Dream Season: Illinois Bruiser

This week on the Pennsylvania Woodsman we are back with part 2 of our conversation with Cole Seitzinger in what we are calling a "Dream Season".  If you missed last week, Cole shares his 2023 PA P&Y buck kill and the obstacles experienced along the way.  It was 8 days later Cole was able to lay hands on his target 150 class buck in the Prairie State.  However, the theme of overcoming obstacles remains in place!

Despite initial setbacks and doubts, Cole's wife encouraged him to go on his Illinois hunt after a 12-year hiatus, arriving a day late due to family obligations.  Cole bounced around the farm until landing in a tree that proved to be successful.  Initially, the wind kept him from hunting his primary target location.  The tree he picked was a good distance away but allowed him to observe from a distance.  The power of November had his target buck on his feet, which just happened to cruise by his tree in bow range mid-morning. Lots of lessons learned from stand selection and shot placement, to tracking, trusting your instincts, and sharing memories made in the field.

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Mitchell Shirk (00:00.014)

Yeah, last year was like a dream season for me, honestly. It was because you fast forward, it was less than a week when you... Yeah, it was eight days. Eight days. Eight days and I almost didn't go on that trip. Yeah, so talk about the planning of that trip a little bit because again, dad life, like how did that trip come into your lab? So I've had kind of an open invitation to this place in Illinois and it was actually 10 years ago I went there and hunted.

I shot a buck the first night I was there. it ended up being a doe with antlers. was really the craziest thing ever. And then, and then life happened. That was the year. So it was 12 years ago. Right. Yeah. 12 years ago, this fall that I bought my house and I shot that deer. Okay. So yeah, life happened and I didn't go back out there. I just thought it was too much of a sacrifice. Money time. Yeah.

just didn't do it. Even though I love hunting, like some people go out every year, it's tough for me to do that. I kind of count my blessings. Like if I have a good year, I don't need to go away for weeks on end and chase deer and now with the kids hunting. So I was talking to my buddy out there and we had some cameras out and I was like, I'm coming out this year. Like I want to out of state.

I'm going to come out and he said, yeah, absolutely. Let's do it. So I planned this hunt the whole time and I took those three days off first week in November to hunt PA. My brother comes home the next week on Sunday from North Carolina and he hunts Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. So I was like, I'll take the following week off. I'll stay home because I didn't want to be in Illinois too long. I just didn't want to do a nine day trip away from home family. So I was like, I'll hunt at home with my brother.

Monday, Tuesday, leave Wednesday for Illinois. So that way I'm home half the week for the family thing, wife, kids, I get to spend some time with my brother. So Wednesday comes and my two of my kids are sick and it's just a mess and I'm already off. they're home from school on Wednesday.

Mitchell Shirk (02:27.01)

Then Thursday, same thing. think I took my daughter to the doctor Thursday morning. So I was supposed to leave Wednesday. I already pushed it. I was like, yeah, I'm home. You go to work. We'll figure it out. this is Thursday. Yep. Okay. Thursday. So all day goes on. I'm home. I'm like texting my buddy out there. He's like, I didn't want to.

I didn't want to get sick and bring it out to him and his daughter and his family because I was going to stay with them. So I'm texting him. I'm like, man, I just don't know what's going to happen. Like long story short, he's like, you know, don't worry about it. My wife's cool with this. You know, we got a room set up for you. You know, as long as you think you're feeling good, come on, if you can. So Thursday tab gets home from work and she, she texts me middle of the day Thursday. She said,

pack your truck. Nice. She said pack your truck. When I get home from work, can you leave. I was like, okay. I was like, God, I'm gonna drive all night Thursday now. Like whatever. Like, yeah, done. Yes. Yes, got it. to have a wife like that is a blessing in its own. So when you get the text pack your truck. When I get home from work, you can leave. I haven't got that. Yeah, that was it. And she knew I wanted to go. But at the same time it was

I'm not gonna like leave her out hanging to dry. Right exactly. So I think she knew I wanted to go. She knew she would be able to handle it. The kids were hopefully on the up, you know, within a couple days. So bam, Thursday night I drive, get out there. So I'm a day late. I slept in the middle of the night Thursday, get out there Friday morning. Went right to whatever the farm store out there, buy my license. Didn't even get to, I don't even think I got to meet.

Joe out there, my buddy went right to the farm and talked to his dad. was at the farm. I'm going to slip out here for the evening. Where do think I should go? There's a couple of stands here and here and here. Yeah. All right. So I threw my saddle stuff on, grabbed my sticks, actually climbed up into one of his stands. His cousin had shot 160 inch buck out of there the last week, a week before that. And he's like, that's a good spot. I was like, yeah.

