Mike,
I enjoy hearing the old stories and actually seek them out! Get well so you can see that grandbaby!
I grew up in Indiana andd have been fortunate enough to have heard the story first hand about the first archery deer taken there (you know that story). I moved over to IL anout 8 years ago and so I dug around and found this on the first archery deer in IL I thought some of you may enjoy it.
In the Beginning
John Force remembers a television program he watched in the mid-1950s. It featured an archer named Howard Hill, who did trick shooting with his bow and arrow. Force, thought it looked like fun so he and several of his friends went out and purchased bows.
They would take their bows and head out to the woods, hiking through the forest and shooting at leaves, small trees or other objects.
"Then we heard there was going to be a deer hunting season and that you could use a bow and arrow, and that really got our attention," Force said. "I'd hunted deer while I was stationed in Germany, but never with a bow and arrow."
Force was living in Chandlerville at the time, near the Sangamon River, and although he didn't know much about hunting with a long bow, he knew where whitetails lived. He had permission to hunt a large Cass County farm that bordered the river, and deer were numerous there.
"You could walk through the area, and it was just full of deer trails," Force said. "They were cutting down trees, and all the brush made it perfect for deer and for deer hunting."
With a permit in hand, Force headed for the river on opening day. He arrived well before sunrise and found an area near some large maple trees with deer trails nearby. He leaned his back against one of the trees and waited.
When it started to get light, he put an arrow on the bowstring and another into the soft dirt beside his foot. Almost immediately he saw four bucks walking toward him.
When the lead deer was just 20 feet from him and went behind one of the big trees, Force drew the bow. When it stepped out on the other side, he let his arrow fly.
"I saw the arrow hit in the shoulder area," he said. "The deer took off and I watched as it jumped over a log about 50 yards away. I thought I had made a bad shot. I thought the arrow must have gone in too high and missed vital organs. I just wasn't sure. I'd never hunted deer with a bow. Not many people in Illinois had."
Force had been told to wait a half-hour before tracking the deer, so he stayed by the tree.
"I waited about 15 minutes, then decided to start tracking," Force remembers. "I walked over to where I had watched the deer jump over the log and it was right there. It had only ran about 75 yards."
The deer was a 4-point buck weighing close to 200 pounds. Force field-dressed the deer, dropped it off at the meat market and went to work.
He didn't know it was a historic occasion. The day was Oct. 1, 1957, and Force's deer was shot about 10 minutes into the hunting season. As it turned out, it was the only deer taken on opening day, making Force's kill the first legally taken deer in Illinois during the 20th century.
Topic: ...of history, legends and heroes.......... (Read 436 times)
