I don't know how these stats would stack up from a large sample pool of data, but I will relate to you, would be "trophy hunters" the hard, cold reality of our personal experience.

In 1999, a group (5) of us Tn. hunters decided to "raise the bar" in our deer hunting efforts and head North. We are, and were at the time, successful bow hunters by anyones standards. A couple of us had close to or over 100 bow kills. And all of us had at least a couple "mature" buck kills under our belts. Still, we wanted more big buck opportunities.

Fast forward to 2009. We've (all 5) hunted every year since 1999. The license has MORE than doubled, now VERY close to 500 dollars for ONE buck. And only ONE of us has killed a P/Y buck.
ONLY ONE OF US. We've ALL seen MANY more P/Y bucks than in all the previous years in Tn. (on average we each had about 15 years hunting Tn. experience before heading North in 1999), yet bowhunting and trying to kill one of these mature monsters, on PUBLIC land is an ENTIRELY DIFFERENT proposal.

At ANY time, on just about ALL of the big bucks seen, had we had a rifle, or gun, the outcome could have been ENTIRELY MORE FAVORABLE.

What have we learned from this?

GUNS KILL DEER. ESPECIALLY RIFLES.

Illinois, (and I believe OHIO) has NO, ZERO, NADA, RIFLE SEASON AT ALL. And gun season is about TEN days long. PERIOD. ANd NOT continuous.

RESIDENTS of ILLINOIS can kill TWO bucks. Non-residents can too, but they must buy an extra gun tag (about another 250.00)

Also, after the first shotgun hunt, RUT OR NOT...not just the BIG bucks, but ALL the deer...disappear. I MEAN THEY VANISH!!!

The moral of this experience: big bucks, even before gun season, are EXTREMELY difficult to kill. Add about 2.5 MONTHS of GUN hunting...SURELY you get ther picture!

102

Edited by 102 (01/01/10 06:45 AM)
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Luck is where Opportunity and Preparation MEET!
When in doubt...back out!
SCAPAS.stay calm and pick a spot.