Mitchell Shirk (04:51.234)

man, something about already killing a deer here the week before just...

I don't like sitting there with that in my mind. Like I know, yeah, you can kill back to back, you're out of the same stand, easy. But I was like, yeah, it just doesn't feel right. So I kept pushing. And I'm up on the edge of this cut corn, but they cut the corn Thursday as I was driving out there. wow. Cut all the corn. So I was like, this is good. So I get out there. This is going to kind of relate to the saddle thing. I'm on this point, he has a ladder stand and it's like down in and away and I don't like it.

So right on this point, this huge cedar tree, big, big branches, everything. You could never get a lock in it. Couldn't do anything with it. It's that big. And like just branches every. It's like, I can put a stick at the base here and just climb up these branches and probably hang up there. So I do with the saddle and like 10 feet off the ground, but it's perfect. It's just this finger trees. comes out into the cut corn and it just, it was, it was where I needed to be like boom up here.

put my platform in, I could like walk around the branches. So I, was, it was awesome. Yeah. Cut a little bit of the dead branches away. So I had some shooting lanes. saw a lot of deer that night. not, no, no big buck, but I did grunt one across the cut corn to me a buck. was like, I could shoot you like all day long. This is, this is a cool spot. So this is day one, Friday night, Saturday morning, I had a whole different stand. actually climbed into one of their stands. So this is

I did have my saddle on, but this is the one time I didn't need it. I climbed up into one of their ladder stands as an observation. And, this buck I had on camera out there quite a bit that week, you know, mostly at night, but quite a bit he was on the cameras. had three cameras out and he would cruise in front of them every now and then. And I could see this tree line from where I was at that he was on camera on. And it's like cut corn, cut corn, big draws and tree lines. Not a lot of woods on this property.

Mitchell Shirk (06:53.102)

So I'm in an observation stand, that same buck that I grunted to me the night before, 600 yards away, 500 yards away comes right by me and he's grunting like crazy. I'm like, you know, what the heck are you the only buck on this farm? And, no, I saw another, I think it was a, it was either an eight or nine. And at this point, so I don't know if you do this, but yeah, I love killing mature deer. I love going after the big one. At this point, I was only planning on hunting.

Friday when I got out there, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and I think I was going to come home Tuesday. maybe five days, four days to hunt. I already cut it short, kind of messed it up, got to get back to work the following week. So in my mind,

Mitchell Shirk (07:43.596)

The big buck wasn't the priority. And I would have shot any three -year -old that walked by me. Yeah, I understand. inches on its head. Yeah. Like in a heartbeat. Opening night, I would have done that. And I told my buddy Joe that. was like, he's like, shoot whatever you want. I OK. I said, just everything that was going on and the build -up to it and like, I'm here. I already shot that PA buck. I was satisfied, kind

Anything at this point is a bonus. It's just bonus. like, again, I start to feel that like, man, am I, do I feel guilty for coming out here to do this now? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so it's just tough. So, so this little, it's not little, but this eight points, probably 125 inches. It might've been a nine. I can't really recall exactly. He was far away and he's pushing dough around and I'm, it's windy and I'm cracking antlers together. doing anything I can just to try to get his attention.

And I was like, whatever. He didn't come. So then the landowner comes driving across the field at like nine o 'clock in the morning. He's like, I didn't know you'd still be out here. And he's like, I'm going cut some firewood. All right, cool. I was like, he goes, you want to go see some spots? He's like, yeah, heck yeah. I said, let me get rid of some of my clothes. He's like, just hop in your truck if you want. Drive across the cornfields if you don't mind driving your truck. So I'm following him around the farm on this. He's like, we get out.

prop up a new ladder, not a new one, an old ladder stand that fell down. He's like, yeah, help me get this up. We'll put a new strap on it. So I was like, yeah, this is cool. You know, whatever. Mid morning and I saw this area I wanted to get into. And I was like, that's, that's a really, that's a really good spot. He's like, yeah, this is, I forgot what he called it. It's like the North and South and, but he's like a lot of big buck got shot up here. I was like, yeah, I can tell. Like it just looks good and it bumps up against the property next to it.

But it's like a drawl that just comes up into their property. I was like, yeah, okay. I like this. So I'm like, okay, I can get in here with a saddle the next morning and trying to figure out what to do for the next. Well that evening I went and hunted a food plot and they were actually clearing trees with a big heavy equipment, a couple hundred yards from me in the middle of the property. Yeah, that stuff. Like it is what it is. I didn't see any deer. I was like, okay, man, what do do? So.

