After hunting nothing but mature bucks for many seasons, the author enjoyed using some new equipment, going back to his hunting roots and taking a nice doe.
When I arrived in west-central Illinois on November 30, 2022, in preparation for the second gun hunt, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped as I carried my duffel inside the lodge at Performance Outdoors. World-class bucks adorned the walls. Though I live just one state away in Wisconsin and had long dreamed of hunting in the Land of Lincoln, this was my maiden voyage. Illinois is acclaimed as one of the top places to kill a monster buck. I teemed with anticipation, as I fantasized about what sort of monster buck the rolling Illinois ridges would produce.
While I prefer to have a gun dialed in well in advance of a hunt like this, I was invited to join a group of fellow outdoor scribes and manufacturer representatives only a few weeks beforehand when another hunter canceled. Federal Premium’s JJ Reich assured me that he had a Traditions NitroFire .50-cal muzzleloader all rigged up and that I’d have time to shoot it the afternoon I arrived.
That’s exactly what I did after dropping my luggage in my room and picking my jaw up off the lodge floor. This was my first experience with Federal’s FireStick (more details below). After four shots, I was completely confident in my shooting and the sweet new muzzleloader rig.
Following the range time and a home-cooked dinner, I got a game plan from the head guide. He shared the property I would be hunting on via HuntStand Pro Whitetail, which gave me an overview of the stands, food plots and access routes. Basically, I’d jump on a QuietKat e-bike, use its red headlight to light the path and occasionally pause to reference my phone so that I knew exactly where I was on the property. With the game plan set, I readied my gear for the following day’s hunt, chatted with the other hunters and called it a night.
Bring on the Bucks!
The following morning, finding my stand using HuntStand Pro Whitetail and a QuietKat e-bike was seamless; I was all settled in before daylight. I heard leaves crunching at the very first wink of legal shooting light. My heart rate skyrocketed as I imagined a double-drop-tined buck moseying toward an opening in the timber. I strained to connect a subject to the noise source. It turned out to be a doe. But wait, more footfalls were coming my way. My heart raced even faster, but it slowed back down when a 2 1/2-year-old buck came trotting by, nosing the ground behind the doe.
Tough Hunting
When the morning was over, I’d seen a pile of deer but no mature bucks. I moved to a different stand nearby because the wind direction was shifting. Other than a buck fawn and then some coyotes right at the end of shooting light, the action was slow.
I hunted all day for the next few days. I sat in the timber from dawn until about 1 p.m. each day, then moved to food sources for the afternoon patrol. I saw deer most mornings and afternoons, but the midday hours were slow. Sit after sit, I saw lots of does, but I didn’t want to potentially jeopardize my buck hunting by cracking a doe so I held off.
Time to Take a Doe
On the last morning, I was still holding out for a mature buck and let some does pass by. But, at about noon that day, I looked over my shoulder and spotted a large lone doe. She was browsing behind my stand, so I had to shift around to acquire her with my camera (I was filming my hunt) and my gun.
I glanced around in all directions to make sure that a buck wasn’t sneaking through, and when I confirmed that all was clear, I followed her with the camera as she hit an opening 70 yards away in the timber. I locked the camera in place, then raised my muzzleloader. The crosshairs floated in a small circle as I squeezed the trigger, and smoke filled my scope. I knew that I’d hit my mark.
The old doe bucked on impact and charged right toward the tree I was in before collapsing only about 30 yards away. There was no need to reload, for my hit had been perfect. Good thing, because it took me a bit to reload; I was shaking so badly.
It’s the Simple Joys
It very much reminded me of my teenage years when I shot a lot of does. It was nice to accept that I wasn’t going to kill a big buck — not that they were there — return to my roots and kill a doe for the freezer. In fact, Reich found similar satisfaction in relinquishing his big-buck hunt to fill his doe tag (see image). Even for a dedicated buck hunter like me, hunting can’t be 100 percent about killing big bucks all of the time. Whether it’s taking a doe or watching a youth hunter or your spouse kill their first deer, there’s just something about the simple joys of hunting.
Field-Proven Deer Gear
Federal’s FireStick is an insatiable revolution in modern muzzleloading. It has a measured charge of clean-burning Hodgdon Triple Eight powder in a sealed plastic capsule. A Federal 209 muzzleloading primer fits into the back of the capsule. This not only makes reloading faster and easier than with loose or pelletized powders, but it also means the Triple Eight powder isn’t susceptible to moisture when hunting in the rain or condensation common when exposing your muzzleloader to multiple climates.
I used QuietKat’s Apex Pro to commute around the property during my hunt. It operates silently, the only noise being the fat tires rolling over dry leaves — no two-legged footfalls that deer find alarming. It also reduces human ground scent, and reaching stands hundreds of yards from parking areas takes merely minutes without breaking a sweat. I simply laid the bike down beneath my stand, and the deer paid it no attention. The Apex Pro has plenty of power to traverse slopes, especially when employing the pedal-assist feature. For properties with trails interconnecting stand locations, I believe this is the most effective and least impactful way to access stands.
Navigating the property I was provided to hunt was simple using HuntStand Pro Whitetail. As I mentioned in the article, the guides had markers and trails all over the property map so that I could see stand locations and access trails. I also used its HuntZone feature to stay on top of my wind. The Whitetail Activity Forecast, which gives both graph and table views with percentage-based movement scores was very accurate. When movement percentages were high, deer moved. When it was low, movement was slow.
Bushnell’s Engage binocular provides stunning clarity and light transmission in a 10x42mm platform. With it, I easily identified deer in the timber during low light conditions. The Traditions NitroFire muzzleloader I carried — specifically designed for the Federal FireStick — was topped with Bushnell’s Elite 4500 2.5-10x40mm riflescope. Like the Engage binocular, it provides all of the light transmission to address low-light encounters. Everything about it is ideal for most deer hunting situations.
Although the rut was basically over, I didn’t hesitate to tip over Primos’ The Can throughout the hunt. I paired the doe bleats with occasional grunts using Primos’ Buck Roar II. Although I didn’t call in any bucks, the sounds are authentic, and I’ve had success using these calls during the rut.
I wore Veil Camo’s Insulator Parka and Bib during the hunt. The Rush pattern blended well with the trees I hunted from. The pattern features an ideal of light, mid and dark tones to melt right into the timber, whether it’s shady or sunny. The garments themselves are comfortable, but I probably should’ve had more base layers underneath for a December hunt. The wind chilled me pretty badly a couple of mornings. I’d say these are best for temperatures slightly above freezing.
