Hello all! I am am not very active on the site, but I wanted to share this with everyone. I live in the city limits of ????? in St. Clair county. I have a small stretch of woods behind my house and have always seen doe's since we have been here. I have only seen 1 buck, and that was last year. I decided to put out my trail camera (the cheapest Wildview you can buy) on 11-11-08 and this is what I got a picture of went I checked i tthe next day. I guess you never know what is out there!!
Good luck to everyone this weekend!!

Holy Moly! Good Luck On Your Next Hunts! :D

Dude that is a toad! Hope you get to see him again.

wow! you can save some serious money on gas by not driving all over the place chasin the big ones...shoot him off your porch!

WHAT THE FUDGE! WOW. Thats a beauty...

Nothing like droppin a wall hanger while the eggs are still in the pan!!! Good luck!!!

The problem is, the property is owned by the township and park district. No one can hunt there, at least not legally. So that does leave me out. I am just glad I got a picture of him. Don't get me wrong, I would rather have him above the fireplace!! But a picture is better than nothing.

I hear ya man. I live in FVH and dodge does all the time when driving. We saw a 6 pointer crossing the road in front of our city hall. If they'd open up bow hunting in town I could've filled a combo tag just driving my wife to work that one morning.

It looks like your buck is checking out your camera.

THAT is a BEAST!

WOW, awesome deer. he didn't get that big by being stupid, he knows where to hide and when.

Wow you never know whats lurking outside your back door!

one word.... nocturnal

What is the deal with hunting in the fairview heights area if you are outside of city limits?

I posted this picture back in the beginning of November. I've been looking for his sheds the past few weeks and just found out that someone got him (the deer, not the sheds), but evidentally not legally. I will try to explain. I showed the original picture to person A, which he showed some other people. A few weeks ago, person B (who seen my picture) showed person A a picture of a dead deer that someone shot (not sure with what). The latest picture was just the deer, not the hunter. Person A told me that it was the same deer in both pictures. He went back to person B to ask more questions, but now person B is denying everything!! Person B said he will not admit to showing anybody any pictures. Person A is pretty sure that person B was not the shooter. Person B did say that the person who got the deer lives close to where I got the picture. That narrows it down to about 6-8 houses.

I'm not sure if this makes sense or not. But it ticks me off that someone would take a deer like this illegally. Or at least it sounds like it was illegal.

Opinions????

If it were me, I might be calling person ICPO and spilling names....if I knew the whole story.

Bear in mind that if it was taken legally and checked in, there are allot of people out there (me included) that would not advertise this. Illinois is a target for OOSers and high rent operations. Some people, me included, would prefer not to advertise success in an area, as next season you'll have allot of people hunting around you...or, someone may lease up of buy you spot outright. Have seen it happen...

but maybe that's just me...

I agree with keeping hot spots quiet. I forgot to mention that the area is a residential area inside city limits. The picture was taken in a wooded park. The biggest piece of residential property next to the park is probably 3-4 acres, maybe. The problem is, I don't want to get my neighbor (person A) involved. It just really ticks me off that someone would do this. I would give just about anything if I could have been the one to see the picture of the dead deer!!

Poaching or illegal activities do not exist in this southern IL. The deer was likely killed legally by a hunter catching it further from town.

Poaching or illegal activities do not exist in this southern IL. The deer was likely killed legally by a hunter catching it further from town.

Oh not this stuff again Harvery........:rolleyes:

Bam, im just going by what i have learned here.

That is exactly how bucks get large.

They live in fence rows, small thickets or in woods off limits to hunters. Deer aren't stupid, (until the Rut) and the know how to survive. I have seen some monsters and can tell you that when I jump them they do not stop running until they are 100 yards plus away. The little ones stop at about 50 yards and turn back to see what I was.

Thats a nice buck - and putting trail cams where you wouldn't expect them can produce photos of some monsters.

Harvey you just can't win for nothin can ya?

OZ I'd have to agree, anytime you let information of where a deer was taken you get people to get out their plat books and you can be covered up next year.

Poaching or illegal activities do not exist in this southern IL. The deer was likely killed legally by a hunter catching it further from town.


Ashame about the buck, it happens all over the place and it can really get under your skin.

From one extreme to the other.
Do you think you will ever reach a happy medium?

IF you do not mind me asking, what city?