Mitchell Shirk (10:07.148)

That was more of an observation sit too, that second evening as well. So, in my head I'm like, okay I know where those buck and doe were from the morning hunt. I was like, I know I want to get up into that other finger where we just visited.

And I'm trying to figure out what to do. So the wind just happened to not be good enough for getting into the top one. So I was like, okay, I was like, I'm just going to slip in along that finger where all those deer were this morning. I'll slip in there because my wind's good and I'll find a spot on the edge of that cut corn and I'll hunt closer to that. I'll shoot that eight point or nine point if he comes by. So I'm walking in, this is going in blind with the saddle. Didn't have anything picked out.

I'm walking in walking in like the edge of this finger is just thick and scrub brush probably small trees and I'm just like my god, this is gonna be hard I get to Basically where I want to be I can I can see like 250 yards down not see it because it's in the dark But like I'm at the top of this crest where I know that's where I was observing from And I'm like and also I see like something shining on this one tree Like what the heck is that?

And it's a huge oak tree and it's kind of out and then there's actually like an old road that goes down next to it and it's kind of like open. Real low open. So it's kind of off the, it's off the field a little bit, the tree, but it's open area in there. And I'm like, that kind of looks good. And like I can shoot to the field and like, yeah, it's thick as crap everywhere else. I'm like, what is that thing shining in the tree? So I'm like looking.

And I switched from green light to regular flashlight. And here it's like this old. Make shift homemade welded ladder stand step, not ladder stand steps connected to the tree with big huge straps. And I'm like two of the straps are broken, but this thing's like grown into the tree and I'm shining up. And then there's this old homemade welded tree stand hang on tree stand way up in the oak tree, like 25 feet up.

Mitchell Shirk (12:23.618)

And I'm like, man.

I set my sticks down, I go over to the base of tree, I set my sticks down, I'm like, pulling on this ladder. my word. I'm like, this strap's broke at the bottom, but then I see a huge strap holding it on. I'm like, phew, saddle, I'm gonna start climbing this thing and see what this is like. That's a bold move, Maverick. So I had my saddle, like lineman's belt. Yeah, right, right. Like there tons of branches everywhere, and I'm like, this thing's solid. Getting my bow up here is gonna be another problem.

because stuff everywhere in a rope on like climbing over branches under branches so much fish in my boat rope through and i get up i get up i get up i get all the way top of my in the dark starts sweat and i get to the stand on like

That still has one strap connected to it. It looks like it's grown into the tree permanently. I was like, yeah, here it goes. I threw it up onto a branch above it, my tether. I throw it up onto that branch, hook on, take my lineman's belt off, and I'm like, yep. I step onto the stand, I'm like bouncing around, it's like a metal frame. So I'm like stepping all over, I'm like, thing's rock solid.

my word. I'm like, I'm gonna hang off this in my saddle. Like I'm safe in the saddle, so don't even care if the stand would fall. True. Like I'm hooked to the tree in the saddle, what do I care? So I used it like it was my platform. Yeah. Left all my sticks in my platform at the base of the tree. And now I'm shining lights like from up there like, Jesus, I can't see like anything. It's so thick on the one side, like that, but you know, this is it. Like we're gonna be cracking light here soon.

Mitchell Shirk (14:12.226)

this is because it's gonna get with the right scouting in daylight and find something treatment lanes here and i'm dying off this old who knows how long it's been there thirty years probably in my saddle mike she humongous oak tree i got good shooting close i can't shoot out of the cut cornfield a little bit here and there you know and i'm in the saddle so i can really move around a lot and open up my shot opportunities and doesn't get light

I can see clear across the farm. This is so weird because I'm at like a high point in the middle of the farm. And I can see clear across the farm and I can see the field and the patch of woods that I wanted to be in. 660 yards away. Okay. And I see a deer running across that field. I'm like, holy crap. From all the way down here, binoculars. I'm like, Jesus. I was like, that's the big one we have on camera. I'm like, he's going right into those woods where I wanted to be.

And like with the wind I would have been able to make it happen but could have blown him out going in there, who knows. And walk me back for, why did you not end up going to there in the morning? Because of the wind. It just seemed like it was off. It's for one it's harder because I have to go through the whole property to get there then I have to walk across this top cut cornfield. And the wind just didn't seem right so I was like the wind's perfect for the evening up there. I'll go hunt this in the morning, boom I'll get down.

and we'll make our way up there for the evening. Right. But of course, as it works out, I can see up there and this bucks running across there at seven o 'clock in the morning. I'm like, holy crap, like that's far. And I'm looking on my phone on hunt stand and I actually measured it. I was like, he's right there. Boom, here I am measured it out. And it was six hundred and fifty, seven hundred yards to the far point. So then I'm watching again and I see. I see a coyote running across the field up there. I'm like, what?

