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OBSERVATIONS
FROM THE KNOB |
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January 28, 2008
As always give us a call at 217-285-4259 with any questions or concerns. |
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| August
1, 2007. We
will be in Jackson, Memphis and Ft. Worth the next three weekends, check
our shows page for complete details. Come by and say Hello. April 12, 2007
Attention all non-resident archery hunters planning for an 07 hunt. The
Illinois DNR has released info on this years permit process. It is as
follows. Lottery application period will be June 1 - June 30, 2007 - at 12:01 AM CST - hunters will be able to apply by phone at 1-888-6PERMIT (1-888-673-7648) or online at the DNR Direct Online License Sales site. The cost of a Non-Resident Archery Combination Deer permit (one either-sex/one antlerless) will be $365.00. The quota will be 20,000 for Non-Resident combination tags. The cost of a Non-Resident Archery Antlerless Deer permit (available over the counter) will be $15.00 and there is no quota. There is an Outfitter's Preference for a maximum 7500 permit applications that are designated with an Outfitter Number (this is part of the 20,000 quota). Hunters that are unsuccessful in the Outfitter draw will be automatically placed into the general draw. Non-resident
archery deer permits issued to outfitter clients who received a permit
based on the preference given to outfitter clients are valid only on property
controlled by the outfitter used to gain preference Gun hunters be patient
the applications will be available in July and the draw date is August
14. March
21, 2007
February 27, 2007 Winter is beginning to loosen it's grip on us around here, with most of the latest snow/ice storm melting away. Look's like the farmer's will have plenty of ground moisture to get this years crops started. The whitetail herd has been relatively unaffected by the harsh winter conditions. We are seeing normal size, large groups, feeding early and late in the day and have even seen some bucks still retaining antler. The mature buck numbers for 07 look to be excellent. Spring Turkey season is next on the hunting agenda. If you have been able to secure a Pike County permit, and have not yet booked a hunt, give us a call at 217-285-4259. We have availability for all 5 season's and will be glad to point you towards some of our big gobblers. Remember our daily rate includes lodging and if you book at least 3 days we can offer a lower rate. The Walnut Knob Lodge is open year round, so if at anytime you want to plan a visit, weather it be a short scouting trip our a complete family vacation, give Julie a call and she will help you with your plans. The dates to apply for the 07 non-resident archery permit have been posted on the IDNR website and again run June 1-30. Additional info, on this process, will be available in April. As always if you have any questions in planning an 07 hunt contact Danny Bess, or myself, here at the office and we will be glad to help. Till
next time, January
18, 2007 December 12th, 2006 The
effects of the winter storm that hit Dec. 1 continued into the Muzzleloader
only season Dec. 8-10. We had a couple of bow hunters tough it out, Sam
from Maine and Roy from Ripley got some good looks at several nice deer.
The temperatures began to moderate towards the end of the week, and we
had a good group in for the Muzzleloader season. Everybody saw deer and
enjoyed hunting Pike County, with a thick layer of snow. There were 3
Bucks harvested with the top scoring honors going to our youngest hunter
in camp, Mr. Will Bowling of Virginia. He took down a real nice 140 class
on Saturday afternoon. Nice going Will!! Woody Wood, from N.C. and Jeff
Johnson, from MS. also were successful Buck slayers. There are a few late
season bow hunters planning to return to try and fill their tags. Rusty
and Todd, from Indiana, The Lusk's from Kentucky, and Tommy and Dad, Steve
from Florida are all planning to come back before Christmas. Just a reminder,
the Illinois bow season remains open until Jan. 11, 07. So if any of you
have not yet filled your permit and would like to return for a couple
of days, just let us know. Well the Holidays are almost here and another
year is nearly complete. December 4th, 2006 By
the end of first gun season (Nov. 19) rut activity slowed again with the
onset of a week of above average temp's. This was great for Thanksgiving
Day football games, out in the yard, but not so much for spotting any
of Pike County's Big Buck's. Well that all changed, in a hurry, opening
day of second gun season (Nov. 30). Rain turned to sleet, then to snow,
and the North wind blew hard, by the time this winter maker moved on we
had a good 12 inches of snow on top of an inch of ice. Over night the
deer grouped up and began the struggle to find food. Bill Gratzianna fought
the elements and made a long (212 yards) shot to drop a real nice 9 pt.
