Illinois Deer Hunt - Meat in the freezer

[Squatting Wolf]

My 2007 deer hunt has come to an end. The hunt started off promising, I saw the largest buck I've ever seen alive in the woods. I was pretty excited because this was the 1st year I was carring a pistol and thought I might have a shot at the largest buck I've seen. He was only 35 yards out but as whitetail bucks have a tendency to do, he never offered a shot. I had crosshairs on him for several minutes but I wasn't comfortable with the shot so I watched him walk away. I was disappointed at first but I knew I didn't have a good shot so eventually I got over it...sort of.

After a short break for lunch, my brother and I moved to a different part of the timber. On the way in, by brother kicked up a buck and a doe, before I could get situated, the doe had circuled around and was walking right towards me. The shot was longer than I was comfortable taking with the pistol so I switched over to my Benelli. I let her have it with my Hornaday SST slug and she ran about 30 yards before expiring.

After hauling her out of the woods, gutting and hanging her, we headed back to a different farm in pike to hunt the afternoon. On my way to my stand, I watched a 7 pointer chasing a doe. I sat down on the edge of a pond and within about an hour, I heard rustling in the leaves behind me. I slowing turned my head and saw two does coming over the dam, off to my right, I looked across the pond and saw two more does. Within about 30 seconds, the 7 pointer popped over the dam and started drinking. I decided to take the 7 pointer but in the process of trying to turn around to get a shot, he caught the movement and began to run around the pond, I knew I would never be able to find him in the scope of my pistol so I set it down and picked up the shotgun and stood up. My only hope was that he would stop when he got to the other side of the pond. That is exactly what he did, he stopped to look back at me and I dropped him right at the edge of the pond. My hunt for 2007 was over, I had filled both my tags by 3:00 PM on opening day.

No trophy this year but plenty of venison for the freezer, which is good because I was running low!





About an hour ago I recieved a call from my brother, he took another 7 pointer this morning, hopefully he'll send me some pictures, if so I'll post them.

I will have another year to practice with my S&W, hopefully next year I will be able to take a deer with it. I think I am going to change optics on it before next season. Right now I have a 4x Weaver classic scope which is too much power for the location I hunt. I may try and get a variable power scope or I might but an Aimpoint red dot on it. I wasn't able to pick up the deer as quickly as I had hoped. I can pick up game much quicker with my 1-4x leupy on my Benelli. As soon as I shoulder that shotgun, the scope comes up perfectly every time. I have used that shotgun 3 seasons now and since then, I have killed my first three bucks, two eight pointers and now this 7 pointer.

[Rick in Oregon]

SWolf: CONGRATULATIONS!! We knew you could do it! Meat in the freezer and some antlers to ponder all winter is a good thing, regardless of which weapon was used to harvest the critter. I know you really wanted to use that Smith to put venison away for the winter, but hey, it IS in the freezer!

I'd give a red-dot scope a try on that M641....I've grown fond of the one on my Ruger MK-I for shots inside of 60 yards, and the critters I use mine for are ALOT smaller than your whitetails.

Thanks for sharing, that's a nice healthy buck.

[Squatting Wolf]

Rick,

Any opinions on red dots? The only one I've ever used is a cheap Tasco and I'd rather spend the money and get a good one the first go around.

Thanks,
Matt

[Rick in Oregon]

SWolf: I'm using the Leupold/Gilmore LG-1, available from Gilmore Sports (it comes up if you Google them). Cost is about $150, and the thing is rugged and miserly on batteries. The dot has 11 intensity settings, and you can order a number of dot MOA sizes, depending on your intended usage. It's also available in two tone stainless/black, or all black.

Two tone:



All black:



Mine has the 1 MOA dot, and it's perfect for rats out to 50 yards. I don't have experience with any of the others. But this type of pistol sight is fast, accurate, and once you get the hand of them, very, very effective on critters.



Let us know what you end up with if you go this route......

[bullfrog]

Nice huntin Squate. Nothing like taking 2 deer in one day. I've had plenty of days where I haven't even seen 2 deer in a day.
Way to go!

[Squatting Wolf]

Rick - Those are nice looking red dots, I'll have to look into them. I talked to one of the tech reps at opticsplanet.com and he recommended either the Aimpoints or Eotech red dots. I'll be doing some research over the winter and I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.

Bullfrog - I've had those days and weekends where I haven't even seen two deer as well! I'm very fortunate to have a couple places in Pike County, IL to hunt whitetails and we generally see large numbers of deer. A couple years back we were averaging 20-30 deer a day that we were seeing. This is the first year I've ever taken two deer on the same day. Typically between my father, brother and I we all end up getting one before the season is over but this year has been great. I took the two on opening day and my brother took his 7 pointer on Sunday morning, dad is the only one that hasn't gotten anything yet but we still have 4 days during the second season. I am thinking about going with him to do some photography (my luck, a monster will come strolling through and all I'll have is a camera!)

[Squatting Wolf]

Here's a couple of the Aimpoint Red Dots that I've been reading about...both can be found on Aimpoints website under the hunting products (http://www.aimpoint.com)