Heck and then this big bucks following the coyote across the field. So we went left to right now he's going right to left and I'm just like I Gotta get up there Like that's where I need to be right and Same thing, you know you bounce ideas off people. I Gotta get up there right? I'm asking my brother. I'm asking my buddies from work, whatever What would you do? Yeah, I'd probably get up there some were like

Mitchell Shirk (16:40.29)

You know, hunt the morning, get down or somewhere like get down now and get up there if that's where he's at. So I ended up seeing another buck closer to me and that's still wasn't like him or nothing. I was like, I'm gonna try to call this buck in. It was a goofy seven point. I probably wouldn't have shot him, but I was like, I'm gonna try to see if I can get him in and you know, he doesn't, ignored me. and I decided to sit the morning there.

I'm like, okay, like get it together, figure out how you want to get in there, what you're going to do. Let's just enjoy this hunt here. So 10 o 'clock is knocking. It's nine 30. I think I might've had it in my head. Nine 30. I'm going to pack up. But before I pack up, I'm going to eat all the food that I brought. Not all of it, but like I'm going to eat my food now. I brought, I never do this. That morning I stopped at a gas station in Casey's out there.

And I filled up a thermos full of coffee. never, ever do that. Really? Never. gotta have coffee. I filled up a whole thermos full of it and I was like, I'm just sipping on this coffee and eating my food at 9 .30. I'm like, yeah, this is nice. You turned life off and just enjoyed the fact that you're in another state with no cares in the world other than deer hunting. I'm gonna eat my food.

I'm gonna get down, I already have all my stuff with me, I'm gonna slip down through the bottom here and go up there and hunt this evening. I'm gonna be in there really early. Like this is awesome. So have you heard any of this story yet? I have not. So you don't know where this is going, which is great. So I'm still talking to people and Greg, my cousin, I don't know if he was, we must have been working the night before, but I finally like started talking to him at like 9 .45.

I was like, yeah, this is what's going on. sent him a screenshot. This is where the deer was. I'm packed up. Literally had put my backpack on and was gonna lower my bow. But for some reason I took it back off, hung it up and I pulled my phone out and I was talking to Greg. So I was like, backpack was on at one point. My bow was still there with an arrow in it.

Mitchell Shirk (19:02.05)

But for whatever reason, I hung my backpack back up quick and I had a pocket in my front and I'm texting Greg. And earlier in the morning, a deer had slipped by behind me and it's super thick and I thought it was a doe and it just slipped through real quick. So I'm literally facing my tree and the cut cornfields in front of me and I'm texting Greg and I hear a deer. And without hesitation, I

put the phone in my pocket, grab my bow and turn back to my left. Like didn't even have a clue what this was or anything. Just grab my bow, turn back to my left and I saw a buck coming like through the thick stuff, right to left behind me. And I was like, man. And that just the way he was walking. hear it. Could you see him at this point? I could just see parts. Yeah. Outline him moving through the thick stuff. I'm like, it is so thick in there and

Boom, I see a flash of his left antler and I know it's at minimum a five point side. And at the time there wasn't much like, was like, you're good enough for me. Like I just saw the G2, G3, G4 and that was all I needed to see. But it's so thick. was like, I don't know what I'm going to do yet. Next thing I know he stops like 22 yards and there is a hole maybe a little bit bigger than a softball.

right behind his shoulder like picture perfect and I'm like holy crap I draw back and there's a branch coming just through the edge of that hole covering his front shoulder and at this point I can't even see his head like it is it's thick and it's not thick green it's thick scrubs like it sticks and briars in front so I see that one branch and I'm like okay stay away from that thing I was like this is a 20 yard shot all day long like

Stay away from that thing. I come back a little bit on him and it's, it's just a small hole. I was like, dude, it's perfect. I was like, shoot. And as soon as I shot, was like, the way he reacted was not the way my PA -80 reacted. And I was like, Ooh, I was like, I think I hit him a little farther back than I wanted. And he ran like a little bit in front, but I couldn't see him. So he took like five, 10 steps. And I was like, God, I can't see him, but I hear him grab another arrow.

Mitchell Shirk (21:29.87)

I grunted and like it almost sounded like he came up towards me a little bit, but then he crossed that open path that I was talking about in the morning. Yeah. And I just caught a deer and there was no shot. I just caught him like cross that path and then he, then it's gone again and then stick again. I was like, Like, no, you hit right, you hit right where you wanted. was probably just too far back and he was angled a little bit towards you.