Friday afternoon. Saturday was a great day to be in the woods and the
activity really picked-up. Bill Knutson harvested a solid 140 class Buck.
Tab Hinton, John McPhail, Mike Carr, and Quinn Daley were also successful
Buck hunters. Good effort in tough conditions was the norm for this 4
day season. A special thanks to Bill Mills for providing, and boiling
the fresh gulf shrimp. They were a nice addition to our Saturday night
Elk feed. Well we will see if this snow sticks around for the Muzzleloader
season. November 20th, 2006 The
first gun season is in the books. The rutting activity began to increase
towards the end of last week, as the nasty weather system that shut down
our bow hunters, early in the week,moved on east. The action stayed good
throughout the weekend, but the peak of rut may not quite be here yet.
So all of you 2nd and 3rd season gunners have a lot to look forward to,
and bow hunting also looks to remain good well into December. Dave November 17th, 2006 Today
begins the first gun season and we realized that an update is more than
overdue. October 10th, 2006 Joey and Dave found these fresh tree scrapes last weekend ( Oct. 7, 06) while scouting a couple of stand locations. The larger tree is 30" around and the smaller was about 20". There was also a large cedar tree, not far away that had been worked over last year and had fresh activity on it. There are countless other scrapes and rubs starting to show up all around Pike County. We thought these examples will help to get you a bit more fired up!!
We
are expecting some cooler than normal weather for the end of this week
and have already observed some young bucks paying more attention to the
ladies. September 15, 2006 Greetings from the Knob. Well, fall is just around the corner, finally. It’s been nice and cool here. We’ve had temps from the low 50’s up to mid 70’s lately. The farmers are busy getting crops in and the deer are loving it. (Me too) The big boys are back out along with a lot of ladies. We’ve been watching 12 or so big bucks on a regular basis. I’ve watched 5 ranging from 150-170 in the same field for almost a week. Doug managed to snag 1800 acres this spring and it’s proving to be some awesome ground. The 522 and 220 still have crops in, but hopefully they’ll be out soon. August 25, 2006 Greetings from the Knob! Well, we've finally finished the show season. Dave and Joey went to Atlanta and I went to Jackson. Mr Bruce Steele helped out in MS, Thanks for the help Mr Bruce. We started hanging stands the first of August. This gave Joey and I some time to walk the new land we've added this spring. We've been seeing alot of deer movement. The big boys have gone into hiding lately, but should be showing back up when the crops are out. June 27, 2006 Greetings
from the Knob. It’s not long till we’ll be getting ready for
deer season. We’ve been seeing a lot of nice bucks. So far, we’ve
seen four non-typical, two of which should be in the 190’s easy.
Last week I got some nice video of 14 bucks all together. Two of those
were huge eight pointers. I’ve tried to get some still shots, but
just can’t convince the deer to be still. Most of our summer plots
are doing great; we saw 15 deer in one of those last week. Dave and I
will be in Florida in mid July for a show. Anyone still thinking about
a bow hunt needs to get on the ball. The deadline for tags will be June
30, so hurry up. Well, till next time. May 23, 2006 Well, turkey season has ended; we had several hunters in for the fourth season. Larry Perez, Larry Dobesh, and Pat Dobesh all scored on some nice birds. Larry Perez & Pat Dobesh took two nice toms, Larry Dobesh scored on the first bearded hen taken here at the Knob. Our good friend Tab Hinton also came in, the birds just didn’t act right for ole’ Tab. But, I think he had a great time. We are now gearing up for deer season. The boys are starting to put on a lot of horn, fast. We’ve been watching pretty hard and have seen some that look promising. Last Saturday we watched two groups of nice bucks; it was a total of 37 bucks in these groups. We’ll be taking video & trail pics to use on the web site, so stay tuned. Well, until next time. April 26, 2006 Greetings from the Knob. We have a group coming in Friday for a 4th season turkey hunt. The turkeys are still doing their thing, so these boys should have some fun. We have added 1800 acres of prime bow hunting property this past week. Dave and Joey looked it over and were pretty excited. So, just in case you were wondering, we still have plenty of room for more hunters. April 17, 2006 Greetings
from the Knob. Well, everything is starting to green-up finally. The farmers
have been busy planting crops. We’ve all been busy, as usual, cutting
grass, planting plots and a lot of other stuff. The turkeys are still
gobbling their heads off. I’ve heard of a few nice ones being taken.
