Ben's semi-live 2025 hunt thread

[TheBenHoyle]

Not quite 12 hours later...



It doesn't look like much, a little blood on the arrow and some hair on the snow, but I'll tell you what, if you can't be good you better be lucky.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I'm pretty tired, but I have a busy day tomorrow (have to butcher a deer) so I'll post the recap before I go to bed and not leave anyone hanging.

I got out to the grain bins where I could park and walk in to some river bottom ag fields backed by a complex of sloughs and riparian woods. It was about 1:30 already and I had just a vague idea of what I wanted to do. But there was snow everywhere so I opted for my snow camo and headed out.

There is a small section of the ag field that is squarish and secluded and just as I was getting a glimpse of it, I saw that there was at least one deer and the far side field edge. I opted to bail off into the slough and work my way around to the adjacent edge of the square before popping up to see if the deer were still there.

I could tell that there were 4 of them, but I couldn't tell if they were bucks or does because they were in some tall grass at the field edge.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a tree I liked to climb and eventually settled on a maple with a really strange oval-shaped trunk. But it was straight and had clear shooting lanes into the field and into the slough.

Before I could even get in a tree, a little spiky buck and his big brother (maybe 6 point) came walking right along the field edge. I was thinking about letting the spike pass and trying to get the slightly bigger buck but the spike got to about 6 yards and decided I looked wrong. He bolted and his brother followed. Honestly, that encounter made the 3 hour round trip drive worth it.

But it didn't stop there. I got up the tree and was enjoying the many viewpoints I had when I saw a doe headed my way from that adjacent field edge. She went down into the slough and walked right up to my tree, she was being chased by another buck, but he was a forky and never got very close. I got to full draw on the doe and realized I had snow jammed in my peep sight. I tried to blow it out, but that was enough commotion for her to look up and then run away. Honestly, that encounter would have been worth the drive...

But it didn't stop there either. All in all, I probably saw 20 deer tonight. Some of them might have been repeats, but they were all around me at one point.

I'll cut to the chase, right at sunset, about 5-6 bucks came into the field from the corner opposite where I was, they were all milling about and so I made some doe bleats and I'll be darned if the biggest one didn't make a beeline over to me. He was basically right where the first spike buck had been a couple hours earlier, 6 yards from the base of my tree. But this time I was up in the tree and the buck was looking down into the slough behind me for the doe.

I put my pin on him and pulled the trigger and the arrow went and he ran out into the field. He kinda hunched up for a couple moments and then he circled back with his buddies. I could see he was limping but he din't look like he was going to crash. I watched him come down the embankment into the slough and he stood in one spot for a long time. I was hoping he was going to keel over. But then he went bounding off with the others and I didn't know what to think.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I waited a few minutes until all of those bucks cleared out and then I got down and packed up my platform and sticks. I went to find the arrow and was not terribly impressed.

I walked in his tracks and I could see he was definitely bleeding, but I couldn't figure out if it was going to be lethal. It was full dark now and it was snowing so I decided to VERY SLOWLY track him, half expecting to find the blood trail just vanish. But it was pretty consistent, so I kept going.

About 150 yards along I found a bed with a lot of blood in it and I figured he had been bumped by me tracking. I was strongly considering backing out and trying to come back the next afternoon. But I was conflicted. That was another 3 hours of driving and there's snow falling and I have a job interview Tuesday morning. SO many factors kept me rooted to the spot with indecision.

And with me not moving I now hear rustling of branches not far away. I keep listening and it definitely sounds like branches being hit by antlers. I scan in that direction and I see a dark shape near the ground. It looks like a deer that is trying to get up but can't.

I must have stood still for 20 minutes waiting to hear more noise and then I decided to SLOWLY walk toward the shape thinking that maybe I can get close enough to put an arrow in the buck if it is still alive.



And this is what I eventually walked up to. My buck, recently expired.
I took a moment to be grateful and then I pulled him out and looked for the entry wound. And then I took another moment to be even more grateful. I shot this buck through the meat of the front leg just to the back side of the shoulder blade. It only went through the front leg. But it must have cut a vein or an artery... Unbelievable. I'm still not sure why my arrow didn't go where I intended, but I am so grateful that it somehow did it's job...


