titleist_03

In central Illinois this past weekend I saw some great signs of pre-rut kicking in. Finally temps are cooling down after a very warm week of upper 70' s Sat. and Sun. temps were in the 40' s and low 50' s for highs and 30' s for lows. Saturday even in a light rain I had a 6ptr 5 yards from my ground blind just asking to be shot but I let him go. He then noticed 7 does coming out of the corner of the timber and high tailed it at them looking for a little luvin. Then on Sunday morning I watched a small 6 and a decent 8 spar in the corner of a field 40 yards from my stand. My buddy I was with saw 2 bucks also and I saw a big 10 pointer over 500 yards away feeding in a corn field. Things are starting to look up now. I just wish I could get one in the freezer. Are the cooler temps starting to get more bucks on the move in you area? Is anyone else seeing any signs of the rut.

Even though it was hot last week, a kid in a small town near me killed a 333lbs 15 ptr. on Monday afternoon with temps in the low 80s!

rochelle

I live in central illinois as well and saw 3 bucks this am with one being a nice 8pt..i almost shot him but the land i hunt you can only kill one buck so I think i will wait til the rut kicks in to wait for something better. Like you titleist, I need some meat. but cant shoot does in my county til nov 1.

JZarr

I' m in IL as well and noticed a considerable amount of pre-rutting going on this weekend. I saw a fork chasing 2 does on Sat. night and then a little while later I saw a small 6 or 8 pt chasing a doe on the other side of my stand. Nothing big enough to shoot though.

Sun. morning the big 8 pt I saw last weekend was spotted on the other side of the ridge from where my stand is, just walking down a trail with his nose to the ground. He was probably no more than 80 yards away, but over the top of the hill where I couldn' t see him. Go figure.