On the first day we decided to go scout and hang some stands.  Because we only had a few hours to scout, I was only able to get one stand hung.  The first day hunting was extremely slow.  We only saw a few does moving though the woods at daylight but I felt good about the spot.

The next day, I decided to head back to the same stand and sit but just half a day.  As soon as we got good camera light, I hit the horns together.  Five minutes later, I could see a tree moving back and forth but was having trouble seing what it was.  Hoping maybe it was a deer making a rub, I started grunting aggressively. Before I could even put my grunt call down, I could see a big 11 point coming straight toward us.  He got to 40 yards and I shot…  I’m not sure what happened but somehow I made a terrible shot and hit him in the hindquarter but luckily hit that major artery back there and he only ran 30 yards and I watched him fall.

After Philip’s hunt we headed to Bownanza Outdoors to hunt with Mr. Phil.  As soon as we got there, we unpacked our stuff and hit the woods.

We were hunting in a hardwood bottom that was close to a corn field.  As soon as we got up deer started coming out of the woods.  After about thirty minutes we could hear a deer grunting back in the woods but couldn’t see him.  

About 30 minutes before dark the deer started to move over to the corn field and I looked up and saw a big buck walking behind some does.  As I put my Nikon up to range him, a doe saw me and blew.  Everything got a little nervous but the buck just kept coming.  He got to 40 yards and I let the arrow fly.  I hit him a little far back so we let him lay over night but found him about 150 yards away the next morning.  This was my first Illinois buck.

We found a couple of water oak trees that had been torn up and decided that even though we had never hunted this area before and the temperature was in the high 80s, to hang a stand and give it a try.  We hung two Ol’ Man’s and were hunting by 3:00.

At about 4:00 I looked up and saw horns coming through the woods…  then more horns.  6 bucks total were all coming straight towards us.  Just like we had drawn it up… this never happens.

When the biggest one got about 35 yards, I drew my New Breed bow and let him have it.  The arrow passed straight through his heart and we watched him go down.

The first day we spent scouting and saw some HUGE deer from a big bluff.  On the next day, we went out and started hunting and Donnie shot a nice 8 point with his bow.  After all the high fives, we got back in the woods and started hunting again.

As our trip was heading to an end, I was beginning to get a little down because I had passed on some bucks that I usually would not have passed on.  That morning we saw a big buck leaving our C’mere Deer pile going into a CRP field to bed down.  We decided to changed things up and move to the stand that he was coming from.  At about 4:00 we saw him stand up and start walking straight toward us.

When he got about 40 yards away, I started shaking so hard that you can actually hear on the camera my keys jingling together.  I couldn’t stop, every part of my body was going out of control.  He got to 20 yards I drew back and shot.  He dropped in his tracks and I had my biggest deer of my carreer.

I had glassed the field the day before and saw a crazy looking 10 point out in it so the next day I went back in the woods with a couple of Ol’ Man treestands.  The only problem was all the trees were too small to hang a stand in.  After looking around for about 45 minutes, I decided to just build a ground blind and hope for the best.

As soon at the ground blind was finished being built, we got set up and as I was doing an opening interview my camera guy looks over my shoulder and sees a huge boar hog running straight towards us.  I knocked an arrow and barely had time to get drawn before he stopped just in front of us at 5 yards away.  The Swhacker slid through him with no problem. 

Because I knew there was the big buck in the area, we decided to wait till dark to recover the boar.  After we sat another few hours and saw a ton of deer, we looked up and saw the big buck standing 30 yards away looking straight at us directly down wind.

He stared at us for about 5 minutes then finally started walking away.  As he turned to leave, I was able to get drawn.  He was quartering away hard so I put it just in front of the hind quarter.  The arrow went all the way through and lodged in his opposite shoulder.  He went 50 yards and fell.

At about 4:00 deer starting moving and at about 4:20 Dad caught a glimpse of a big 8 point moving straight towards us.  As he started to move the camera toward the buck, a doe saw us a started blowing.   There were about 5 deer in the area and they all started getting nervous.  

Finally after all the deer settled down the big buck started walking again, the only problem was he was quarting away and I wasnt sure if I was going to get a shot.  After about 15 minutes he started slipping through the woods in our direction.  He got to thirty yards and I let the Swhacker fly.  he ran about 150 yards and piled up!

We had seen a ton of big bucks all year but had some trouble getting close enough to any of them because of terrible swirling winds all week.  On multiple different occasions we had a 140″  buck walking straight toward us only to have the wind switch and he would take off.

Finally, on the last day of our hunt, we were surrendering and I was doing a closing interview when my cameraman tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to three bucks standing about 40 yards away.  We slowly got turned around and as the biggest one got to within about 30 yards I shot my first deer with a New Breed bow and he ran about 50 yards and fell.  

What a way to start the season!

On the third day of our hunt we were walking through the woods and caught a glimpse of an bull.  after we got set up we made some calls and he started walking straight to us.  When he got to about 30 yards, Jacob told me I had to shoot or he was going to lose him.  I thought I had a small opening but as it turns out, I was wrong.  I hit a limb and the elk took off.  I never realized how quick those things can move through the timber.

We elk hunted the rest of the week and on the last day, we were headed elk hunting and saw a big mule deer about a half mile away.  We got to about 150 yards from him and ran out of cover so Jacob stayed back to film and I started to crawl on the deer.  When I got to about 50 yards from him, I made him stand up and sent the Swhacker flying.  He ran about 150 yards and died.

Philip got set up and started calling.  The first set of yelps the bird hammered off and started slowly walking his direction.  After about 45 minutes of calling the bird had finally closed the distance to about 30 yards.  That was plenty close enough.  Philip let the shot ring, out and he was done in South Dakota.

What we learned: Get as close to a turkey as you can.  For every step closer you get is one step he doesn’t have to take, but always remember once you spook him, in most cases, he is done for the day.  If a turkey is in the right mood he will walk a long way and do a lot of stupid things to get to a hen.

Jacob got set up out in the field with Mr. Humpy set out five yards to his left.  Philip got tucked up back in the woods about 50 yards in front of Jacob.  Just as planned, the long beards flew down with the hens and slowly eased towards the field when they got close to the field they finally saw Mr. Humpy and came running.  Jacob shot the strutter at less than 6 steps.

What we learned:  Strutting decoys can make or break a hunt.  Make sure you know your turkeys before you put a strutting decoy out.  They usually work best for us on multiple henned up birds.