Opening Day Success in Illinois

The first few days of archery season were awfully good to Cameron Oswald. For the last four years, the trucking and farming shop mechanic has spent the opening week of archery season hunting with Ty Mills of Farmland Trophies Outfitting in famed Pike County, Illinois. Three of those years he has arrowed a good deer.

Cameron — who is from Reading, Pennsylvania — was actually after another buck they dubbed “Scar” on the first morning of the Illinois archery season as he sat in a stand overlooking an oak flat.

“But that afternoon, Ty decided to change things up a bit and had me move to a ladder stand a half-mile down the road that was situated in a draw that is surrounded by corn fields and a pond," Oswald said. “It was hot, and it was slow."

Despite that, he had some does behind him that were acting nervous so he stayed alert.

“I heard a noise behind me, so I turned around and nothing," stated Oswald. "I heard it again, so I turned around again and he stepped out.”

Cameron then watched the buck make a scrape and thrash a tree for nearly seven minutes before the buck worked his way over towards the stand.

“I had a limb in my way, so I had to make an adjustment in order to make the 13-yard shot.”

Cameron lost sight of the buck about 30 yards, but felt that he hit the deer a little high. They decided to back out for a bit before taking up the trail, but once they did the deer was quickly recovered right where Cameron lost sight of the it after the shot.

The mainframe 10-point has 14 scorable points and green scored 145 6/8” and was the first buck Cameron saw on opening day of the 2023 season. Sometimes, the first one is the right one!

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