Assumptions are dangerous animals. I saw that at last weekend’s Illinois Deer & Turkey Classic in Bloomington.
Veteran measurer Tim Walmsley (right) and NAW contributor Ron Willmore (center) check out one of the B&C typicals scored at the 2007 Illlinois Deer & Turkey Classic.
The Prairie State has been cranking out so many monster bucks every year that I take such production for granted. And I’m talking about scores of giants. In fact, according to state measurer (and North American Whitetail contributor) Ron Willmore, the 2005 and 2006 shows combined saw an incredible 101 Boone and Crockett-sized bucks brought in, for an average of just over 50 per year. So when I got to this year’s event, even with lousy weather I expected at least 40 monsters to be there.
As it turned out, we got far fewer than we'd hoped for, with 30 B&C trophies on display.
Yes, the weather was cold, windy and rainy, with ice on major highways north of Bloomington shutting down some routes. Still, the measurers and I were surprised at how “few” record-book deer showed up. I put “few” in quotation marks because 30 B&C deer is still far more than most other states produce in a year. However, it’s only a shadow of the number we’ve typically seen at the classic. In fact, it might have been the weakest showing ever at this event.
Now, don't get me wrong. Some truly exceptional deer showed up, including two typicals with net scores of just under 200 inches. That’s world-class stuff, and you’ll be reading about these giants in future issues of North American Whitetail. But the biggest non-typical registered was under 230 net, far lower than the score of the usual winning entry. And again, the total number of trophies was down significantly from what we're accustomed to seeing.
There’s obviously a lot of bias in any sample such as last weekend provided. So — for now, at least — I’m unwilling to assume that Illinois produced way fewer B&C deer in 2006 than had been the case in other recent season. Eventually, we’ll know if this latest display was an anomaly or a sign of things to come. Let’s hope it’s the former, not the latter.
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