the antlerless deer season and time was running out. With about 10-15 minutes of shooting light left, I spotted movement at the edge of the swamp. "Here they come Morg, get ready!" The deer moved behind a thick spot and the lead one finally slid into an opening to the left, slightly quartering to us. Morgan moved the .243 into position and got the cross hairs on it. "Just squeeze the trigger until the gun goes off" At the report of the shot the deer rolled over and its white belly flashed up...."YOU GOT HIM MORG!" She had centered the deer right in the chest at 65 yards! That was a better shot than half of the hunters I have guided lately. Damn fine shootin' for an eleven year old!

Double Time!

The second deer bounced back into the edge of the swamp. I grabbed the rifle and chambered another round. There was an oak tree between me and the deer so I had to lean over into Morgan's lap to be able to see the deer and sent a round down range. Deer down!

Morgan and I had just shot a double with the same rifle! Pretty Incredible......and her first deer to boot. We will not be forgetting that hunt anytime soon, I promise you.



Larry S.

Odd Horned Georgia 8pt

One thing I love most about deer horns is that no two are exactly alike.

A friend of mine, Matt Coleman has a small lease in Georgia and has been hunting this buck for several years. He finally got to lay eyes on him for the first time this Sunday and shot him within minutes of getting in the stand.

The buck sported an odd but interesting set of horns with a total of 8 points. As you can see in the photo, both horns lean to one side and are more up right than normal.

Pretty Cool! Congrats Matt

QDMA Jawbone Aging Video

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If you own or lease a hunting property, being able to age the deer that are harvested there is pretty important. I lease a small farm in west central Illinois and our liability insurance is provided through QDMA. This affords me access to their mews letter and bi-monthly publications. The QDMA is a quality source for whitetail deer management information. In their latest news letter, they included a link to their deer jawbone aging video.

If you are a QDMA member you have probably already seen this video on aging a deer by its jawbone but if not here is a link to it....... 

Jawbone Aging: Part 1 – Tooth Replacement | Quality Deer Management Association

This is a very informative video on this subject and I would recommend this to anyone interested in learning more about whitetail deer.

Best of Hunts,
Larry S.

Flight of the Arrow!

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I paroled another deer to heaven this morning. If you follow my blog you know I have been videoing all my hunts and this one was no exception.

I pulled the camera card at this test stand location Sunday morning and found that 5-6 different bucks had all of the sudden started showing up that. I was about to abandon the site as up until then there was one deer a week showing up.

When I reviewed the latest recon from the site and saw all the bucks showing up, I immediately shifted gears and hung a new stand there that afternoon and hunted it. I did not see anything but stayed at camp that night to hunt again this morning.

At 8:50 the least deer of the bunch showed up, a year and a half old 3pt. Being an equal opportunity hunter, there was no question what was about to happen. I got some great video, including the kill shot and arrow impact.

When I reviewed the footage I was surprised to see that it had actually caught the arrow in flight or at least the fletching.

This is pretty awesome, have a look at the slide show. I will post the video when I get a chance to edit it.




Good luck,
Larry S.

New Velvet Horns on the Young Bucks!

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Along with all the hogs and turkeys, a few bucks have been passing by the trail cameras. One is just starting to show signs of brow tines and his beams are starting to turn forward though he's not going to be a monster.

Another of the smaller bucks is getting some buds that are about 2-3" now but I don't expect he will be much more than a spike when it's all said and done.


One of the does is still carrying her fawn and just goes to show how spread out the breeding is here in Florida.
Here's a few pic's.

Larry S.

First Deer Fawn of the Year!

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I pulled my tail camera cards yesterday and was surprised to see all the deer that have started to frequent this spot. The interesting part was that one of the doe's showed up with the first fawn I have seen this year. I had been getting some pictures of a doe that had an incredibly huge stomach and Tammie, my bride and I were betting she was going to have twins she was so big. I think this doe and fawn is a different group of deer. Besides that, this fawn is 1.5 to 2 weeks old and I am pretty sure I have gotten pictures of the other doe since then and she had not dropped her fawn.