I live just outside of belleville in a wooded residential area on a 1 acre lot of woods. You could not take that deer legally in this area: 1. you would be within 100 yards of a dwelling. 2. you would certainly need to trespass to retrieve a wounded deer unless you got multiple permissions to access lots ( I walk these lots a lot when not hunting without permission and have seen many neighbors in the yard who are friendly, but things change with a gun and/or a bow). 3. Chance of the wounded deer running into traffic or a yard (even if hunter-friendly) that would cause a bad taste in anyone slightly opposed to hunting (I always use the 10-80-10 rule; ten percent love to hunt, 80 dont give a darn, and 10 percent hate it) dont want to switch anyone from the 80 to the other 10.

My slightly more than 2 cents. I love being able to look at these deer out back and would love to plant for them out the back window or set up a trail cam.

Bam, im just going by what i have learned here.

And what is that exactly Harv? :confused:

Bam i have learned that poaching doesnt occur and you should never think even with extreme evidence that anyone would ever do something illegal.

Harvey they all got it out for you today.?!?!

nah, nobody ever gives harvey a hard time...

Bam i have learned that poaching doesnt occur and you should never think even with extreme evidence that anyone would ever do something illegal.

Where at? This would be good info to compile. Maybe we could scrap a few more CPOs and save the state some money by showing all of IL citizens are law abiding and need no enforcement personnel. :D

If only we could vote members "off the island" so to speak!

Aw c'mon guys. You know you really like it when Harvey stirs stuff up so you can pick on him.

Actually I don't personally recall anyone saying there aren't any poachers in SIL (other than Harvey trying to make a point), but the vast majority of us disapprove of poaching and would just as soon string a poacher up as look at em.

Bam i have learned that poaching doesnt occur and you should never think even with extreme evidence that anyone would ever do something illegal.

Harvey , The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same.

Or as Abe Licnoln once said .............."you can be thought to be a fool or open your mouth and prove it."

Birdhunter... I am Far from a fool but thank you and bam... i have no clue what your talking about. I am far from miserable at any time. I would say im more of a realist.

Birdhunter... I am Far from a fool but thank you and bam... i have no clue what your talking about. I am far from miserable at any time. I would say im more of a realist.


Never said you were, got a guilty conscience or something?

I can't stand not asking, will you give us a hint as to which end of Belleville? For those of us who live here we know Belleville is shaped like a banana and covers a ton of land. Are you northeast, southwest, north, south? It's killing me.

Tell me you really don't know what Harvey is being sarcastic about ?


You dont recall the post about the buck (on a vehicle) going down the highway during the antler less only season and Harvey saying he thought it was poached ?

Everyone jumped him for saying what he thought and now everyone is doing the same thing in this post assuming the buck was poached.
I couldn't find the other post to provide a link.

How many miles do/can bucks travel during the different stages of the rut ?

Flat this info is from the Sand Hills - so it really may not apply well because of habitat, terrain, and population differences here .. but it's about all I could lay my hands on at the moment..


In some areas where cover is extensive and other requirements are met, a deer may live its entire life and die within one or a few square miles. With the linear habitat of stream courses movements may be extensive. Recoveries of 23 whitetails tagged in the Sandhills showed an average movement of 38 miles from the point of tagging, with two extremes of 125 and 137 miles.
Deer move most often and for the greatest distances during spring and fall. In late spring, does may travel in search of fawning sites, although adult females move less than other deer. Greater travels are made by yearlings, on their own for the first time. Travel increases in fall after the harvest, as deer leave croplands and begin mating activities.


Harvey may have some better statistical data on that for us.. He has some good scholarly/scientific articles at his disposal.

I know they will cover that kind of distance.

My reason for asking was to say it's not really known where the buck in this thread was killed but it is being assumed it was poached with in city limits.

It was a second or even third person story who knows all the facts ?


Again, when Harvey did this same assumption (on the other thread) he was jumped on by others and that is the reason for his sarcastic replies on this thread.

Bam i have learned that poaching doesn't occur and you should never think even with extreme evidence that anyone would ever do something illegal.

I'm sure some remember that other thread but some may not, just thought I would remind those that didn't remember it. ;)

Flatlander... i feel the other thread had a heck of a lot more evidence on poaching than this one. The other i was 95 percent sure... this one is 50-50. I mean anytime someone gets a true monster a poaching rumor is started. I once sent an outdoor writer to talk to a guy who had just shot a 217 nontypical with a gun. The guy proceeded to tell him how i was the biggest poacher in the county blah blah blah. How would you like to be the individual with this deer on your wall knowing you killed it legally and someone is online posting pictures of it stating it was poached? THAT IS A LAWSUIT where mine was not. might wanna think of that before a particular individual is slandered all over the internet for poaching.

Dang He Is A Monster Buck