Dan Perez is one of those deer hunters who is passionate and fortunate enough to work with whitetails year-round. He owns some Pike County, Illinois property and plants it, studies deer, nurtures his bucks, and carefully plans his days on stand in fall. It was a cool, misty and windy day in October, and Dan decided to hunt an open clover field from an elevated tower blind he’d built several years ago. He started seeing deer almost immediately– mostly does. But as the afternoon progressed and the rain let off, bucks began to emerge. One heavy-horned, very brown-racked buck stepped out. Then, suddenly, from the opposite end of the field, a huge 8-pointer walked into the clover. It was still early, only 4:30 p.m., but the 150-inch buck slowly walked, feeding, out of the timber and straight to the tower on a ridge crest of the clover field. The deer was broadside at 22 yards, stopped and dropped his head to feed. Dan quickly drew his bow and the arrow flew true, hitting the buck perfectly behind the shoulder. The 8-pointer instantly ran out of the field, made it to the timber edge, and fell hard. Outdoor Life Online EditorPerez was seeing so many deer he decided to stay in the tower stand and watch the whitetail show, as he had at least a couple hours of daylight remaining. More deer continued moving into the clover, when finally, another heavy-racked buck stepped out, this time from the opposite end of the field from where the earlier 8-pointer emerged. This was a bigger-rack deer, a 160-inch 10-pointer, and Dan watched him for 15 minutes as it covered 300 yards– coming directly to the tower. At 25 yards the buck offered a perfect shot, Dan drew, released, and connected again. Outdoor Life Online EditorIn 25 minutes he’d taken two bucks with gross rack scores collectively measuring over 300 inches! The 8-pointer was a 6.5-year-old buck and weighed 280-pounds. The 10-pointer was 250 pounds and 4.5 years old. Illinois allows landowners to take two bucks per year. Dan had reached his limit in less than a half hour. And he didn’t even get to hunt his best deer stands in the hardwood timber surrounding the clover field. Outdoor Life Online Editor
What happened this fall to Dan Perez was a shocker even to a bowhunter who has arrowed over 40 Pope & Young-class whitetails.
