I’ve just joined USA on 02/25/2008 after seeing it on Versus. What a great idea! Another way for Union members to communicate with each other ,share ideas, & to help inform each other & share our experiances & passon for the great outdoors with Hunting & fishing. I’d like to share a recent trip I took in 2006 . This was a truly great hunt to southern Illinois to hunt for one of those legendary Boone & Crockett Whitetail monsters, the kind that we see every weekend on Versus tv shows. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would actually harvest one of those majestic gaints, but the Gods were smiling down on me on that trip, because that is exactly what happend. I was hunting with Illinois Ohio Valley Trophy Hunts from Simpson Illinois in Pope County along the Ohio river bottom. I chose this outfitter out of several that I had been researching on the internet & talking to at two outdoor sportsman shows in Pennsylvania. I chose him for several reasons. One, he offered both bow & gun hunts. Two, all of his hunts are fair chase with no fences other than the occasional cow pasture barbed wire fence that can make for a great pinch point. And three, there were no trophy fees & you had the opportunity to harvest a 130” to over 200” class P&Y;, or B&C;, deer. When I arrived at the main lodge the weather was getting cold fast. The northern part of the state was expecting blizzard conditions, while the southern part was expecting gail force winds & heavy rain. The first morning we decided to hunt as long as we could, hoping the deer would feed early before the storm got any worst. I was the last one to come back to the lodge around 12pm, everyone else had returned at mid morning. That afternoon & until mid morning of the next day the storm got really bad. The outfitter decided it would not be safe for anyone to hunt with winds blowing between 35 & 45mpg while strapped into a tree stand. At about 10am on the second day the winds died down & the rain started to slow down to a drizzle, so we decided to hunt the rest of the day & stay on stand untill dark. After arriving at my stand, a stand located in a cut soybean field, located in a white oak tree on the end of a finger shaped penensula, I placed several sent attractents around my stand. I like to call them my love potion. With in the next half hour the weather got much better. The wind & the rain stopped. After about an hour I saw my 1st shooter. A very high & very thick crab clawed 8pt with a 3” to 4” drop tine on his right side. I decided to pass on him for two reasons. One, he was the very first deer I had seen & 2nd he was about 150yds away & I could not judge if he met the 130” minimum required by the outfitter. And boy was I glad I did, because in the last 1/2 hr of light the deer came pouring into the field. One of those deer was a 163” B&C;, 11pt buck that the outfitter had captured on film & was featured on his sales video. That buck came to within 20yds of my stand to check out the love potion, and my TC Omega sealed the deal. That Buck now hangs on my wall & can be seen at http://WWW.Trophydeerhunt.com. He is the 22” wide 11pt opening picture link for the 2006 gun kills.
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