J. J. Short and Dalton Heavner were among some of the lucky hunters. We
have a few hunters coming in a few weeks, it should be good for them.
April 6, 2006 It’s almost here! Just a few more days till opening day of turkey season, and boy are the turkeys talkin’! We’ve seen some really good birds lately. Joey and I have seen close to 50 different toms in the past week. Mr. Art Pierson is coming in opening week, and I’ll be calling for him. I’ve been doing my homework and have found a nice group of birds for the opener. Maybe with a little luck Art will fill his tag. We’ve been prepping plots for the past week. We’ll have 6 on the Clark ground and 2 on the Home Place. March
15th, 2006 February
28th, 2006 Feb
10th, 2006 January
27th, 2006 Jan 16th, 2006 Another season has come & gone here at The Knob. We would like to thank everyone that hunted with us. We hope your stay was a good one and we welcome everyone back. I personally enjoyed meeting all of you & on my part, I came away with some new friends. The lodge is about 99% complete and it looks great. We have had several company functions in the greatroom and it accomidated all of us & our families with ease. The fireplace with the big screen TV recessed in the wall above it was a nice touch, it looks great. The bucks should start dropping their racks pretty soon. I always enjoy shed hunting because you never know what you are going to find. December 12th, 2005 The muzzle loader only season has come and gone. We had 2 guys in with smokepoles and 4 guys in with bows this weekend. Don Sweat from Tennessee shot a great deer Sunday morning, a main frame 10 with 6 stickers that were 1 inch or longer and scored 148 and change. Congratulations Don for sticking with it through the bad weather and getting the job done. The deer are hitting the wheat fields pretty good now. Friday afternoon I was watching a field and counted over 70 does and 8-10 rack bucks. Some of the younger bucks have started their bachelor groups already. December
5th, 2005 November 21st 2005 Combo week is over and the guys didn’t do to bad considering the weather we have had lately. The rut has been spotty so far. The bucks will chase a few days and then nothing for a few days, it has been tough. The following is a list of the bucks that were taken combo week. Shannon King, Todd Eaves, Paul Hines, Mike Jones, Jeff Hull and Wade Elwood all got good 8 points. Gary Vincent took a nice 9 point. Brother Dwight Fulton and Tom McKinley both took good 10 points. Scott Smith took a tall tined 8 with his bow and a massive 11 with his shotgun. David Hyde got a nice 11 with his bow and a great 14 point with his shotgun. I hope I did not miss anyone. CONGRATULATIONS GUYS. There will not be an update next week because we will be off for Thanksgiving. All of us here at the Knob wish everybody a safe and happy Thanksgiving. November 11th 2005 Finally the Big Boys are on their feet cruising. More and more reports of mature buck sightings come in every day. with reports like that coming in the guys are getting excited. Brent June, Tom Ungard, and Mike Schilling all from PA tagged out on great bucks. I think these PA boys like Illinois, way to go guys. (PS: Brent, I still don't think 165 4/8 will make the cover.) Troy Bourg from MS, Jack Lovell from MD, and Mark Lohr from VA all took great 8 points home with them. Bruce Steele from MS and Eric Dale from MD took nice 10 pointers. Congratulations guys. I hope to see all of you next year. It has been a pretty good week. The rut is progerssing along good and guys are making deer dead, so I have nothing to complain about. November 4th 2005 The little bucks are chasing pretty hard. The big boys are just starting to get interested in the does. It will not be long and the big ones will be running around acting crazy. There hasn't been a lot of doe activity for awhile. the weather seems to have the movement slowed down. Randy Oitker shot a good looking 10 point last week end that scored 160 6/8. Monday David Lightfoot arrowed a 143 inch 10 point and Tuesday Mike Jarrett shot a heavy beamed 8 point that scored 139 even. Doug Anderson also shot a nice buck this week as well. Congratulations go out to all of them. October 28th 2005 A
few does are starting to come into estrous and the bucks are acting stupid.