That stick was covering where you needed to hit. So you just went right behind it. Maybe you caught one lung and liver. Or liver. So in that hole, literally where I shot binoculars, I can see my ear. I'm like, okay. And it's like rust colored red. So I'm thinking liver, gut maybe. Like you can just tell. I was like, yeah.

And the way he walked, was like, he's close. So then just a little bit later, another buck came on the same trail. I was like, man, I can't even see what that one is. Grunted, brr, brr, brr. And this one comes up into the wide open. a spike. Videoed it on my phone a little bit. But then I can hear my deer and that deer goes over to him. I can hear my deer like over in the woods, still walking. I'm like, okay, that's not good. Yeah, that's...

Like he's for sure not a long shot probably. Whatever it is, it is. 10 o 'clock in the morning. At this point I have no idea what deer it was. Didn't really care. Fast forward, my buddy comes. I climb out of the tree. I didn't even go get the arrow. I climb out of the tree and I walk the opposite direction of my vehicle and everything. Just like completely getting out of there. And my buddy comes and picks me up and...

The landowner, his dad, he's like, he wants me to go find that deer. And I was like, no, like that's it. I'm done hunting. That's my deer or not. So I'm not going to climb back in the tree and hunt again, but I would love to just give it time. he's older, he's hunted that property forever. He's like, I've never lost a deer and I don't let them sit.

Mitchell Shirk (23:59.008)

Yeah, I shoot them you shoot them you go after them. Yeah, I hate that logic, but okay, and I get it and like So I'm like talking to his son about it We left the farm. We went and got lunch We went and shot in coyote guns with thermals like we're hanging out at the gun range. I'm a mess I'm just along for the ride like trying to waste some time and His dad calls again. He's like When you guys going to get that thing? He's like did he come here to hunt or not?

Like, are you going to, when are you going to get the deer? And he's kind of, he's upset. And I was like, man, that's the last thing I want. I don't want him to be upset. Like, can we go, can we go in like, and his cousin has a dog that's kind of good at tracking. So his cousin wasn't available that evening. He's like, Hey, I'll be home tomorrow. You know, if we want to go in in the morning. And I was like, man, at this point, liver gut shot.

Like I don't want to go into the dark that evening. Exactly. And that would only been like six, seven hours and it's dark. So I was like, I don't want to go in the dark. I'd rather not go in the dark. Why not? Let's wait till the morning. So I have to, go to the farm and his dad's hunting and he's like, well, did you go? Did you guys go get him? No. He's like, well, let's go. was like, can I, can I plead my case here?

And his son's like, there ain't no change in his mind. Really? So, can I plead my case? Yep. And I was like, this is my hunt. I haven't been out here for 10 years. Like, I'm done hunting. I want to find that buck if it takes me all day tomorrow. I think our odds of going in there in the dark are slim. I think he's probably dead now, but I think our odds of coming up on him in the dark, it just hurts. And if he's not dead...

Yeah, you're bump him into your life. Then it really hurts my odds of finding him. And he's like, okay, what time do want to meet in the morning? wow. And I was like, all right, yeah, we'll meet here at 6am. Daybreak 637. That sounds good. So we get together, got the got the dog, got his cousin. We go in. I'm like, I know right where the arrow is. Let's bring the dog right to the arrow. Bring the dog to the arrow.

Mitchell Shirk (26:22.058)

I've never, I have been on one other dog tracking job. Okay. but this dog's not trained for it. He's just a beagle and he's a pet. Yeah. But he does go on them and he's like, if that deer is dead, he'll find him. He says, so I was pretty confident. I was like, this is cool. Here's my arrow. The arrow is dried on, dried up by now. So doesn't smell or look as good as it did. gritty. It did. Okay. It didn't look as good as it did through the binos the day before. And there's a little bit of blood. I'm like, okay.

That dog just starts going and like it's thick as crap. So he's fishing the leash all through. That's a real long leash and we're following behind following the blood. Me and Joe. What did blood look like when you're following behind the dog? Could you find blood? You could find it. It wasn't heavy. It didn't almost didn't look like it was coming out both sides, but it was just that dark liver blood. Yep. Yep. not nothing really stood out as far as guts go. So then I'm questioning like, am I too?

I... You know what? God, I don't know. Yeah, your mind plays tricks on you at that point. I'm gonna rewind a second. So the whole day before I'm talking to my brother and stuff about this and he's like, well, what buck was it? And I was like, I don't know. think it might only be 115 inch buck. Like it looked decent, but I said, I saw that five point left side.

