For those of you who have followed the Fishing Reports section of our RiverQuest website, you may well recall that each year, my son Steve, who owns RiverQuest Charters, and I travel to southwestern Illinois for a three day trophy whitetail muzzleloader hunt with Sugar Creek Outfitters. This year was especially meaningful and fun because we brought along my youngest son Ryan. Although Mother Nature threw us a major snowfall curve which put the truly huge whitetails in a hunker down funk, we all saw some wonderful deer, and I was fortunate enough to take this 9 pointer, a four and half year old buck that from a management standpoint, was good to remove from the gene pool since his antler growth may well have been maxed out. We’ve taken larger bucks at Sugar Creek, but we were thrilled to harvest this guy since conditions were challenging to say the least.
I can’t say enough about the great job the Sugar Creek guys—Chad, Tom, Matt, and—Kevin do year-round so folks like us can experience extraordinary hunts. With over 10,000 acres of prime whitetail habitat, the guys plant food plots, hang stands, scout, and monitor the deer with trail cameras. Their work pays off with free ranging deer 150 inches and above present in large enough numbers so that one has an excellent chance of putting the crosshairs on the buck of a lifetime. This mainframe 8 point with another point and a couple of one inch stickers scored 142 5/8. He’ll look great on the wall and will elicit smiles as he reminds us for years to come of a truly special hunting experience.
Captain Tom Kuieck