Not the biggest buck in the world, but I couldn't be happier. Definitely worth the drive. This is the first season where I have taken more than one deer and I think that more than likely I will be done for the season. I'd like to get out after some waterfowl, but I am at the whims of other people for an invite. But if this is the end of my season, I couldn't have written a better ending.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I went out yesterday looking to run an arrow through a turkey or two. I had reports that they were using a bean field pretty hard so I set up on the edge or it within 20 yards of an obvious spot where they had scratched at the snow. There were tracks all over and I was hopeful that they would show up mid morning and walk right by.

Alas, they did not and I wasn't real confident in my hide, so I left about 11:30 and took a drive around the area to see if they were out in any other fields. I didn't see anything so I hiked back in where I had shot that buck and checked the snow around that field edge to see if there were any turkey tracks. There were none, but there were tons of deer tracks. If I had wanted to fill my doe tag I could have probably set up in that exact same tree and had a great shot at filling it.

But I am pretty sure my wife would not understand me brining back more venison. We have way more right now than we have ever had in the past.

I liberated a piece of Honey Locust wood from a tree that had been blow down right near where I shot that buck. That will be a wood working project for another day once I get the Euro mount completed.

I drove back around the neighborhood and saw that there were turkeys coming out of the woods to the south of where I had been in the morning. I decided to approach that field from the north and set up in a spot that I hoped they would head to for roosting purposes.

I got in to position and spent a couple hours watching before sunset.



All in all, I saw 15 hens and 7 deer. I don't think any of the deer were bucks, unless some of the little ones were button bucks. Sadly, the turkeys ended up heading west at sunset to roost, but it was a nice afternoon to enjoy watching them.

This spot is promising, but I am not sure exactly how to hunt it. That field is wide open and the cover on the edge is sparse. I will probably hunt it once more in December but I have a couple weeks to think about how I want to approach it.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I think I have one more hunt this year. I always try to get out for my birthday, which is the 28th, but due to family get togethers, I am not going out to hunt until the 30th. It will give me the opportunity to be more flexible for a full day of hunting.

I still have an anterless deer archery tag and 2 archery turkey tags. I'll be more interested in getting an arrow through a turkey, but I might bring my recurve along to justify shooting a doe. It would be the first animal I would take with a recurve. Although it is hard to justify carrying an extra piece of equipment, the recurve doesn't weigh much.

I do worry that I won't be able to find turkeys, but I just got this from my trail camera, so hopefully I'll get a few more in the next week.



That looks like an immature Jake to me, with that little stubby beard just poking through. I'm not sure if that means he is part of the Tom flock or if he is hanging out with his mom and her girlfriends.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I'm considering getting out tomorrow to see if I can put an arrow through a turkey or two. I'm battling a sinus infection so I might decide better of it in the morning.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Well I punted this morning. Just not up to it yet. I'll try to get out next week.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I think I am going to close out this thread. I will probably get out once more on my 2025-2026 archery turkey tags, but I will save that hunt for my 2026 hunt thread. I want to do a little summary and my thoughts about what went well and what I need to do better next year.

I was successful at killing 3 turkeys and 2 deer this year. There were no waterfowl taken or even hunted, sadly. I also did not specifically hunt for coyotes. I had one in range while hunting deer, but it was a cross the property line.

I am absolutely amazed at the success I had with turkeys. Prior to this year, I had only killed 4 in over a decade of hunting. So I almost doubled my lifetime total. I think the main difference is setting myself up for good opportunities. I have spent a lot of seasons working on not great opportunities because I thought they were all that I had available. This past year I moved on from one of those and made efforts to learn more about another area I had hunted. I also gained access to a new spot on private. All of that helped.

Beyond that, I killed 2 deer this year. I've never done that before. I'm kind of surprised that I was able to be so successful, but again I think gaining access to a new place to hunt has helped. I have a lot of venison in the freezer and I'm looking forward to emptying it before next year.

Having had this success, next year I might try to shift my efforts to a public land deer. I also would like to get a buck in Ohio if I end up repeating that trip. I've had a lot of close opportunities there over the years, but so far nothing. Also, I'm going to specifically get out with my recurve next year at least twice.

I need to find a better outlet for waterfowl hunting. I don't have a great place to go for that in Illinois. It is nice to do, but I am not going to put too much effort into it right now. Perhaps something will present itself.

No big plans for hunts next year beyond Spring Turkey and Fall Archery Deer and Turkey. I might try to get out to chase coyotes in February. Other than that, I'll just keep plugging away.

 

[F250]

I enjoyed this thread !! Thank you for sharing your adventures. Looking forward to your hunts.