I also had a couple young bucks show up that are just starting to bud out some velvet horns.

As far as the turkeys, The hens are obviously spending most of the day on the nest and have all but disappeared. In fact, all of the turkeys have changed their patterns. I have been getting as many as 3,000 photo's in 4-5 days but that has dwindled to a 1/4 of that at best and the gobblers are starting to roost elsewhere.

It looks like the breeding is pretty much over for another year. Tough luck for the gobblers!

Thought I would share these pictures with everyone, Hope you enjoy them.

Larry S.

Potential World Record Illinois 8pt.!

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I received the bit of news about this buck from a friend of mine and since I also hunt in the state of Illinois, I had to do some investigation into this buck and see if this is for real. So many of these stories circulating around the web turn out to be a sham that you can't really believe anything you read.

Well, after some investigation, this is what I came up with;

The original email suggested that a that a guy by the name of David Robinson harvested the buck but also mentions the name Sanders. Apparently, the guy that actually harvested the buck is Jason Sanders of Illinois.
The buck was killed on Dec. 1,2011 in Central Illinois and is reported to potentially be a New World Record 8pt.

Here are the stats that are being reported:

Main beams: 30", 32"
Inside spread: 22 3/8"
G2's: 14", 16"
G3's: 12",12"
Gross score : 192 3/8"
Net score: 183 1/8"

The Buck is supposed to be present at the Illinois Deer and Turkey Classic in Peoria this month.

On the Boone & Crockett Club's site, they have some info on this buck and suggest that due to an abnormal point on one antler he might be considered a 4X5 rather than a clean 4x4 but I am not clear on where the point is actually located. Here is a link to their info on the buck, "Jason Sanders Buck"

Sanders was lucky enough to actually get some trail camera pictures of the buck before he harvested him. As the story is told, he actually passed on a shot on this buck during the first shotgun season because he didn't like the shot! That would be a tough call there!

When more news is available I will include it in this post.

Larry Stephens

Huge 9pt. Shows up on Trail Camera!

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Sept. 24,11 

I pulled the camera card from the stand where the bear caught the buck I shot last year this morning. It had been out for a week but when I opened the camera it was off. Apparently the batteries died on photo #6 and that was it. I was pretty disappointed......all week and only 6 pictures to show for it. It's about like opening a Christmas present and finding a pack of socks.

Well, That all changed when I got back to camp and viewed the card........Monster 9pt!!!!

There was only one picture of him but it was a good one. This is one super nice buck. He would probably be my best Florida buck ever if I can take him but realistically, It will be a miracle to cross him up, especially given the very low deer activity this stand has had. I may have a better chance later in the season as the food and rut play out.

This stand is in some really thick woods. I had to had out  a hole in the palmettos just to be able to shoot. The good thing about it is that there is lay-up in all directions and a few acorns have started to fall in there so there is both mass and cover. This buck can move all over the place around there without exposing himself. Also, this adjoins some private property with limited hunting.

Hopefully this is where this deer lives and he shows up on the camera some more. With so little general deer activity here it is going to be a struggle to leave a stand where I have 5-6 bucks using if I can't get some more intel on him.

I hunted him Sunday afternoon with off and on light showers. The result was pretty much what I thought I'd see...........zero!

Larry S.

Camera Man Passes Out While Filming Caping of a Deer Head!

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Every time I watch this I just gotta' laugh!

I asked a friend of mine if he had some time to run a camera for me while I caped out a deer head for a video I wanted to post to my blog. He said no problem but apparently he is sensitive about knives and cutting around eyeballs! Who knew?

After a short rest on the floor, ol' Len was back in the saddle and we finished the video with out further breaks though I can't be sure just  how much Len filmed with his eyes open.

I included a little of the footage from the actual hunt of the deer which you see in the caping section.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkWwPyWRxGs

Have fun!

Larry  S.

Illinois 2010 Muzzleload Report #5 - Misc. Pictures

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Here are some trail camera pictures and photo's from the hunt that did not make it into the reports. 

Good Huntin'

Larry S.