And he's thinking it and I'm thinking it and none of us are saying it. There's only one buck that has that on the whole property. Out of all the pictures we had, there's only one 10 point that has a five point left side. And it's the big one that I saw across the field 600 and some yards away. So I'm laying in bed the night before thinking that I'm like, yeah, man, maybe. Like, I ain't going to say it though. People are asking me, what did you shoot? What did you shoot? I'm like, I don't know. I don't say I don't know. It happened so fast. I don't know. I said it might.

be a three year old, So back to the blood. We're only 50 yards away where I heard him walking around when that spike came and the dog's gone, like going and it's down the hill and it's, it's following. I'm like, cool, like keep going. So it gets to a soybean field, a real narrow soybean field in the bottom. And the guy brings the dog back. He's like, he's not going anywhere out into that soybean field. I don't know.

Mitchell Shirk (28:48.686)

Maybe he went up instead of down. And now I'm like, God. Now my heart sinks a little bit. So he's taking the dog up. I'm following blood and I'm like, man, this blood is still going down. Towards where he was. Towards where he was, towards that soybean field. And I'm like, there's like a drop every eight to 10 yards that I'm coming across.

I'm kind of following the tracks, now the dog had been through there and he had been through there and I'm like, eventually after an hour or so, I get all the way down to that soybean field. I'm like four feet from it and I have blood. So I'm like, he for sure came down here. Now his cousin and the dog, had to leave and he wasn't on it anyway. So it wasn't like, it was gut wrenching.

I'm down and we're only maybe 80, 90 yards into this. And my buddy was supposed to hunt that morning with me and he was going to be on that soybean field in a box blind and that deer would have walked out right in front of him after I shot him. Right. And he didn't hunt. So that's the way it goes. So now we're out to the soybean field and I'll fast forward a little bit here. I don't know how.

much detail you want me get into. lay it on. I am combing this thing all around the perimeter, looking for blood like back and forth in between every row. We cannot find a drop. I can't find tracks. I can't find a drop of blood. I'm like, I can guarantee he came out to this. Like on this trail, right there's the last blood. There's nowhere else for him to go. And he's like, well, what if he turned around and like went back up in, but there's no way.

He's going down, he's been going down for 40 yards here. He's like.

Mitchell Shirk (30:45.998)

His dad had come at that point and he's cutting firewood right there on the edge of the soybean field I'm like, what do you think these deer do here? so I'd shed on in this property years and years and years ago and There's a creek on the other side of the soybean field and it runs you know east to west and I was like I'm gonna walk this creek all the way as far To the left that I can and then I'm gonna come back I'm gonna walk that Creek all the way as far right as I can and then I'm just gonna start

bouncing through all this stuff. And I was like, Joe, what do you think? And he's like, what if he doubled back and went back the way he came from? Second instance of somebody saying that. Not back up into the woods, but like came into that soybean field and went right in the direction he came from when I shot him. Okay. I was like, I like that. He's like, okay. He's like, I'm going to follow this and go up into that finger. Like maybe he went back the way he came from before I shot him. Okay. I like that. I'm going to follow this creek. In my head.

Again, I don't know why I think these things. When I shed hunted there, I found a dead buck up in that creek and it just looked like it just looked like the most awesome area. Yeah, super hard to get into and hunt. But just an awesome area where all these draws come together and it's in this creek bottom. Had the security. yeah. It just one of those spots that you just like. And in my head, I'm thinking like, man, I found that big eight point dead up in there when I shed hunting. Like, I'm just going to walk. I'm just going to walk this creek.

I'm done with the soybean field. I can't find blood. I called my brother a couple of times. He's like, you gotta stay on blood. He's like, whatever you gotta do, gotta hands and knees, you need to find direction. You gotta stay on blood. And like, I live by that and like tracking a deer, I don't like to just go get random. But like, I couldn't find blood in that soybean field anywhere. And there's like a dirt bridge across the creek. So I'm like scanning that, looking for blood. I didn't find blood.

I start walking that creek and surprisingly the woods inside the creek are pretty open. I'm like, if there's dead deer here, I'm finding them. Like it's not like I got to get on my hands and knees and find them. I can just walk. So I'm walking, there's a dead deer. I'm like, crap. It's a doe in the creek. I was like, so first foot second, my heart started bumping, but this is like, I don't know, a couple of day old dead doe. I'm like, that's weird and hair. And I'm like,

Mitchell Shirk (33:14.38)

walking the creek. So now I'm heading up the creek to this old food plot that I hunted the night before. And I had talked to his cousin, his cousin's like, I'm going to go check a camera up there. The day I shot him. And I was like, man, I don't like going in there. I was like, that's the direction that buck went. He said, he didn't make it to the food plot. There ain't no way he made it all the way to the food plot. So he's like, I'm just going to run down there and check a camera. How far did you think that was from where you shot him? That food plot was probably

