Pro Staff Updates
Posted By
Jared Mills
at
10/20/2011 12:00:00 AM
Kamps Brothers--10/30/11
Mitchell and I were out over the weekend. Overall movement is still pretty slow. We did however have one four year old on his feet Thursday evening. He came in just perfect for us and Mitchell put him down for the count. Check out next weeks show to see that. The rest of the weekend only consisted of a few does and a button buck. Trailcams still showing the big buck activity after dark. Hopefully things will start to be rocking next week.
Todd Anderson-
Northwest IL
The last week has seen some good things happening to get the bucks moving in the right direction for hunting. The first thing is that the farmers are continuing to take out corn. I’d say that roughly 50-60% of the corn around us is out and more is coming out daily, obviously this takes a lot of cover away from the bucks and forces them to get into the timber. The second good thing is that we’ve had some great cool evenings and we all know that the bucks respond well to cold weather. We have been seeing a lot of scrapes showing up in the woods the last few days, but we still aren’t seeing those day-time encounters or pictures. We’re seeing some pretty good bucks coming into the cameras at night so the strong pre-rut is very close. I would expect that with good weather we should start seeing bucks responding to calls and start seeing them checking does mid-next week, Halloween weekend should be very good with cold temps. 
With this in mind we are going to start focusing on staging areas within larger blocks of timber where we have historically seen a lot of rubbing and scraping activity. We plan on hitting these areas hard for 2 weeks and then moving to be closer to doe bedding and feeding areas as the bucks start to get more interested in breeding. With the new moon coming in next week that should help to get the bucks moving on the edges of daylight and hopefully we’ll find ourselves in the right place at the right time.
Rich Fry-
Northern IL
Well, bad luck has hit me again. Went to review footage I had gotten for updates and discovered a problem with camera. I think I got the problem fixed, but the only way to give update is through this blog.
We were able to make it out on Saturdays. Oct. 1st & 2nd opening weekend temps were 36F and 32F with no wind and we were able to see doe and fawn. Next weekend was youth gun season; temps were very hot 84 & 86F so I was not that disappointed when we had soccer games to play instead of hunting. Oct.15th & 16th, temps were 47 & 55F but with steady 20mph winds with gusts to 35mph. Could only hunt Saturday, saw nothing, but after the winds past and brought in cooler temps the deer were moving and moving during daylight hours. Here is a picture of 2K that was right at our stand as soon as the heavy winds and rain stopped. The game plan is coming together. The mock scrapes using Timber Valley Scents are working.
Temps are cooling down and a lot of Ag fields are picked We have picked up a new hitlist buck with a droptine on the right side of his rack. He is called "DP drop tine right". He is running the same creek as “Tom”. We have high winds today up to 50 mph and rain and cold for next couple days.
So Saturday I will be in stand hopefully filming one of these bucks coming down the creek line to freshen a scrape looking for that first doe. Good luck to all during 2011 Illinois season.
Paul Marshall/ Scott Reinmann- Northern Illinois
It's getting close to the last week in October and here in northern Illinois the temps are dropping. Paul and I are seeing fresh scrapes and rubs and also seeing new bucks on our trail cameras. The weather is looking great for the rut; highs in the 40's and lows in the 30's. That should get those big bucks up and searching for that first hot doe!
I hope you all have a safe and successful hunting season.
Shane Workman/ Chaz Askew- Central Illinois
Deer movement has been minimal this season thus far, and that is being generous. Alot of deer are moving, they just seem to prefer moving at night. I assume this is because of the warm temps in the daytime.
The unforgiving winds have really put a damper on our time in the stands this season. When hunting a small parcel of land, as we do, you really have to be careful not to educate the deer too much with scent and activity. We would hate to have a great early season and then not see a deer for any late season hunts.
We have decided to stay out of the stands this weekend and let this October lull make its way off the radar. We will be hitting it again next weekend and the middle of November will provide us with a week straight of hunting the rut.
We have moved some stands around into areas that we have been wanting to hunt for some time, but never really have. As anyone that hunts whitetail knows, every year is a learning experience, and they can make you feel pretty darn silly at times. I think we have a few good setups now where the deer seem to be moving. Now if we can just get them on the same schedule as we are, things will come together.
Looking forward to what this season holds for us!! Stay tuned to the guys from Illinois as we try to find some giants out there this season!!
