WHY SO MANY TROPHY BUCKS

Heartland Outfitters located in Brown, Pike and Adams counties in west/central Illinois has 14,000 acres of hunting land.

"If you just want to shoot a deer here, I'd say your success ratio will be 90%," says Dr. Robert C. Russell, the owner of Heartland Outfitters. "However, because we want our hunters to take only trophy bucks, your chances are 25 - 35% with a bow and about 50% with either a black-powder rifle or a shotgun to bag a really trophy buck here."

Dr. Russell manages for trophy bucks that will score 130 points or better on the B&C scale. The deer on his lands have plenty of soybeans, corn, alfalfa, winter wheat and clover to graze on, and the fields are broken by woodlots. This diversity of habitat plus the rich Mississippi flood plain soil can produce an 8 point buck in 2 1/2-years. By 3 1/2-years, a buck can be a 130- or 140-point class buck. When the deer reach 4 1/2- to 5 1/2-years old, they may get in the 150-point or larger antler class.

Because Illinois has a relatively short season compared to Alabama, my home state, the bucks at Heartland Outfitters come by the stands calmer and not looking up like they do on many heavily pressured areas. Since hunter pressure is kept to a minimum, the chances of seeing and taking trophy bucks is much greater at Heartland than at many other hunting operations.

"We have 80% rebooking," Dr. Russell said. "Right now we have only three places available for our hunt, which gives you three days of bowhunting and three days of black-powder hunting during deer season 2000. We also have one spot available from the November 7 - 12 of 2000 and three spots left for bowhunting. A hunt at Heartland for five days cost $2,150, but if you're planning to go, you'd better book now for next year or 2001."

For more information on Heartland Outfitters and to receive a brochure of the trophy bucks that were taken there last season, write Heartland Outfitters, 480 South Meadowbrook Road, Springville, Illinois 62707 or call them at (217) 787-0050.

Check back each day this week for more from John's latest hunting trip...

Day One - Robb's Trophy Buck
Day Two - Why So Many Trophy Buck
Day Three - What A Hunt Includes At Heartland
Day Four - Talking Deer
Day Five - The Truth About Odor