Hunter: John Mainor
Points: 12 (6L, 6R)
County: Cook
Season: 2022-2023
Hunt Story
I got into the stand at 17:30 saw 3 doe and their 2 yearlings feeding until 18:45, until they ran off. About 5 minutes later a big doe came in, alone, and kept looking behind her with lots of tail movements while she worked a scrape nearby. She then exited the woods into the cotton field. It was at this time that I heard a low grunt. I looked around and saw another deer. His head was down below the brush so I couldn't tell how big he was just yet. He proceeded to work the scrape and slowly headed toward the doe. She was standing in the field 35 yards away, she bleated as he exited, and he lifted his head. It was at this moment that I finally got to see his rack. It was Bruno! A buck that my cousin and I had named after just receiving pictures of him that same morning first time! The doe started to run, he began to follow her. I made several calls trying to stop him. I had no luck. I then quickly put him into my crosshairs and pulled the trigger. He kept going, I shot again, he then fell to the ground. I waited 10 minutes before trying to retrieve him only to not find him where I believe he should be. I called some my dad to bring the dog to help track him down. While me and my cousin continue looking and following the blood trail. Once the dog arrived he found him rather quickly laying about 125 yards from where I had shot him at first. We had simply walked all around him this whole time. Thanks to the dog we were able to find him and retrieve my buck!