450 mm -hmm and I was like I just don't like stomping around anywhere exactly Yeah, stay the heck out was usually yeah stay out like so I said that I was like man That's really that's the way you went and he's like I hate it make that far so I'm walking this creek up that food plots across the creek on my left and I like just got to it and now it's Getting into that draw where all these draws come together and the creeks open up and it's thick and I'm like walking on some pretty good deer trails, and I'm like man this like

This is the only trail in here. You know, if he's here, I can see up the bank here and it's getting thicker and I'm walking this trail and next thing I know, I'm just like parallel with the food plot across the creek in the thick stuff in the draw. I come around this thick bend and 15 feet in front of me, there he is lying dead in the middle of the trail. And how far is it from that food plot? 550 yards from where you shot and you're right there by where you sat the other night.

and i am a croc on it's pics i could see them in the but yeah it's it's only a hundred yards from where i was so that you think you had to go across the bean field he had to be had to a hundred percent across the field yet hundred percent and do not bring in the i threw my i think it's still my boat yeah i did at my power through my poet ran over to him and as soon as i got up to him it was the buck business where

Which it is a dandy. mean you're talking a split two on the right side, mainframe ten pointer. How many scoreable did he have then? think 12. 12? Yep. He's got a split brow on that left side. And you can see his beam there. It got damaged in velvet. Yeah. It got all jacked up and it was like that the whole time. So I ran up to it and instantly saw it was him. I was like, my god, like 650 plus yards away.

Mitchell Shirk (35:32.462)

So you saw him 600 some yards away. Did he have to come through the cornfield and you didn't see him or did he skirt the edge? was like the field that I could see him in was like a very specific spot that I could see and then it was just draws and rolling hills all in between us. So how he got to me, it wasn't across the open top cornfield but it was along the draws or in the draws and he actually like he had to get

me on my right really far to come back up the finger at me. And what he was doing, he was cruising that whole property for Doe. just getting it done. He was moving the whole property and it made perfect sense with the wind how he came across that ridge where I shot him. He was scent checking that whole area for Doe. He could have been following that one, but I just think he was scent checking the whole area.

So yeah, I didn't see him from seven o 'clock in the morning until I shot him at 10. So I don't know how he got over there. But crazy. was literally minutes away from climbing down to move all the way to the other side of the farm to try to kill him. And I killed him at 10 o 'clock in the morning. If I'd gotten down 10 minutes earlier, he would have ran into me on the ground. go back to the deer. So you find the deer too. I'm curious about the shot. So where did the shot end up hitting?

What did you hit and walk me through that? Straight liver. Okay. almost perfectly broadside too. It wasn't quartering too, like I may have thought straight liver, perfectly broadside only like probably two inches from being double lung. Yeah. So. And the blood was not that good. Was he pretty stiff? yeah. Okay. So he was probably dead for quite a while. was dead for a while. Yeah. So what's, what's interesting. He died the evening before I would imagine. Cause he did hang out in that.

first woodlot a little bit. There was a lot of blood where he stood and where he hung out before he went down across the soybean field. But on that trail, it wasn't like he bedded down there. It was like he just fell over. in all reality, you probably wouldn't change a darn thing as far as how the track job went. No, no. I mean, yeah, I could have went in there earlier, but had that chop in two inches farther back and it's just guts, we would have ran right into him and bumped him probably. Exactly. And so without knowing it's

Mitchell Shirk (38:00.49)

Impossible. And when they're jacked up that time of year, they can do some crazy things. Like my buck last year, I rattled my deer in and he was jacked up. I shot him and I watched him. He just went straight up a side hill and like almost wanted to go back to chasing after the deer that he heard rattle and come into. Like I couldn't believe he went as far and reacted the way he did. I shot him through both lungs.

And it still took him over an hour to die. So it's just amazing how tough they are. Like, liver shot, I'm thinking four hours, he's dead. And he went 500 yards. That's yards. When I did a straight line, that's, I think that was 500 yards on a straight line. So like, the route he went was even worse. I couldn't believe he went that far, to be honest. I don't know, call it whatever you want, but like, to walk up onto him with little grid searching, just like,

The way I remembered that dead deer being in that drawl and the creek and everything you learn about tracking deer. man, if he went down to that creek, he's going to be along there somewhere. And just that dead deer that I found in their shed hunting, was just visualizing. It was like it led me right to him. I walked. You'll watch my track if I show it you. I tracked my blood trail. And I'm all over the place, all over the place, all over the place, around that soybean field, around the soybean field. And then it's a straight line for 200 yards from the soybean field right to him.

