Over a week ago, I was talking to a hunter about the current deer season. I was asking him if he had heard of any results from the first three days of deer season. He said, “Matter of fact, I have.”

He then pulled out his phone and showed me a couple of pictures of a deer that was shot by Ryan Grieff. Wow! What a great buck.

So I called Ryan up to get his story. On Saturday of the first season, Ryan and a friend headed out to his farm location to try their luck. With one in place on the north end of the field and the other on the south, they were in place in their stands half an hour before shooting time.

At first light, he saw two does walking across the field. Then he saw a nice buck enter the field pursuing the two does. They were pretty far away but coming toward him. When the buck got about 150 yards away, he stopped.

Thinking he might not get a more open shot, he pulled up and pulled the trigger. But the buck continued to come toward Ryan. He shot a second shot and the buck kept walking.

He shot a third shot and by now the buck was at the edge of the timber. Ryan watched where the buck entered the timber and called his buddy to help find the deer.

The two of them started into the woods in search of the buck. He looked ahead and about 20 yards further was the buck. He was so excited, he kind of ran toward the deer and tripped and fell, cutting his nose. He got up and went to the deer. It had expired.

They drug the deer out of the timber and went to get their truck. They hoisted it into the truck and drove back to the farmhouse where they cleaned it. Ryan estimated the buck at somewhere between 250 to 270 pounds. The rack was 15 points. This was one hunt Ryan will never forget.

• I also heard of another successful deer hunt from my son, Erick, about his friend, Mike May. Mike had gone to the field on Thursday about 6 a.m. to get in his blind. His blind consisted of an old farm wagon with wood on top, placed by a pasture near some timber.

Approximately 8:15, a doe came walking up the edge of the pasture toward Mike, followed by a buck. At 60 yards, they both stopped, but then came forward again. At 50 yards, they stopped again, but this time Mike was ready. He pulled the trigger and down went the buck.

He waited, then went to check the deer. He called Erick, who brought the trailer and the quad, and they pulled him up to load into the truck. It was a solid 8-pointer that he estimated weighed about 200 pounds.

• Bureau County did well this year. In the seven-day season, local hunters shot 1,080 whitetails, 331 in the second season, and an increase over last year’s grand total of 1,018.

A preliminary total of 80,896 deer were taken by hunters during the seven-day Illinois Firearm Deer Season that concluded Dec. 2. The 2018 preliminary harvest total compares to the final total of 80,117 deer harvested during the firearm season in 2017.

The preliminary harvest for the second segment of the firearm season on Nov. 29 through Dec. 2 was 22,060, compared with 28,656 during the second season in 2017. The preliminary harvest for the first segment of firearm season on Nov. 16-18 was 58,836 deer.

The top county in the state was Adams (2,340).

Lee Wahlgren is the BCR Outdoor Columnist. Contact him at pdub52@gmail.com.