A big part of shooting well is picking your shots, which is to say, taking only the good shots and passing up the bad shots. What constitutes a good shot and what constitutes a bad shot? At the risk of being somewhat arbitrary, I will say that a good
Purchasing Illinois Deer Hunting Land Specifically for Upper-Age Class Whitetails There are hundreds of farms for sale right now in Illinois being marketed as Illinois deer hunting land. How do you choose one from another when the ads all say something like- “big buck factory, whitetail paradise, dream deer hunting …
With the sun slipping into the western horizon, the fragmented parts of its rays glared through the mature stand of oaks I was silently scanning. Perched on a decaying log sat a gray squirrel, tail softly twitching. My range finder read 21 yards and jud
Our long time friend Rick Stavola took this mature main frame 8 pointer. Notice the unusual drop tine in front of his right eye. This deer scored 148” and was a great deer to harvest as he was an older buck. Rick is a perfect example of what persistence
The worst text message I woke up to last fall came from my dad.
Big ten just slipped by at 26 yards, one limb in way.
By far the best text message I woke up to last fall came from my little brother Ben. Around 7:30 am on the second to last day o
This year my dad and I decided to come to Pike County and try our luck at an Illinois whitetail. We booked a hunt the last week of October with The Heartland Lodge and we couldn’t wait to get here. As we arrived, so did the unseasonable warm weather.
WHAT’S YOUR STAND ON STANDS
Hanging stands, climbing stands, ladder stands, homemade stands, shooting towers, ground blinds, or just an old bucket against a mighty oak? With so many options, what’s a hunter to do? This is the time of year we need to f
Brad Doughty took this very mature buck (7yrs old) on the last morning of his whitetail archery hunt. Brad had been seeing shooters every day in the tree stand but just could not connect on one. He sat in the stand all day, ever day maximizing his opportu
Kirk Scribner took this monter whitetail during Illinois archery season in mid October. This mature whitetail weighed over 280lb pounds and scored 157″ as a 9 point! Congratulations Kirk on an awesome buck!!
The common archery hunter practices three to four nights a week shooting 20 and 30 yard distances. Practicing these ranges night after night can make you feel comfortable in making a good clean shot at 30yrds. However, have you ever had a big shooter buc