Like I just followed the creek right to him. I knew he was there, but I didn't. I had no idea he was there. It was such a relief to find him and then to realize after. 150 plus inch deer. To realize it was him, I was like, what the heck? What is going on here this year? Talk about a wild ride. days apart and not only eight days apart, the Monday before I left that week, my son shot his buck. So in eight days we shot three buck.

And I was with him for that one up at our cabin so it was like it really was a dream season I think I take it for granted a little bit because I went two years in PA without shooting a buck and It doesn't always happen this way. No, it doesn't but when you do you're like man There's just something about deer hunting it's just special. Yep. I didn't even get him mounted

Mitchell Shirk (40:22.668)

Yeah, I think you're nuts, but at the same time I'm looking at your wall. You're either going to have to scoot some out of here if you're going to mount more or you're going have to get a contractor in here or something. Yeah. I got a spot saved here for an elk. You might have to help me with that one though. I can't seem to get it done on elk. Yeah, well, you talk about elk. That's just one of them things. Sometimes you just got to get lucky and I'm one that got lucky. You guys had an awesome hunt for that. We did.

I like the Europeans too. I like being able to pick them up, hold them. I do too. Take them places easily. My wife doesn't like Europeans so I don't do as many that way, but I actually like if you take a skull mount, make a leather patch, and then instead of putting it on a board, just having it that you can hang it on the wall and then you can pick it up and do the exact same thing. So I think I'm going try to do more of those if I'm lucky enough to shoot some more.

No, I like that the way you've got this really neat mount in the corner. You've got kind of a wall pedestal here. Not a wall pedestal, you've got a pedestal mount on this stump with your buck from last year and then the buck you killed in Illinois. all in this corner. I'll have put that picture on there for your episode. We're looking at a wall full of dandies here from PA, Kentucky, Illinois. said Iowa's... Ohio. Ohio. Ohio.

Ten point to the right of the TV and the big eight on the top is, Ohio gotcha and then I was I was at work I was at work So a lot of a lot of cool memories here, and there's just you just can't be white. That's what it is You named it right there memories man. Yeah, so it's all about Who you're with on the hunt you remember places and who you're with you don't always remember all the details but yeah like sometimes when you do trips like that like in order to relive the hunt in the

in the sense that the major, like you have to bring everybody together to remember all the little intricate remember all the details, And because somebody will tell you, like, yeah, I forgot about that, but it's. For some reason, I can always remember the place and who I'm with. Yeah. But I, you know, some of the other details fade in time. And that's because that's what's most important about it. You think about the relationships, the family and stuff like that. Like, that's why we do it.

Mitchell Shirk (42:41.196)

when you're dead and gone all these deer heads it's not going to mean anything but when only to the people that were there exactly exactly that's exactly what I was going to say. good deal. Well man thanks for sharing this. What do you got cooked up for this season? Not a lot honestly. I might try to go out to Illinois again. That would be fun to do if it'll work out. So my middle son Carson wants to start hunting this year. Layton was six when I took him.

and Carson's six this year, so he wants to start hunting, so I'm gonna have my hands full with the two boys. are gonna have your hands full. So they're obviously priority. I try to hunt with them whenever I can and see what happens. I do have, so on that six acre property last year, both those buck disappeared. The big eight and the 10. The 10 we found dead in the winter shed hunting. But I do have one other deer.

in that stand i shot those three buck see if i can go for four four four four there would be bad if he shows up i will i will pursue that but then up in my cabin i got a probably a six -year -old eight point that's just a stud i'm waiting for him to show up he doesn't show up in summer so we never had velvets pictures of them or anything but come later pennsylvania that'll be it i don't know i have a i have a property in ohio

There's some nice buck out there. It's just making time. Yeah. Making time to get out there. I would like to shoot a buck in Ohio again. It's been a long time since I did that. Yeah. Yeah. Just white tails. Just white tails. Like I said, I'm almost always just white tails. I'm on the bear kick now. see how long Yeah, that's pretty cool. But there's something about deer heads. Like I look at my foyer and see deer heads coming out through, looking at you just, there's not a better wall decor. It just isn't.

and sheds. went out for elk sheds again this year. But I think next year I'm going to do a white tail, big white tail shed hunt again. Try to get some big sheds. Man, let's wrap this up. Thanks again for doing this. I appreciate it. Good luck this season. You as well. I can't wait to see what you get done in Jersey again and here in PA. Likewise, it's always fun. So thanks again, buddy. Thank you.

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