11/24/2025
PSA: Long post ahead…. 🦌
Hunter, my father, and I road tripped up to Pike County, Illinois this past weekend to hunt with . This is our first trip as a trio out of state, and it did not disappoint to say the least.
I was fortunate enough to kill my best buck with my son sitting right by my side! All of which was made possible by my pops for booking this trip, and giving me an early birthday gift of a .350Legend!
3 days of sitting in the deer blind with my boy watching absolute stud graze soybean fields and on the prettiest food plots ramped up this kids deer IQ at warp speed. We watched bucks up to the 170” class chase does, breed does, fight other bucks, and play hard to get! Over our 30 hours on stand we watched a whopping total of 102 deer with countless great bucks.
Last night was our last sit and Hunter and I couldn’t get the deer to get in range for an ethical shot. Our guide put us in his best stand on the farms he guides and we watched 4 great deer DOG a doe down for an hour. All of them staying beyond 350 yards. A 130” 10pt, 120” 8pt, 150”10pt, and a 170” 12pt had us STRESSING as minutes ticked away to the end of legal light. As 5:12 rolled over on the clock, Hunter slid the bolt back on his gun, pulled his cartridge out, looked at me with a sad face, and said, “they’re just deer, dad…next time.” Right then and there we thanked the Lord for our time together in the blind, and the opportunity to see the incredible things we witnessed. We hugged it out, he shed 1 tear, I had something in my eye so I had one or two as well, we wiped that mess off, and he said, “Dad, next time I’m killing a GIANT.” 🩵 🦌
We’re on the way back, momma ! Thanks for keeping the home fire burning. See you soon!!
