I had some luck on the first day of Illinois Shotgun Deer Season. I saw several deer that morning but nothing really close enough for a clear shot. At around 10:30 am I came to the conclusion that my stand was not in the correct position, so I decided to move it by myself. The stand is a very good quality ladder stand with thick square tubing. When you add all three ladder sections, there is no way one person can lift it up to the tree. I decided what I would do would be to unstrap it from the tree and balance it on end in it's entirety from the tree I was on to the tree I needed to be 75 yards away. This was some under taking with low hanging limbs and large limbs littering the ground between here and there. I got the stand moved and climbed back into it around 11:20 am. I was exhausted and hot in the 55 degree heat wearing way too much clothes for that kind of labor. At 11:40 am a nice buck stepped out about 60 yards to my west. I seen him walk into the brush but when he stopped all I saw was his backside. I waited for him to step out from behind the tree that was covering his vitals. He turned west and slowly walked away with the tree blocking any kind of a shot. I grunted and snort wheezed to see if I could get him to turn around but it didn't work. I thought "That's the last I see of him." 20 minutes later a noise to my right and behind me caught my attending and it was him. He had tried to circle behind me and get down wind, Luckily I caught him slipping in at 85 yards and dropped him in his tracks.
I called him bruiser because his right ear was split all the way to the ear bud. You will be seeing him in several months mounted on the wall.
The four wheeler got used this weekend to haul my deer and Uncle Carl's doe out of the woods.
I had a very good season so far. I will have to fill my doe tag in the second season.
