Finally got my Illinois buck!!

I shot a old buck in November bow hunting in Illinois on a lease me and 2 buddies have, he was an old buck that I had found a shed from last season. I hit him high behind the shoulder and angling down and it hit in the opposite shoulder with about 3 inches of arrow sticking out the entry side and no exit hole. We searched and couldn't find any blood and I never found him(didn't help that he was in crp).My buddies went up the day after Christmas to hunt and Jeff tagged out yesterday and called me and said he was going to comb the crp to see if he could find my buck. I couldn't believe it this morning when he called and told me he had found his remains. Luckily I have an extra cape so I can still mount this old dude. I hate that the coyotes got to eat him instead of me but I'm excited to at least get his rack. I will post pics of the rack tomorrow when they return. Here's a trail cam pic of him. He's got 6 1/2 in bases and 19" inside, he won't score high but he's an old buck and a real trophy to me

Congrats.Glad you found him.

Thanks Bruce, its a sickening feeling to lose a deer of any size. But it really hurts when its one that you've spent a lot of time in the stand to try to kill. Here's his shed from last year

Glad you got him and glad you’re putting him on the wall!

Congrats! I know how you feel. The day before muzzleloader season i got to watch my target buck gimp off with a bad bad blown up shoulder. Ive been watching him for 4 years and that was the first and probably last time i see him

Nice to have closure.
Nice buck!

Nice that you found him.

My buddy just sent me a pic of him holding them, they are heading back tomorrow so ill finally get to hold them in my hands

Too bad you didn't get the meat, can't eat horns.

That's a real nice buck. Glad you got something off of him.

Nice bases. How far was he? Very hard to find dead deer in tall grass.

He had only went about 200 yds total but its the thickest crp I've ever saw, I had walked within yards of him twice but we had no blood where the arrow didn't exit and it made it tough

Nice job....now you'll be able to sleep.....most bow hunters have been in your shoes, if they say not, well they haven't hunted long enough...Heavy CRP is a great bedding area, not good if you don't have any blood......I found my buddies Illinois buck 1.5 days after he shot it in heavy CRP, only because the crows were working the carcass after the coyotes fed on the deer...before finding it I thought I was going to have to bring him to the ER he was sick, as it was a booner killed with a bow....

I guess tracking dogs on a leash are not allowed there ?

In MO we can now use tracking dogs. I walked within yards of a buck I had shot too. Only way I narrowed it down was I could smell his rut stench.

Beautiful deer, glad they found him.

Thanks guys. He brought him to me today. He's not a big scoring deer but his mass is unreal. One base is over 7". He'd definitely went down hill since last year but I don't care what he scores, I love hunting old mature deer

great glad they found him for you