Illinois Deer Hunt

[ray koziatek]

Well I fell into another deal of a lifetime . Some friends from Fla. Invited me to hunt their 280 acre farm in Pike Cty. The kinda bad news is they are meat hunters anything goes so Monster bucks were far and few between. I did see a 14 pt 4 diff. times even stalked within 22 yds as it layed next to a doe.Not wanting to take a laying down shot through the weeds I settled in for what i thought would be a long waiting game ....I didn't see the doe and she was only 11 yds and saw me ...well she busted out like a rabbit and as he stood i had 1 sec to draw my bow for a shot that wasn't long enough to get er done and away he went,a day later i had a perfect 80 yd broadside ,but 30 yds outa my pin range..next morning I enticed him to 50 yds in goldenrod with no shot as i was on the ground..Had a beautiful 11 pt at 14 yds but it was on neighbors land over the fence If it wen't 4 more yds and jumped the fence I could of had a 8 yd shot...oh well..I saw 3 nice 10 pts one at 42 yds with the shot in the liver and he too chose the ajoining property where on of the hunter shot him ..at least it didnt go to waste nice 135 in deer ...I have some great video of the big boy at 80 yds just need to edit and try to post..over all I had 6 shooters 2.5 yr and older in range at one time or another for the week.And saw close to 25 other smaller bucks 90% were within 30 yds...so I had to take this 119in 8pt and a nice doe too so i brought home meat he was at a whopping 8yds running a doe and the rage put it down in under 100yds after the shot...The good news Is i have a open invite for next year.........gonna be a long year wait..after a trip like that spoils ya,, its hard to hunt ny land but i will force myself. I will be second guessing not taking the ground shot for a few days on the "cabin Buck" Im shure one of the gun hunters will get him now that i patterened him and disclosed his small domain I will post pics if they do.

[on the lam]

Nice buck Ray,, Congrats!!  No Indiana this year??

[ray koziatek]

no after Don passed the 3 kids who don't get along were fighting so bad over the money and land a state judge had to overrule Don,s Will and liqudated the assets and split the land one of the kids all over 50 yrs old ,drank away his land money and had to sell his part ..the daughter won't be far behind...kinda a shame the Farm has been in the family from 1899..Im sure my friend Don is rolling over in his grave...well i was blessed with many great memories........

[RUNNIN REBEL]

Nice shooting Tex...... Your a stand up hunter Ray (even at 4'5" tall)

 

 

Jerry

[ray koziatek]

I figured how to take a still pic of my video this is why i spent 4 days of my hunt trying to get this one... i might have a better angle shuda seen that rack at 22 yds

[PeltHunter]

That's an absolute slob Id probably cry if I saw that deer so close and couldn't get a shot. The deer you got also looks bigger than 120 inches in those pictures.

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[TileMan Dan]

Wow!!!!!

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[fishshack]

Nice buck Ray!!! I see why you're excited for next year.

[Duckman1]

Nice deer ray

[Legacy]

[FX]

Congrats Ray! Sorry to hear about your friends place. That kind of stuff happens way to often.

Shawn

[Jersey Len]

Great story Ray. Thanks for sharing. The Buck is pretty nice , I would take him any time. Can't eat the horns anyway.

Here's to good fishing in the keys . Maybe see you there. Jan. , Feb. , Mar. We will be at Knights Key.

Len

[skipper19]

Thats a nice buck Ray! Having connection to hunt one of the best counties in any state is as you say a great blessing! Sorry to hear the usual hunting grounds are decimated. I bet you will have just as good hunting in Illinois and know you will provide us with plenty more stories to be envious of your adventures.

Mark