While I was in the northern suburbs of Chicago (Grayslake) visiting my daughter, and her family, I went to one of my grandsons baseball practices. It was a beautiful park with a giant hill for sledding, upteen ball diamonds, playground equipment, and a nice sand volleyball court. That is where I took the picture of these huge deer tracks. There happened to be a runway, coming down the sledding hill, and going right through the outfield of one of the diamonds.
I did a little scouting, and backtracked up the hill to a dense thicket. I could not believe the deer sign, tracks, droppings, old buck rubs, and beds! I’ve only been over here twice, but I’m thinking this is a hot spot for big deer. I talked to one of the “locals” and he said not many people hunt around the area, and the deer are pretty safe, as well as plentiful. There are huge woodlots, farms, and savannas all sprinkled throughout the outskirts of each town, and you can just tell by looking this is whitetail heaven.
If any of you readers have ever hunted this northern Illinois area, drop me an e-mail. If only my son-in-law was a hunter!
It’s amazing where these guys will hang out. Especially back in your country and the midwest, I imagine, where the populations are booming. I’m glad you’ve got the photo thing happening again, now!
Never hunted in Illinois. Sounds like you may have found a gold mine. Good luck checking it out.
Hey Uncle Mike!
I saw two deer while I was running on Harold drive in Luna Pier at about eight o’clock. They were standing right in the middle of the road! I got about ten feet from them before they ran away toward the lake. It was so crazy. I am glad you had a safe trip to Chicago. I love the stories especially of your family! Keep up the good blogs!
It is amazing where you find deer sometimes. Sometimes the most overlooked and/or obvious locations are the ones that people see but dont think deer would be there.
My first buck was a place just like that. It worked out very well.