Things Are Beginning To Heat Up

    Check out this buck shot near Yates City, IL on Saturday morning.  It was shot about 15 minutes from my hunting ground.  After a slow and disappointing Saturday morning, this picture found it's way to my hands and that was all the motivation I needed to get in an afternoon hunt.

    This buck has a good story to go with it.  For a few years, an old friend had been telling Kenny Albaugh that he was welcome to hunt on his property.  This year Kenny finally decided to take him up on it.  Good choice.  He shot the buck at first light, only knowing it was a decent buck.  He thought was a nice 2 year old deer.  The tracking job was a challenge, so my wife's cousin J.R. helped him take up the track later that morning.  They split up and my wife's cousin ended up finding the buck.  Before Kenny could get there, J.R. threw a jacket over the buck's head.  When Kenny got close enough, J.R. took the jacket off and Kenny couldn't believe his eyes!  He had no idea how nice the buck really was!

   We've been hearing a few stories over the weekend of bucks (mostly little ones) with noses to the ground, but it seems like the seeking phase of the rut hasn't hit full swing yet.  Hopefully the action will really start to pick up this next week.  The only downside is the weather.  The forecast calls for upper 60's for the next 3-4 days-not exactly ideal for the whitetail rut.