Imagine it's the second day of the first Illinois firearms season in 2007. Imagine you have set up before daylight in a ground blind. An hour after daylight, you hear shots from the neighboring property. You turn your head and see the largest buck you have ever seen coming directly toward you. You lift your shotgun and prepare for a shot.

After hearing a volley of shots on his neighbor's property on the second day of Illinois' first firearms season last year, Mark Wakefield looked over and saw this outlandish wall of tines coming through the brush. That's when the trouble started!

At this point, what is the worst possible sound you could hear? No, it's not your cell phone ringing because you forgot to turn it off. And it's not some hunter on a 4-wheeler ruining your hunt. It's not even the neighbor's dog barking and scaring off your buck. It's the most sickening sound you could possibly hear on a quiet morning. . . . As you squeeze the trigger of your shotgun, you hear a gut-wrenching click. Then you hear it again!

That was the sound Mark Wakefield heard as the buck of a lifetime stood only 50 yards away. Mark is a seasoned hunter. Prior to the 2007 season, he had bowhunted and gun hunted deer for over 20 years. He had taken four P&Y bucks and six bucks with a gun that scored between 130 and 150 inches. He also had taken one buck with a gun that netted B&C -- something very few deer hunters manage to do.

So when Mark entered the woods on that fateful Saturday, Nov. 17, he was guided by considerable experience. Not only did he pick a choice hunting location, but he also had in his hands one of the best shotguns money can buy.

A FAST-PACED MORNING
During shotgun season in Illinois, the amount of shooting from adjacent properties frequently gets deer moving. Mark had seen some does right after daylight. Then, around 8 a.m., he heard a volley of shots approximately a quarter of a mile away on the neighboring property. If you're like most hunters, the first thing you do when you hear shots that close is have your shotgun up and ready, just in case your neighbor missed.

"I always go with the theory that if I hear one shot, the deer is probably dead. If I hear two shots, the deer might be dead. And if I hear three shots, somebody missed!" Mark said.

As mentioned, after Mark heard the shots, he turned his head to look in the general direction of the sound. He was greeted with the sight of a giant buck moving through the brush, angling toward him. Although the buck had not seen him, the huge whitetail ran into his scent stream at about 50 yards out. That stopped him dead in his tracks in the thick brush. Mark tried desperately to find a hole to shoot through.

page: 1 | 2