These states are inclusive of Illinois, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachuetts, Delaware, Maine, and Rhode Island. Ten states mandate “shotgun only” during the firearm season. The National Rifle Association reports some states enforce restrictions on firearm hunters pursuing whitetails. I believe Illinois and several other states have consistently produced large numbers of world class whitetails as a direct result of weapon restrictions enforced upon firearm hunters. Over the course of the next sixteen preseason scouts I viewed thirty two more record book bucks.ĭuring my experience as an Illinois archer, I have investigated the underlying factors which have determined the state’s success as a consistent producer of world class whitetail bucks. Prior to this afternoon’s preseason scout, in the Land of Lincoln (Illinois), I had never hunted any of them. They encompassed Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, and Ohio. I had heard stories of the reknown whitetail states. At that moment, I knew all the media hype surrounding Illinois had to be true. A mere thirty yards from my position, standing tall in the tender green crop, stood a 150 class nontypical ten point, and a smaller buck, which undoubtedly would have qualified for the Buckmasters Trophy Record Books. Thirty minutes passed before I glassed the field’s perimeter with the aged optics. I finished my climb into the portable deerstand with a old pair of Nikon binoculars in one hand, and a lukewarm soda in the other. This outing had rewarded me with all the luxuries of summer-ticks, deerflys, poison ivy, sweat, and a dry mouth. It was a miserable day to begin preseason scouting. I stopped climbing halfway up the trunk of a pinoak, to peer out over the sweltering beanfield, as it cooked in the hot August sun. Why states that only allow firearm hunters to use a shotgun are rewriting the record books.

Hunting s hotgun