Well, it was mid December and I hadn’t been in the woods with my bow since early November. Needless to say I was itching to put another big whitetail on the ground. Our good friend and fellow “Road Crew” member Jansen Asbill called and invited me up to his private farm in central Illinois. Now, Illinois in itself is enough, but Jansen’s farm had already produced a 190” buck back in early November. He said he had some big deer moving in the daylight on his Leaf River camera and before I knew it I was 10 hours from home pulling into his driveway. I had the new Z7 from Mathews and I couldn’t wait to try it out.
The next day we decided to go in late morning and sit the rest of the day due to the fact that deer movement seemed to peak between 11 and 3. I’m not sure how many deer we jumped going into the stand but regardless the first deer didn’t show up until about 3:15. Right before dark two shooters, that he had pictures of, showed up on a grassy knob about 100 yards to the east. It was the split g2 8-pointer and the short-tined 10. Both were bucks Jansen knew very well. We didn’t get a shot at either of the bucks but it was an awesome first day. Oh I almost forgot it was 5 degrees and snowing all day so I was froze to death.
The next day we only saw a gang of does. On the third and final day of my hunt we slipped into a stand Jansen calls his water hole stand. It’s a little patch of timber butting up to standing corn, beans, oats, turnips and pretty much anything else a whitetail might strike a craving for. He had pictures of the short-tined 10 point in there three out of the last four mornings. Well, as good as the odds were, after sitting there all morning we didn’t have a single deer come within bow range. Just goes to show that when it comes to bow hunting whitetails nothing is guaranteed.
So, I had one evening left and I was going to head back to my home state of NC. The deer movement had really shut down where we were so Jansen said he was going to make a phone call to one of his buddy’s, Scott Wiegle, to see if he had any deer on his farm that we could possibly get set up on for my last evening hunt. Scott agreed and said to meet him at his house at 1:30. Well, before long we were settled into a stand in some timber between really thick bedding and a cut corn field that the deer had really been hitting hard. It was spitting snow and we hardly got in the tree when the deer started filtering by us. There was a parade of small bucks and does for about an hour and a half and as it got closer to dark, it got closer to me going home empty handed.
About 45 minutes before dark I caught a glimpse of a rack coming through the timber. It was about 130” 8 point. I knew this deer was only 2 ½ years old so as hard as it was, I let him walk right by us. He was with a couple bucks about the same caliber as him and as soon as they cleared I looked back down the ridge and saw a giant bodied deer walking right at us. Jansen and I both thought he was just a big mid 150 clean 8 point. Well we were wrong; when he broke 40 yards we were pleasantly surprised to notice a big drop-tine hangin’ down off of his right main beam. I almost fell out of the tree. Killin’ a big drop-tine buck had been a dream of mine for as long as I’ve been hunting. At this point as if I wasn’t already rattled enough he stops and stands behind a tree for almost 10 minutes. All of the sudden he turns straight at the tree and starts walking down the trail that filters by us at just 30 yards. Right as he was fixing to step into my shooting lane I drew my bow. I’m not sure if he heard me or saw me draw but regardless he looked at me and I didn’t have a shot. He needs to take two more steps. For some weird reason after a pretty intense stare down he decides to take those couple of steps right into my shooting lane. I settled the pin and…
Ok, you know the drill! Watch the show and see how the new Mathew’s Z7 performes on a giant Illinois buck. Thanks to Jansen, Lisa and family. They are truly great people. Also thanks to Scott Wiegle for letting me hunt his farm. It was an honor and his hunting property is a perfect example of what happens when a good hunter makes good decisions with his/her deer management. As always keep us in your prayers and we’ll keep you posted.
Levi and Samantha