Early this week I videoed 3 bucks in the 140 - 165 range that were less
than 150 yards off the road. There was a hot doe bedded in some brush
and the bucks were bedded out in the wide open and they wouldn't leave
her. THE RUT IS STARTING!!!! Morning hunts have not been very good for
about a OCTOBER
20TH 2005 October 14th, 2005
I hate to sound like a broken record but the deer are EVERYWHERE! There
is a little activity on acorns, but the majority of the October 7th 2005 The weather for opening weekend was a little warm and the deer activity was slow for the most part. I and pass up a couple good bucks. One of them was a high 150 class buck and the other was a mid 160 class. The really big one I saw never got closer than 67 yards and was a 12 point 200 class giant. I’m still having nightmares because of him. This weekend it is supposed to be in the 30’s for lows and 60’s for highs. That is going to be a welcome change and should have the deer moving good. Sign of the rut are popping up all over the place. There are rubs and scrapes EVERYWHERE. The young bucks should start looking for receptive ladies soon, but the big boys know that it is not time yet. SEPTEMBER 29th 2005 Cooler weather is here finally, and the deer are out feeding in the fields everywhere. This morning it is 42 degrees and I am loving it. Monday afternoon I saw 62 deer in one picked corn field. There were at least 20 bucks ranging from little fork horns up to some 140-150s and one big non typical. We will have a group of 4 bow hunters from Mississippi here opening weekend to meat hunt. They should have no problem putting a couple does in the freezer. Bow season opens in the morning and the sunrise will find me perched in a tree over looking some of the beautiful land here at the knob. And if everything goes right I will have a picture or 2 of a big one to show y’all. SEPTEMBER 22nd 2005 Only 9 more days! Most of the bucks have shed their velvet and I saw my first rub of the season last Sunday. The acorns are falling like crazy and the deer are moving back and forth between them and the corn fields. Most of the leaves are off the beans and there is not much activity left in them. Although I did see a giant buck in a bean field several days ago, he had to weigh well over 300 pounds and his rack has A LOT of mass to it. He is a very nice deer to say the least. The elk bulls are starting to rut and their bugling means that fall is not far away. The day time temps are slowly falling and the deer seem to be moving more, especially from 5:00 pm till dark THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 15 2005 15 day’s and counting! Hurry up October 1st. All around the Knob the beans are a sea of yellow and the deer have abandoned them for greener pastures, or in other words they are eating in the corn fields. The acorns are dropping also but I have noticed a lot of activity on them yet. I’ve been seeing a lot of does with twins, triplets and even quadruplets. There is a whole passel of younguns around fer sure! (Sorry, I had a redneck relapse on that last sentence but I’m from Mississippi so I’m intitled.) All of our stands are hung and we are wrapping up the loose ends. The new lodge is also nearing completion, it looks better everyday. 9/8/2005 It’s almost that time again, 3 more weeks and we can hit the woods with bow in hand. The farmers around the Knob are cutting corn while waiting on the beans to finish drying out. All of the corn spillage has got the deer really hitting the fields hard, I saw 53 in one field the other afternoon and several of those were shooters. I have also noticed a few bucks that have shed their velvet. I have been doing some videoing over the past 3 months and have had the opportunity to watch a few bucks grow some very impressive antler. Even though it has been a dry year it doesn’t seem to have affected the antler growth. I
am counting down the days as I know all of you are. it looks like the
Knob is going to have another great year.
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