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Thanks guys. Wish I could say my luck continued in Illinois but it thus came to naught. I saw plenty of bucks: 6 on friday, 12 on saturday and 3 of 4 bucks on sunday were shooters. At 7am I saw a true Illinois giant. A monster of a 10 point that would no doubt hit the scales at the 300 lb mark (live weight). His massive, heavy framed rack would push into the 170's B&C but I only had the priviledge of viewing him for about 8 seconds before he slipped below the ridgeline. At 8am a thin racked 130'ish 8 point walked up and once broadside at 30 yards my new m/l had a hang fire and I missed him. Hard to believe but it happened. At 8:35am I shot a 160's 8 point at 50 yards. He ran foward for 75 yards then stopped and stood there for 10 minutes. Due to his body language appearing to be he was about to fall over, I didn't reload my muzzle loader (BIG MISTAKE). I was afraid to take my eyes off him. He was a perfect main frame 8 with very long tines. G-2's would push 12+ inches; G-3's weren't far behind. He was heavy, massive and pushed an inside spread I would estimate at over 23 inches. For me a super trophy. I finally reloaded the barrel but before I could put a 209 primer on the nipple, he walked a few steps and vanished. I waited 1 hour and 45 minutes, got down and the nightmare started. At the point where he was standing when I shot, blood. 10 feet forward more blood and white hair. "What the hell?" Is all I could think. I studied the hair: shorter than belly hair, stiffer and thicker diameter. "Chest or sternum" I thought. I walked forward: drops of blood but nothing heavy. Where he stood for 10 minutes I found 3 puddles about the diameter of a tennis ball. Bright red with no odor, no bubbles, no gut sign: maybe just a flesh wound? NO. He would have run out of the county. Maybe around the diaphame? Possible. Blood wasn't heavy nor dark. Once he started walking; one drop then nothing. He had coagulated and wasn't bleeding. I didn't go any farther. I returned to my stand and waited out the eveing. One other busted up 8 point came by and a doe. I discovered my problem when I returned to my stand: I had centered a finger sized limb eleven feet from my tree stand. My sight picture was open and clear at the deer, but I hadn't seen the limb just a few feet in front of me. Monday morning I returned with a friend to scout for my buck but no luck. We didn't find any further sign, although I found a 140 B&C dead in the creek. A nice, heavy 10 point someone had arrowed about a month earlier. The cold water had kept him from rotting although he didn't smell too pleasant. I called the G&F and checked him in just to be safe. A souvenir for my bad luck. My friends will be watching the area for any sign of crows, buzzards or coyote's. If he's dead they will find him but I hope he's going to recover. There's always next year. Leaving for Texas next week. Maybe my luck with change. Deer chap my ass sometimes....but I love 'em. Good hunting, grayghost
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